The Steel Djembe is an idiophone belonging to the slit drums/tongue drums family, in which the cuts in the steel dome form semi-blocked vibrating bars, tuned to a scale.
It features a large hardwood base, shaped like a djembe shell, but divided internally.
This leaves the upper chamber closed at the bottom, allowing the air vibrating inside it to escape upward. This rounds out the sound of the metal tongues and emphasizes their deeper tones.