Advanced Darbuka Players and Methods to Study

ADV-087 Who are the key advanced darbuka players to study? #

These are the names that come up again and again:

• Mısırlı Ahmet: originator of the Turkish split-finger technique.
• Bünyamin Olguncan: Turkish split-hand master and major teacher.
• Suat Borazan and Hakan Kaya: Turkish split-hand players with their own styles.
• Said El Artist: Egyptian “King of the Tabla”, a benchmark for Arabic/Egyptian virtuosity.
• Hossam Ramzy: Egyptian percussionist central to belly-dance drum solo music.
• Raquy Danziger: player and teacher who documented split-hand technique for Western students.
• Rony Barrak: Lebanese darbuka soloist.

ADV-088 Who is Said El Artist and why does he matter? #

Said El Artist is an Egyptian tabla (darbuka) virtuoso from Alexandria who started seriously at around age 10. Egypt’s Ministry of Culture gave him the title “King of the Tabla”. He’s credited with helping carry the Egyptian tabla out of street and nightclub settings and into opera houses, including leading a tabla ensemble. His solos — Maganini among them — are long, complex rhythmic compositions, and they’re a reference point for advanced Egyptian-style playing.

ADV-089 What did Hossam Ramzy contribute to drum solos? #

Hossam Ramzy (1953 to 2019) was an Egyptian percussionist, composer and producer, and his drum solos and orchestral pieces are staples for belly dancers all over the world. He also taught dancers how to interpret drum solos — the rules drummers and dancers follow to communicate while improvising, and how the size of a movement should match the music’s orchestration.

ADV-090 Who is Bünyamin Olguncan? #

A Turkish darbuka master, born in 1972 in Bafra (Samsun). He began playing as a child and moved to Istanbul in 1987, where he took up the then-new split-hand technique. He’s known for a sophisticated split-hand vocabulary and has taught very widely, including paradiddle-based pattern work, and he’s the main source behind Raquy Danziger’s split-hand books and videos. He has published a book of darbuka solos too (Darbuka Soloları).

ADV-091 What methods or books exist for advanced split-hand technique? #

The well-known ones are Raquy Danziger’s Darbuka Method (a split-hand course running from beginner to advanced, with videos, based on Bünyamin Olguncan’s teaching) and Dumbek Fever IV, a book and DVD on Turkish split-hand technique for clay darbuka. Beyond those there are online membership schools carrying drills from Turkish masters, plus Bünyamin Olguncan’s solo book. On the Arabic side, courses such as Izif (Nasser Salameh) cover advanced finger work, muted taks and nail technique.

ADV-092 Is Raquy Danziger’s method good for non-Turkish players? #

A lot of Western students use it, and the reason is that it lays split-hand technique out systematically — notation, audio and video, with demonstrations by Bünyamin Olguncan. It starts from fundamentals, so it’s accessible even if you’ve never touched Turkish style, and it brings in compositions and cultural context as well, things like Turkish drum-jam etiquette.

ADV-142 Who was Setrak Sarkissian? #

A Lebanese tabla (darbuka) player of Armenian descent (1936 to 2017), often called the “King of Darbuka”. He recorded and performed with most of the biggest names in Arabic music, Fairuz, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Farid El Atrash, Abdel Halim Hafez, Warda and Sabah among them, and won awards across the Middle East and Europe. Go to his recordings if you want a reference for classic Lebanese and Egyptian-era tabla playing.

ADV-143 Who is Souhail Kaspar? #

A Lebanese-born master percussionist, trained at the Arabic music conservatory in Aleppo and now based in Los Angeles. He has performed with Arabic stars including Fairuz and Fayza Ahmed. His Foundations of Arabic Rhythm DVDs are well-known teaching materials, and the intermediate/advanced volume covers advanced rhythms, rolls and drum solos.

ADV-144 Who is Karim Nagi, and why do dancers recommend him? #

An Egyptian percussionist, born in Kuwait and based in the US, who plays tabla, riq and sagat and dances as well. That double background is what makes his drum-solo teaching unusual. His Drum Raqs method teaches drummers and dancers together: the recurring drum-solo themes, how to cue each other, and how to improvise as a duet. His DVD Rhythms of the Arab World Vol. 2 covers left-hand rolls, fills and accompanying dancers.

ADV-145 What’s distinctive about Rony Barrak’s approach? #

Rony Barrak is a Lebanese player who started on darbuka at age four. He went on to study orchestral percussion and drum kit at London’s Guildhall School, and taught Middle Eastern percussion at Trinity College of Music. He’s known for a relaxed, fluid technique and for fusion work blending Arabic rhythms with Latin, jazz and funk — a useful model if you want to take the darbuka into Western concert and crossover settings.

ADV-146 Is there an English-language split-hand course by a Turkish player? #

Yes. Hakan Kaya, an Istanbul-based percussionist who runs a Rhythm Atelier and co-founded Sonika Percussion, released a split-hand instructional DVD in 2013. It’s described as the first by a Turkish darbuka player aimed at English-speaking students, and it runs from the basic strokes through to split-hand technique.

ADV-147 What is Ruben van Rompaey’s Modern Darbuka Technique? #

An instructional DVD from Ruben van Rompaey, who co-founded the darbuka department at Codarts University of the Arts in the Netherlands. It runs to 31 chapters, covering Turkish split hand, single strokes, rolls and special effects. He has also written Method for Darbuka books and rhythm collections — worth knowing about if you prefer a conservatory-style, notated approach.

ADV-148 Which instructional videos focus specifically on belly-dance drum solos? #

These are the well-known titles:

• Faisal Zedan with Mariyah: Belly Dance Drum Solos – Concepts (solo structure, phrases, choreography).
• Sonia and Issam Houshan: The Art of the Drum Solo.
• Raquy Danziger: The Heartbeat of Bellydance (drum-solo duet structure).
• Karim Nagi’s live music and movement material.

One thing to check before you buy: pick something aimed at drummers rather than only at dancers, or the drumming side won’t be explained in any detail.

ADV-149 Did Mısırlı Ahmet publish a method book or DVD? #

Not that anyone can find — there’s no widely available step-by-step method from him, unlike the Olguncan-based courses. Students pick up his approach through his school and camps in Turkey, through filmed performances and lesson clips, and through academic analyses of his clay-darbuka technique (there’s a two-part Turkish study on academia.edu). If you want a structured split-hand path in English, the Raquy Danziger, Hakan Kaya or Ruben van Rompaey materials above are where most people go.