Some West African drums don't just keep rhythm — they speak entire sentences

In tonal languages like Yoruba, pitch carries as much meaning as the words themselves, and skilled drummers exploit this by mimicking the rise and fall of speech on a drum whose pitch bends as its cords are squeezed. Villages used these 'talking drums' to relay detailed messages across distances no shout could cross, sometimes several miles. European travellers in the 19th century were startled to find drumbeats carrying news faster than their own messengers could run it.

— Ethnomusicology field studies, Talking drum — West African tonal-language traditions