What status do drum players hold in African society?

Answer 1

That's like asking "what status do rice planters have in Asian society" you probably have your own image of what you're talking about in your head of what 'African' is, but you do realize that there are thousands of separate and diverse cultures in Africa, right? For instance, take africaaners, white south Africans. They are African, technically, but drum players mean nothing to them. They are as culturally different from black south Africans asblack south africans are from peoples in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Sudan, Egypt, Mali, etc., etc., etc.