Darbuka, Darbouka or Doumbek? Spelling, Pronunciation and Names
How to spell and say darbuka, whether a doumbek is the same drum, and what it’s called from Bulgaria to Yemen.
19 questions answered
CMP-001 Is a doumbek the same thing as a darbuka? #
Yes, same drum. “Darbuka” and “doumbek” (also dumbek or dumbec) both name that goblet-shaped hand drum. “Darbuka” is the common Arabic and Turkish word; “doumbek” gets used more in North America and the Levant. Some sellers attach the two words to different body styles or sizes, but that’s a shop convention, not a separate instrument.
CMP-002 Why does this drum have so many names? #
Because it’s played across the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, the Balkans, Greece, the Caucasus and Central Asia, and every language named it for itself. You’ll see darbuka, darabukka, darbouka, derbake, tarabuka, doumbek, dumbelek, toubeleki (Greek), derbouka (Maghreb) and tablah (Egypt). Then transliteration from Arabic, Turkish and Persian script piles on even more spellings.
CMP-003 What’s the correct spelling: darbuka, darbouka, derbake or darabukka? #
There isn’t one. “Darbuka” is what you’ll see most in English searches and in the trade. “Darbouka” follows French transliteration, common in North Africa and France; “derbake” and “derbekki” reflect Levantine pronunciation; “darabukka” is an older scholarly spelling. Stores and search engines use all of them, so try several when you’re shopping.
CMP-004 Where does the word “darbuka” come from? #
Most sources trace it to the Arabic root d-r-b, “to strike” or “to beat” (as in daraba). Persian names such as dombak or tombak are usually linked to the sounds the drum makes, the “dum” and the “bak/tek”.
CMP-005 Why do Egyptians call the darbuka a “tabla”? #
In Egyptian Arabic, tabla is simply the everyday word for this goblet drum, which is why you’ll hear “Egyptian tabla” or “Alexandrian tabla.” Tabl is the general Arabic word for drum as well. It’s a coincidence of language: the Egyptian tabla has nothing to do with the Indian tabla pair.
CMP-006 What is a “goblet drum”? #
It’s the neutral, scholarly name for the whole family of single-headed drums shaped like a wine goblet: a wide bowl with the head on top, narrowing into an open tube, the “throat.” The darbuka, the Persian tombak, the Afghan zerbaghali and the Greek toubeleki all belong to it. So does the West African djembe, though it’s much larger and rope-tuned.
CMP-007 What is a toubeleki? #
It’s the Greek name for the goblet drum, usually a metal body with a skin head, and you’ll hear it in rebetiko and laiko music. Essentially a regional darbuka.
CMP-008 What is a zerbaghali? #
It’s the Afghan goblet drum, played in folk music. It’s closely related to the Persian tombak, but traditionally made of clay (glazed or unglazed) rather than carved wood. Players often add a dark tuning paste to the head, which is unusual for goblet drums. The name is linked to the Persian word for “armpit,” after the way the drum is held.
CMP-009 How do you pronounce darbuka? #
In English it’s usually DAR-boo-kah, stressed on the first syllable. Arabic speakers often say something closer to “dar-BOO-ka” or “dar-a-BUK-ka,” and Turkish speakers say “dar-BU-ka.” Whichever you use, nobody will be confused.
CMP-096 In Turkish, is a dümbelek different from a darbuka? #
In everyday Turkish usage the two words are usually split by construction. Dümbelek means the traditional clay or ceramic drum with a glued or laced skin that has to be warmed to tune. Darbuka means the modern metal drum (cast aluminium, copper or brass) with screw tuning. Turkish makers describe the dümbelek as warmer and more muted and the darbuka as brighter and sharper, and they add that the dümbelek turns up more in classical, Sufi and folk ensembles while the darbuka rules pop and gazino stages. Not everyone makes the distinction, mind, and plenty of Turks use the words interchangeably.
CMP-097 Is “darbouka” masculine or feminine in French? #
Feminine: la darbouka. Larousse lists it as a feminine noun and accepts the spelling derbouka as well. It defines the word as a pottery drum from the Maghreb and Middle East with a skin struck by the hands.
CMP-098 What do Bulgarians and Macedonians call the goblet drum? #
In Bulgaria it’s usually the tarambuka (also darabuka or tarambuke), traditionally made of fired clay and often heard alongside the tambura lute. In North Macedonia it’s the tarabuka, often a decorated pottery body, played at weddings and village festivities. They’re the Balkan members of the same family as the Turkish and Arabic darbuka.
CMP-099 Is the darbuka an Israeli instrument? #
It’s very popular in Israel, and Hebrew uses the same word (דרבוקה, darbuka), but it isn’t unique to Israel. It came into Israeli popular music largely through Muzika Mizrahit, which began in the 1950s among Jews from Arab countries who played Arabic-style Hebrew songs at weddings and neighbourhood parties. It’s the same drum played from North Africa to the Levant, Turkey and the Balkans.
CMP-100 What is a taarija? #
It’s a small Moroccan goblet drum, clay with a goatskin head, noticeably smaller and higher-pitched than a darbuka. You hold it in one hand and play it with the other. It’s used at family celebrations and in Moroccan folk and ritual music, including the Aissawa and the Daqqa ensembles of Marrakech.
CMP-101 What is a daluka? #
It’s a Sudanese clay goblet drum with a goatskin head, traditionally played by women and held under the arm. It’s central to aghani al-banat (“girls’ songs”) and to women’s singing and dancing at weddings and henna nights. Writers on Sudanese music note that it was long looked down on as a working-class women’s art, even though it’s now seen as part of the national heritage.
CMP-102 What is a khashaba (khishba)? #
It’s the goblet drum of Basra and southern Iraq, named after the Arabic khashab, “wood.” It was originally carved from wood, though today it’s mostly clay. It gives its name to khashaba music, a mid-20th-century style still played in southern Iraq and around the Gulf, which one popular story traces to shipyard workers drumming on wood and water jars.
CMP-103 I saw Arab musicians playing what looked like bongos standing on end. Is that a darbuka thing? #
Forum members on mycongaplace identified that as a Yemeni style rather than a general Arab one. They described a pair of drums played vertically, in darbuka style, with the bass often a large, deep metal doumbek, and one member said the double drum is called a trampa in Turkey. Their tip for anyone with Afro-Cuban experience was the Yemeni laheji rhythm in 6/8, as an easy way in.
CMP-104 What’s a mirwas, and is it a small darbuka? #
No. The mirwas (marwas) is a small, high-pitched drum with a skin on each side of a short wooden cylinder, played in the Gulf states and Yemen in sawt and fijiri music. Yemeni Hadhrami migrants took it to Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, where it’s used in zapin and gambus music. A darbuka has only one head and an open throat, so they’re different instruments.
CMP-105 How is the darbuka classified in musicology? #
In the Hornbostel–Sachs system the goblet drum family is 211.26, and the darbuka falls under 211.261.1: a directly struck membranophone with a goblet-shaped body, one usable head and an open bottom end. The “closed end” subgroup, 211.261.2, covers the goblet drums that are sealed at the base.