Right you are . . .
In the last day, the good folks at Drumskull Drums have told me these drums originate from the Nyahbinghi / Rastafarian tradition of Jamaica, and are played as a set. I did a little more research: the large drum on the far left is a Thunder bass drum, the center drum is the lead Kete (Repeater) drum which has the most improvisational role, and at the right is the slightly larger Funde drum, which carries the dominate "heartbeat" rhythm. More about Nyahbinghi:
http://web.syr.edu/~affellem/nyah.htmlI think that what I tried to write down in the other post is what you call "heartbeat" (it sounds quite like that to me). The 3 drums family makes sense. Many Afro-influenced drumming styles involve 3 drum. Take batas for example: iya, okonkolo & itolele.
We have a lot of Reggae Roots bands here in PR, and the Rastafarian movement was quite popular some years ago. I have some friends that are/were very involve with it: vegetarianism, anti-war marches, socialism... and lots of
ganja!
