Nikolai Yaganov explains how drums are made

"I began learning how to make drums in the 1990s. At first, I watched my father while my mother helped him prepare the hides. For this, slender but not too young birch trees are selected and cut in December or January. A hammer-like tool is used to tap on the trees to find a suitable one. If the tree ‘rings,’ it is good for making a drum – then the drum will have the right sound. The cut wood is then bent into a circle by exposing it to hot steam to make it flexible. It is bent slowly, centimeter by centimeter, to achieve the desired shape. The ring is then tied together with ropes. The wood takes about a week to dry."

"After that, the hide is prepared to be stretched over the drum frame. The hide is soaked in water and rolled up, then left in a warm place to ferment. Once the hair begins to separate from the skin, it is washed, and all remaining hair is scraped off. The hide is then coated with glue made from dried fish skins – usually chum salmon – and laid over the wooden ring from the outside, and finally tightened with ropes."

Recorded by Erich Kasten. Lesnaya, 2003.