How Darbukas Are Made: Clay, Metal and Mother-of-Pearl
What darbukas are made of and how they’re built — clay, aluminium, and the mother-of-pearl that’s laid in by hand.
11 questions answered
HIS-053 What were traditional darbukas made of? #
Fired clay (terracotta) for the most part, sometimes wood or metal, with a head of fish skin or goat skin. The head was glued on, tied on with cord, or both, and some drums had rope lacing you could tighten to tune. Clay drums were often painted, glazed or inlaid.
HIS-054 What are modern darbukas made of? #
Most professional and student drums today have cast or spun aluminium bodies. Copper, brass and steel turn up too, especially on Turkish drums. Nearly all of them use a synthetic (plastic/Mylar-type) head held by a metal ring with tuning bolts. Clay darbukas with natural skin heads are still made, above all in Egypt, Turkey and Morocco, and players value them for their warm sound. Some makers also produce wood, fibreglass or ceramic versions. (Pros and cons of each material are in Darbuka Materials.)
HIS-055 How is a clay darbuka made? #
A potter forms the goblet body, traditionally by hand on the wheel, lets it dry, then fires it in a kiln. One Egyptian maker says around 900°C gives a deep, warm tone, and that a much hotter firing can leave the body sounding harsh or “metallic”. After firing, a natural skin, traditionally fish skin in Egypt, is stretched over the top and secured, often with cord or rope, and then the drum is decorated. A high-end clay drum can take weeks of handwork, especially one fully inlaid with mother-of-pearl.
HIS-056 Why were fish skins used for darbuka heads? #
Because fish skin stretches very thin and still stays strong. That gives you a sensitive head with a clear, ringing tek and a deep dum, and it’s been used in Egypt for a very long time. Egyptian makers are sometimes said to prefer particular species, with pufferfish the one usually named, but that detail comes from sellers rather than independent sources. Natural heads react badly to humidity and temperature, which is a big part of why synthetic heads took over.
HIS-057 How is a metal (aluminium) darbuka made? #
The aluminium is sand-cast or die-cast into the goblet shape, then machined, polished and finished, and fitted with a head, a tension ring and tuning bolts. Egyptian-style drums hide the bolts inside a rounded rim. Turkish drums usually have them on the outside, and some high-end Turkish drums are hand-hammered copper. Decoration can be engraving, paint, coloured metals, stones or mother-of-pearl.
HIS-058 What is mother-of-pearl inlay, and why is it on darbukas? #
Thin pieces of iridescent shell, cut and set into the drum’s surface in geometric patterns: stars, rosettes, lattices. It comes out of the long inlay tradition of Cairo and Damascus, and on a darbuka it’s there as decoration and as a mark of craftsmanship and status. It’s decoration rather than engineering: it doesn’t change how the drum sounds. What it does do is add weight and cost.
HIS-059 Where are most darbukas made today? #
Egypt, and Cairo above all, and Turkey, mainly Istanbul. Those are the two big production centres. Syria, Lebanon, Morocco and Greece are known for drums too, and there are smaller professional workshops in Europe, Russia and the USA.
HIS-146 My old clay darbuka has cord wrapped around it. Is that for tuning? #
Usually not. Experienced repairers on Drum Forum point out that on most clay darbukas the head is glued on, and the rope or cord is decorative, or there to hold the skin while the glue sets. It’s only doing a job if the drum has proper lacing or tuning hardware. So don’t pull hard on that cord: it won’t tune anything and it may tear the skin.
HIS-147 How were clay darbukas tuned before tuning bolts existed? #
With heat. Natural skins tighten as they dry and warm, so players held the drum near a fire, a stove or a lamp, or left it in the sun, to bring the pitch up before playing. Damp weather loosened it again. Sources describe exactly this for the Sudanese daluka and the Turkish dümbelek. It’s one of the main reasons players took to metal drums with bolts and synthetic heads so quickly. (Modern tuning is covered in Tuning, Heads & Care.)
HIS-148 Why does my darbuka sound louder when I point the bottom at the floor? #
Because most of the bass comes out of the open bottom, and a hard floor bounces it back towards you and the audience. One forum teacher called it getting an “echo from the floor”. Playing sideways across your leg points that sound away, or partly muffles it with your body. It’s the same reason the drum sounds different on your knee, under your arm, or held upright.
HIS-149 Who makes those fibreglass or synthetic-shell doumbeks sold in the US? #
Two names, mainly. Mid-East Manufacturing, a Florida company trading since 1973, makes fibreglass and ceramic doumbeks, and Remo, founded by Remo Belli in 1957, makes a doumbek with an Acousticon shell and a pre-tuned Fiberskyn synthetic head. Mid-East has also fitted Remo heads to some of its ceramic drums. They’re a distinctly American branch of the family, built to be light and weatherproof. (Buying advice is in Buying a Darbuka.)