A cyclical instrument
Where the bougarabou is built more like an hourglass, the djembe is shaped like a goblet, and the two drums are often discussed together as related members of the same West African drumming family. Rhythms played on the djembe, like much West African percussion, are conceived as loops: a pattern is repeated for as long as the piece requires, with the ensemble returning to the beginning of the cycle rather than progressing through a fixed sequence from start to finish.
Passed down within the group
Traditionally, these rhythms are learned by ear and by playing alongside more experienced drummers rather than from written instruction, a way of teaching that keeps the feel of a rhythm, and not just its individual strokes, embedded in the group that plays it together.