A very iconic drum, commonly found in West-Africa, is the so called “talking drum.” It has a large geographic distribution, spreading several countries and ethnic groups. The characteristic feature of this unique instruments is the membrane, which can be tuned, through varying the tension of the membrane fixture, while playing. This effect can be utilized to play melodies and pitch-glides on the drum. West-African musicians use this effect to mimic speech patterns and speech melodies from tonal languages. This highly non-linear excitation of the drum leads to several questions regarding the acoustical properties of the instrument. The acoustical research of the drum include high-speed measurements of the drum-head to quantify the changing tension distribution over the membrane. Microphone array measurements, with 128 microphones, are applied to examine the radiation characteristics of the instrument. A special focus is put on the resonance frequencies of the enclosed air volume and the influence it has on...