Egyptian, Turkish, Balkan and Other Regional Darbukas
How the drum changes from country to country: Egypt, Turkey, the Balkans, Greece, Armenia, North Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan.
11 questions answered
HIS-036 What’s the difference between an Egyptian and a Turkish darbuka? #
It comes down to the rim. The Egyptian style has a smooth, rounded edge with the tuning hardware hidden inside. That’s comfortable for full-hand strokes and fast rolls, and it gives you a round, resonant dum. The Turkish style has a flatter, sharper edge with the tuning bolts on show around the top. That suits crisp finger snaps, slaps and the split-finger technique, and it makes changing the head easier. Egyptian bodies tend to be rounder and more often decorated, sometimes with mother-of-pearl. Turkish bodies are usually slimmer and plainer, and sometimes made of copper. (For which one to buy, see Egyptian vs Turkish Darbuka.)
HIS-037 Why are Egyptian darbukas so often decorated? #
Because decoration is a craft tradition in Egypt and the Levant, and has been for a long time. Egyptian drums are known for mother-of-pearl inlay, painted designs, coloured metals and engraving, all echoing the geometric inlay work on Cairo and Damascus woodwork. The Cairo maker Gawharet El Fan (founded 1940) claims to have made the first mother-of-pearl darbuka. That’s the company’s own claim, but it tells you how central decoration is to Egyptian darbuka culture.
HIS-038 What is a Turkish darbuka typically used for? #
In Turkey it’s everywhere in popular and celebratory music: weddings, engagement and circumcision celebrations, Roman (Romani) dance music, belly dance, arabesk and pop, plus some classical and art-music ensembles. Turkey is also home to the modern virtuoso solo scene built around the split-finger technique.
HIS-039 What’s special about the Balkan darbuka tradition? #
In the Balkans the goblet drum (tarabuka/tarambuka/darabuka) is a folk and wedding drum above all. It works in the region’s asymmetric meters, 7/8 and 9/8 among them, alongside clarinet, accordion, bagpipes or brass bands. There’s also a distinctive technique across parts of Turkey, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Albania and Greece that pairs the fingers of one hand with a thin stick called a çubuk (Turkish for “wand” or “stick”) in the other. It’s particularly associated with Romani players.
HIS-040 What is the Greek goblet drum used for? #
The toubeleki keeps the beat in island and northern Greek folk music, usually alongside bagpipes, lyra or clarinet, and you’ll also hear it in urban laiko and rebetiko. Traditionally it was hung from the shoulder under the left arm, or held between the knees when seated.
HIS-041 What is the Armenian dumbeg? #
The dumbeg (dumbek) is one of the core instruments of Armenian music, along with clarinet, oud and tambourine. In America it became central to “kef” music, the dance-party music of Armenian immigrant communities. The Philadelphia-based Vosbikian Band, formed in 1939 by three brothers, had Joe Vosbikian on dumbeg and vocals and mixed kef with American big-band influences.
HIS-042 How is the North African darbouka used? #
It sits at the centre of popular and celebratory music across the Maghreb. In Algeria it accompanies chaabi, the urban popular music associated with El Hadj M’Hamed El Anka, alongside mandole, banjo, violin and frame drums. In Tunisia it drives mezoued (mezwed), a working-class wedding and party genre named after a goatskin bagpipe. In Morocco the pottery-bodied derbouka, usually held under the arm, turns up in chaabi and plenty of folk styles.
HIS-043 What is the Iraqi khashaba? #
The khashaba is a goblet drum tied closely to Basra and southern Iraq. Its name comes from the Arabic for “wood” (khashab), because the early drums were wooden; modern ones are usually clay. The word also names a whole genre of drumming, handclapping, dance and song, performed by groups called shadda. Its origins are debated, and some scholars link it to the Black Arab and East African communities of Basra’s shipyards.
HIS-044 What is the Afghan zerbaghali? #
The zerbaghali is Afghanistan’s goblet drum. Its name is usually explained as coming from the word for “armpit”, because that’s where you hold it. It’s normally clay, glazed or unglazed, with a goatskin head, and some players add a dark tuning paste in the Indian manner. It came to prominence in Herat’s teahouses from the 1950s, accompanying the dutar and rubab.
HIS-045 Do goblet drums exist outside the Middle East and Balkans? #
Yes, in a lot of places. There are large floor-standing temple goblet drums in Sulawesi (Indonesia), South Asian goblet drums such as Goa’s ghumat, and West Africa’s djembe and bougarabou. Several of them developed independently, which tells you something: the goblet is simply an effective way to build a drum.
HIS-046 Is the Lebanese or Syrian darbuka different? #
Not really. Levantine players mostly use Egyptian-style drums today, and the playing is broadly Arabic: full-hand strokes, rolls, the classical iqa’at rhythmic cycles. The local names, derbake and derbakki, are the main difference. Syria and Lebanon share the region’s tradition of richly inlaid instruments, and Lebanon has produced prominent players such as Rony Barrak, as well as teachers at the national conservatory.