Introduction to the Darbuka [ebook prt 1]

FINGERS OF FURY Percussion of the Arabic World and beyond

Part 1 - Intro / Darbuka Matt Stonehouse

The Darbuka These days they all hang on the wall unplayable due to Australia’s humid climate, and my two metal and plastic drums come to all my gigs with me instead!

As briefly mentioned in the forward the darbuka is a goblet shaped hand drum. It has many names depending on the country and then the region within that country. One popular name given to the darbuka is doumbek. This comes from  the bass tone of the drum, ‘doum’ and the high tone ‘bek’. Sometimes this name can create confusion due to the goblet drum of Iran called the Tombak. The Tombak is a timber and skin drum and has different tones to the doumbek hence the confusion. This also occurs with the Egyptians referring to the darbuka as the Tabla (tablah).

A great tragedy indeed. Expect the darbuka chapter to be fun, challenging and at times mildly frustrating. Just like learning anything worth your while it will require patience and some discipline. When practicing your technique it may be more inspiring to have your favourite Middle Eastern CD playing in  the background bac kground to encourage you. I always do this when I’m I ’m practicing the real dry stuff although these days I’ll probably put the Beach Boys on and picture myself practicing under a coconut tree!

Whilst the name is correct, we still have to differentiate between the Indian tabla and the Egyptian one, which are both very different drums. It is not certain how long the goblet drum has enjoyed its success in music, but through artistic representation we find that frame drums were  the chief percussion instrument up until the beginning of  the last century. Having said this however, there are ancient paintings and miniatures of musicians playing what could be a goblet drum on their shoulder dating back to the 12th century. By having the drum on the shoulder it could be played in a similar way to the frame drum. As the names vary from region to region so do  the techniques. technique s. The Th e Lebanese players have their own original orig inal  tone, ornamentation and representation of common Middle Eastern rhythms, as do the Syrians, Turkish and Egyptians. Recently a new technique called split finger has swept through Turkey and become extremely popular, especially with the younger players. This technique is ver y similar to the right hand motion of a North Indian tabl a player allowing the drummer to play faster and more efficiently. Split finger technique is not covered in this book however we will develop the right hand in a similar fashion. The darbuka was originally made of clay for the shell and used skins such as goat, camel and fish tied over one end with the other open. Today these are still available however the aluminum and synthetic drums are far more durable and less sensitive to changing weather conditions. On returning from my first  trip to Turkey and Iran I was so proud of all my beautiful skin drums.

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Holding the Darbuka

Have a good look at the pictures and notice that I have one leg slightly forward and one leg back. This creates a small dip in the right leg and locks the drum into position a bit. The left arm is also locking the drum against the body and it is these two points that will stop it wobbling about and falling of your lap. Notice too, I push the drum  forward a little to give my my arms some some space space to move. move. Depending Depending on the type of sound that I want, want, usually my my left arm will be resting on the drum and not suspended in the ai r. It will take some time in order to get the sound you want but will prevent any shoulder injuries in the future. It’s all about minimizing energy and maximizing tone.

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The ba basi sicc techn techniqu iques es use used d in man many y of of these these rh rhyth ythms ms are are Dum, Tuk, Ka and and Slap. Slap. Thin Think k of these these as thos those e three three or fou fourr guitar guit ar chor chords ds tha thatt allow allow you you to play play all all the Beat Beatles les and and Neil Neil Youn oung g songs you you’ve ’ve drea dreamed med of. of. The ‘Dum ‘Dum’’ is played played with the the rightt hand (or left if you are that way incl righ inclined ined)) and prod produces uces  the bass tone, i.e. dum. Make sure when playing this stroke  that you don’t ‘whack it’ and just play it as a nice solid…. duuuuuuoooooommmmmm. The Th e hi high gh to tone ne wh whic ich h is pl play ayed ed on th the e out outsi side de of th the e ski skin n is is ‘Tuk’. This is also played with the right hand. There are several wayss of playing way playing the the tuk includi including ng one where where the drumm drummer er

catches a knife being thrown thrown at them by a crazed belly dancer not hap happy py with with the the tempo tempo!! The high ton tone e prod produced uced with the left hand is the ‘Ka’ ‘Ka’,, generall generally y not accented as much as the Tu Tuk. k. The ‘k ‘ka’ a’ see seems ms to be th the e strok stroke e mos mostt stu stude dents nts ha have ve prob problem lemss with. wit h. It It see seems ms lik like e an aw awkwa kward rd po posit sition ion to str strik ike e th the e skin skin at at but later later on will will beco become me comf comfortabl ortable e and make make more sens sense e to yourr hand you hand and and wrist. wrist. This lea leaves ves us with the ‘Slap ‘Slap’’ techni technique que,, which whic h is also also played played with with the the right right hand hand.. This is the harde hardest st of  the basic techniques and is achieved when the hand is cupped and strikes strikes the drum with only only the the high frequencie frequenciess cutting  through, without the sustain and with no bas s freq frequenc uencies. ies.

Two FOUR RHYTHMS Belo Be low w I ha have ve li list sted ed mo most st of my fa favo vour urit ite e 2/ 2/4 4 rh rhyth ythms ms an and d  then a couple of variations on these. We start with the funda fun damen mental tal pat patte tern rn an and d bu build ild (o (orna rname ment nt)) on onto to th this. is. The rhyth rhythms ms are are in 2/4 2/4 thus mea meaning ning it will will take take a cou count nt of ‘2’ before the the cycle is repeated repeated again. I hav have e starte started d with a very pow powerful erful and more ‘sp ‘spirit iritual’ ual’ rhyth rhythm m called calle d ‘Ayu ‘Ayub. b.’’ This rhyth rhythm m is used acro across ss the the Middl Middle e East East and you may be familiar familiar with it from the Sufi music of the Whirling

Dervishes of Turk Dervishes Turkey ey.. In a grac gracefu efull spin spin the dervish dervishes es grad graduall ually y speed up and and use the trance trance inspired rhythm sound sound of Ayub Ayub  to elevate el evate them selves closer to God: Allah. It’s very beautiful  to watch and powerful to play in a group of like minded drummers dru mmers.. In Egypt, Egypt, Ayu Ayub b is called called ‘Zar’ ‘Zar’ and is used for simil similar ar reasons reas ons but but also to driv drive e off evil spirit spirits. s. You will also find Ayub Ayub being played across across the Mahgreb. Mahgreb.

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FOUR FOUR RHYTHMS Now we co Now come me to 4/ 4/4 4 rh rhyth ythms ms wh whic ich h yo you u gu gues esse sed d it it,, ta tak ke a count of four four before before starting the the cycle once again. You will now no w not notice ice th the e ext extra ra len lengt gth h of the these se pat patte terns rns an and d I’ I’m m su sure re also the fam familia iliarr sound sound of Maqs Maqsum. um. If you hav have e liste listened ned to much muc h Midd Middle le East Easter ern n music music then then you you wil willl kno know w wh what at I mea mean! n!

I le lear arnt nt som some e gr grea eatt ways ways to pla play y maqs maqsum um and and sai saiid idii fr from om a wonderful wonde rful Lebanese Lebanese player player in Melbourne, Melbourne, Austr Australia. alia. He show showed ed me ho how w to get get th the e powe powerr and and feel feel int into o it, to get get th the e rhyth rhythm m off th the e grou ground nd and and tak take e flig flight. ht. The There re’s ’s als also o th the e Tur Turkis kish h way way of playing playing which which has differ different ent techniq techniques ues with the the fingers. fingers. The fe feel el th that at res resul ults ts fro from m th this is is aw aweso esome me,, ha hard rd to pla play y but but sounds sou nds gr great eat.. I th thin ink k that that man many y drum drummer merss wo would uld ag agree ree wit with h me wh when en I sa say y th that at aft after er 20 ye year arss of pl play ayin ing g on one e wo woul uld d sti still ll be lea learni rning ng to pla play y maqs maqsum um co corre rrectl ctly. y. Fo Forr this this ch chapt apter er I wil willl keep it within the few basic yet important techniques we have learnt so far.

These rhyth rhythms ms are my my teachers teachers.. I thou thought ght I cou could ld play play them them ten years ago and and then then discovered discovered I didn’t have the right feel. Then I tho thought ught I cou could ld play play them them correctly correctly a few few years years ago but but later later learnt lear nt that that I cou couldn ldn’t!! ’t!!!! I fee feell that I am just just starting starting to get the hang of these now.

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