The Versatility of Doumbek
The goblet drum known as the doumbek is shaped as its name suggests, a goblet. This hand drum is widely used in Arabic, Assyrian, Persian, Turkish, Armenian, Balkan, Greek, and Azeri music. It is an ancient instrument, although, the exact period of its origin is not known.
The unique crisp sound of the drum is because of its lean and receptive drumhead and timbre. A player only needs to lightly touch goblet drums for different strokes to produce, including rolls or quick rhythms using the fingertips, in contrast to hand drums like Africas djembe. There are only two basic kinds of goblet drums.
The Egyptian style has rounded edges around the head. The Turkish style drum has an exposed head edge. The exposed edge lets the drummer get closer contact to the head to perform finger-snapping techniques.
But the rapid rolls in the Egyptian style are not appropriate with the Turkish styles hard edge. A doumbek drummer can play it by holding the instrument normally under the non-dominant arm. A seated drummer can also place it between his or her knees.
A low-sustain resonant sound is produced if it is played lightly using the palm and the fingertips. The tone is altered if the fists are moved in and out of the bell. The various rhythms of the goblet drum form the basis of the Middle Easts folkloric, modern music and dance styles.
The goblet drum has two principal sounds. The first is the doum, a deeper base sound created when the head is struck near the center with the palm and the fingers full length. The second is the tek, a sound with a high pitch which is made when the fingertips hit the head near the edge; clearly showing the versatility of the doumbek.
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