A traditional West African percussion instrument, or in some contexts, a term for cannabis or marijuana.
From Bantu and West African languages. The percussion instrument sense is well-documented; the slang sense emerged in 20th-century usage, particularly in British and Caribbean English.
The banga drum has a history in West African music that goes back centuries, but the word took on a completely different meaning in modern slang—it's a perfect example of how words migrate between languages and cultures.
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