Where to Buy a Good Darbuka

I spent years in the darbuka business, importing drums from Egypt, so I’ve seen the trade from the inside — and I have nothing to sell you now. Hopefully you’ll get some pearls of wisdom from me!

A disclaimer on price vs quality #

I feel that it’s essential to mention something on price when purchasing something more popular in the Eastern world than in the West. The reason is that many people assume that since a product is made in a country like Egypt, it can be purchased cheaper there. Let’s say someone is selling a darbuka in a street market in Egypt for $25 and someone is selling a darbuka online for $250. Is the online seller priced extortionately? The answer, in my opinion, lies solely in one word:

Quality

Yes, you may well be able to get a darbuka cheaper in Egypt, and yes it may also be Mother of Pearl. However, it may well also be of a significantly lower quality to what you can purchase online in a Western country! Many manufacturers only send the absolute best of their production models to Western countries and sell the lower quality models locally in their own country.

For example, my first Mother of Pearl darbuka was a Gawharet El Fan 22cm darbuka I purchased from a street vendor in Fez, Morocco. I thought it was decent. Years later, when I was sourcing darbukas directly from Gawharet El Fan’s workshop, I realised that the darbuka I bought from the street vendor in Morocco wasn’t half as good as the ones coming straight from the workshop. This is true even though the darbuka from Morocco was also made by Gawharet El Fan and was also Mother of Pearl.

The conclusion is simple. Focus on getting the best quality darbuka for the money you can spend, regardless of where you are buying it from.

Online #

Online is a popular way nowadays to purchase a darbuka. I think the following online platforms are appropriate places to find a decent darbuka:

1. A specialist retail website
2. An online marketplace (like Amazon or eBay)
3. A classified advertisements website (like Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist)

Each has its pros and cons.

A retail website may well provide the best quality instruments, with excellent service and genuine care for the instruments they are sending out; however, it may be challenging to choose a reliable website.

An online marketplace will usually provide a decent quality instrument for a reasonable cost and will typically have reviews for products which enable easier decision making. The customer service is generally reliable, and the transaction is safe. The downside is that big brands with lots of backing tend to do better on online marketplaces, and smaller brands which may be much better get pushed to the bottom of the search results. For example, global percussionist Meinl sells strongly on most online marketplaces; however, their darbuka models are… not of the best quality. Yet, since they do the job at a low cost, they have high rankings!

A classified advertisements website will usually provide the cheapest way to purchase online and may involve collecting locally or getting a seller to post to you. This can be a fantastic way to find a good deal, however typically there are no review systems in place, and no guarantee of quality. You may end up with a very low-quality instrument, and you wouldn’t even know. I recommend steering clear of these places until you are confident in your ability to tell a good darbuka from a bad one.

In-store #

I know that online is a popular way for people to purchase instruments nowadays, but a retail store isn’t to be messed with. I know from experience that many store owners take great pride and care in the products that they stock and sell. If you can find a store like this, you should give them a visit! Some things to look for when choosing a store:

Typically, big warehouses that stock generic products don’t have good quality darbukas, from my experience. This is because they usually hold high stock numbers of generic mass-produced products, not more unique instruments like the darbuka.

A general music store may well have a decent darbuka model around. They’re usually worth a look to see if they have anything interesting available. You might want to call ahead to see if they have darbuka models in stock. If they only have generic models available, play a few and have a go at what they’re like, however, try and find something a little better!

A percussion store will usually have at least a couple of different darbukas in stock. I know that percussion stores in London do stock decent darbuka ranges, and I would always check out these stores if I had access to them. If you were to visit a percussion store in Istanbul or Cairo, you would find some fantastic darbuka models.

If you visit a percussion store and find a decent selection, and an owner or employees who seem to genuinely care, make sure you say hi and keep a good relationship. Support local businesses! It’s what makes innovation and development possible in the music community.

At a souq #

Well, this section just wouldn’t be complete without a mention of buying from souqs, or markets, in Arab countries. It’s straightforward to find a darbuka at a souq; however, be warned; they are usually of very low quality. Very, very low quality. I would recommend only buying with the utmost caution and care, and once you have an understanding of what it is you are looking for. It’s easy to get ripped off if you don’t know how to haggle, and even if you can haggle well, it’s difficult to judge the quality of what it is you’re buying. Proceed with caution!

A note on darbuka sizes #

A small point worth mentioning here is on darbuka sizes. Typically, standard-sized darbukas are much easier to find in a store, whereas a Sombaty or Doholla would be much more difficult to find. For one of these models, I would recommend online shopping as the ideal way to get one at the best convenience. The only exception would be if you could get one directly from Cairo, Istanbul or the like.