Wiktionary
n. (context musical instruments English) Any of several drums whose pitch can be regulated by squeezing the sides.
Wikipedia
The Talking drum is an hourglass-shaped drum from West Africa, whose pitch can be regulated to mimic the tone and prosody of human speech. It has two drumheads connected by leather tension cords, which allow the player to modulate the pitch of the drum by squeezing the cords between their arm and body. A skilled player is able to play whole phrases. Similar hourglass-shaped drums are found in Asia, but they are not used to mimic speech, although the idakka is used to mimic vocal music.
Usage examples of "talking drum".
Yes, you were right and it was a talking drum of my people and what it said is all bad.
His words, though scarcely original, a medley of bleak cliches, had tapped into the core of my weakness, and all the fear I had nourished over long years in Africa, all the peculiarly African fear, the apprehension of spirits, of lion ghosts and magical presidents and the long-legged, licorice-skinned, lickety-split demons of the talking drum dancing with arms akimbo on the margins of one's campfire light, ready to pounce with their red-hot spears and golden teeth.