FINGERS OF FURY

Percussion of the Arabic World

and beyond

Part 1 - Intro / Darbuka

Matt Stonehouse
 The Darbuka
As briefly mentioned in the forward the darbuka is a goblet These days they all hang on the wall unplayable due to
shaped hand drum. It has many names depending on the Australia’s humid climate, and my two metal and plastic drums
country and then the region within that country. One popular come to all my gigs with me instead!
name given to the darbuka is doumbek. This comes from
 the bass tone of the drum, ‘doum’ and the high tone ‘bek’. A great tragedy indeed. Expect the darbuka chapter to be fun,
Sometimes this name can create confusion due to the goblet challenging and at times mildly frustrating. Just like learning
drum of Iran called the Tombak. The Tombak is a timber and anything worth your while it will require patience and some
skin drum and has different tones to the doumbek hence the discipline. When practicing your technique it may be more
confusion. This also occurs with the Egyptians referring to the inspiring to have your favourite Middle Eastern CD playing in
darbuka as the Tabla (tablah).  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
Whilst the name is correct, we still have to differentiate put the Beach Boys on and picture myself practicing under a
between the Indian tabla and the Egyptian one, which are coconut tree!
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.

10
 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.

11
 1 2

3 4

The babasi
sicc techn
techniqu
iques
es use
usedd in man
many y of
of these
these rhrhyth
ythms
ms are
are catches a knife being thrownthrown at them by a crazed belly dancer
Dum, Tuk, Ka and and Slap.
Slap. Thin
Think
k of these
these as thos
thosee three
three or fou
fourr not hap
happy py with
with the
the tempo
tempo!! The high ton tonee prod
produced
uced with the
guitar
guit ar chor
chordsds tha
thatt allow
allow you
you to play
play all
all the Beat
Beatles
les and
and Neil
Neil left hand is the ‘Ka’
‘Ka’,, generall
generallyy not accented as much as the Tu Tuk.
k.
Youn
oungg songs you
you’ve
’ve drea
dreamed
med of.
of. The ‘Dum
‘Dum’’ is played
played with the
the The ‘k‘ka’
a’ see
seems
ms to be ththee strok
stroke e mos
mostt stu
stude
dents
nts ha
have
ve prob
problem
lemss
rightt hand (or left if you are that way incl
righ inclined
ined)) and prod
produces
uces with.
wit h. It
It see
seems
ms lik
like
e an awawkwa
kward rd po
posit
sition
ion to str
strik
ike
e th
thee skin
skin at
at
 the bass tone, i.e. dum. Make sure when playing this stroke but later
later on will
will beco
becomeme comf
comfortabl
ortablee and make
make more sens sensee to
 that you don’t ‘whack it’ and just play it as a nice solid…. yourr hand
you hand andand wrist.
wrist. This lea
leaves
ves us with the ‘Slap
‘Slap’’ techni
technique
que,,
duuuuuuoooooommmmmm. which
whic h is also
also played
played with
with the
the right
right hand
hand.. This is the harde
hardestst of
The
Th e hi
high
gh totone
ne wh
whic
ich
h is pl
play
ayed
ed on th the
e out
outsi
side
de of ththe
e ski
skin
n is
is  the basic techniques and is achieved when the hand is cupped
‘Tuk’. This is also played with the right hand. There are several and strikes
strikes the drum with only only the
the high frequencie
frequenciess cutting
wayss of playing
way playing the
the tuk includi
including
ng one where
where the drumm
drummer er  through, without the sustain and with no bas s freq frequenc
uencies.
ies.
 Two FOUR RHYTHMS

Belo
Be low
w I hahave
ve lilist
sted
ed momost
st of my fafavo
vour
urit
ite
e 2/
2/44 rh
rhyth
ythms
ms an
and d Dervishes of Turk
Dervishes Turkey
ey.. In a grac
gracefu
efull spin
spin the dervish
dervisheses grad
graduall
ually
y
 then a couple of variations on these. We start with the speed up and
and use the trance
trance inspired rhythm soundsound of Ayub
Ayub
funda
fun damen
mental
tal patpatte
tern
rn an
andd bubuild
ild (o
(orna
rnamement
nt)) ononto
to ththis.
is.  to elevate
el evate them selves closer to God: Allah. It’s very beautiful
The rhyth
rhythmsms are
are in 2/4
2/4 thus mea
meaning
ning it will
will take
take a cou
count
nt of ‘2’  to watch and powerful to play in a group of like minded
before the
the cycle is repeated
repeated again. drummers
dru mmers.. In Egypt,
Egypt, Ayu
Ayub b is called
called ‘Zar’
‘Zar’ and is used for simil
similar
ar
I hav
havee starte
started
d with a very powpowerful
erful and more ‘sp‘spirit
iritual’
ual’ rhyth
rhythmm reasons
reasons but
but also to driv
drivee off evil spirit
spirits.
s. You will also find Ayub
Ayub
called
called ‘Ayu
‘Ayub.
b.’’ This rhyth
rhythmm is used acro
across
ss the
the Middl
Middle e East
East and being played across
across the Mahgreb.
Mahgreb.
you may be familiar
familiar with it from the Sufi music of the Whirling

5 9

2  1 e  & a  2 e & a 2  1 e  & a  2 e & a

4  D K D T 4  T K K T K D

6 10

2  1 e  & a  2 e & a 1 e  & a  2 e & a

4  D T K D T D K K D K K T K

7 11

2  1 e  & a  2 e & a 2  1 e  & a  2 e & a

4  T K T D 4  D K K D K K S K

8 12

2  1 e  & a  2 e & a 1 e  & a  2 e & a

4  T K T K D D T K

13
 Two FOUR RHYTHMS

13 17

2 1 e  & a  2 e & a 2 1 e  & a  2 e & a

4 D K K D K 4 D D K

14 18

2 1 e  & a  2 e & a 2 1 e  & a  2 e & a

4 D K T K D K T 4 D K D

15 19

2 1 e  & a  2 e & a 2 1 e  & a  2 e & a

4 D K T K D K S 4 D K K T K K T K

16 20

2 1 e  & a  2 e & a 2 1 e  & a  2 e & a

4 D D D K 4 D K T K K T K K

14
 FOUR FOUR RHYTHMS
Now we co
Now comeme 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 I le
lear
arnt
nt som
some e gr
grea
eatt ways
ways to plaplayy maqs
maqsumum andand saisaiid
idii fr
from
om a
count of four
four before
before starting the
the cycle once again. You will wonderful
wonde rful Lebanese
Lebanese player
player in Melbourne,
Melbourne, AustrAustralia.
alia. He show
showeded
now
no w not
notice
ice th
thee ext
extra
ra len
lengt
gth
h of the
these
se pat
patteterns
rns an
andd I’
I’mm su
sure
re me hohoww to getget th
thee powe
powerr andand feel
feel int
into
o it, to get
get ththe
e rhyth
rhythm
m
also the fam
familia
iliarr sound
sound of Maqs
Maqsum.
um. If you havhave e liste
listened
ned to off th
the
e grou
ground nd and
and tak
takee flig
flight.
ht. The
Therere’s
’s als
alsoo th
thee Tur
Turkis
kishh way
way
much
muc h Midd
Middlele East
Easterern
n music
music then
then you
you wil
willl kno
knoww wh
what
at I mea
mean!n! of playing
playing which
which has differdifferent
ent techniq
techniques
ues with the the fingers.
fingers.
The fefeel
el th
that
at res
resul
ults
ts fro
fromm th
this
is is aw
aweso
esomeme,, ha
hard
rd to pla
play y but
but
These rhyth
rhythms
ms are my my teachers
teachers.. I thou
thought
ght I cou
could
ld play
play them
them ten sounds
sou nds gr
great
eat.. I th
thin
ink
k that
that man
many y drum
drummermerss wo
woulduld agagree
ree wit
withh
years ago and
and then
then discovered
discovered I didn’t have the right feel. Then me whwhenen I sa
sayy 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
I tho
thought
ught I cou
couldld play
play them
them correctly
correctly a few
few years
years ago but
but later
later be lea
learni
rning
ng to pla
play y maqs
maqsumum cocorre
rrectl
ctly.
y. Fo
Forr this
this chchapt
apterer I wil
willl
learnt
learnt that
that I cou
couldn
ldn’t!!
’t!!!! I fee
feell that I am just
just starting
starting to get the keep it within the few basic yet important techniques we have
hang of these now. learnt so far.

15
 THANK YOU FOR READING
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