Middle Eastern Darbuka
The darbuka is a single-headed globet drum that is popularly used in Turkish and Arabic folk and dance music.
The word “darbuka” is related to the Arabic word “dharb” which means “to strike”. Drums of similar shape can be seen depicted in sources dating from 1100 BC in Mesopotamia. Its great volume makes it very suitable for festive occasions and for dances such as the “raqs sharqi”, more popularly known as the belly dance. Since the beginning of the 20th century, it also came to be used in more sophisticated urban music.
The darbuka traditionally uses baked clay for its body and animal skin for drumhead. In modern times, they can be replaced by metal alloy and synthetic skin. Its outer body is often richly decorated by geometric patterns made of mother of pearl or hand paintings.
