The skin stretched taut over their ends can be manipulated by the player, who grips leather lacings attached to the skins and stretches or relaxes them, thereby raising or lowering their pitch. Other percussion instruments of the region include the East African drum chimes of Southeast Asian heritage. This instrument attained royal status among the Ugandans, and the largest chime consists of 15 drums, requiring six musicians to play them. In Muslim North Africa the percussion instruments are of Near Eastern ancestry. Moroccan singers accompany themselves with the rhythmic click of hollow clappers, one held in each hand, while dancers wear finger cymbals to produce the same effect.
Drums are small portable instruments used to accompany native vocal and dance performances.
In Asia percussion instruments have equal status and even longer traditions. Clappers from Sumerian society of about 3000 BC are still preserved, and the Vietnamese still use clappers in their religious rites. Today cymbals are also used in India, Japan, and Tibet. Xylophones were most highly developed in Southeast Asia, where tubular chimes originated. In Indonesia xylophones became sophisticated orchestral instruments.