Zerbaghali: Afghanistan musical instrument

The zerbaghali is a globlet or cup-shaped hand drum that is being played in the traditional communities of Afghanistan. The shape of the zerbaghali is said to be derived from Persian forms. With marked difference with the Persian tumbak which has wooden body, the Afghanistan zerbaghali is totally made of clay throughout the country. The zerbaghali and the tumbak can be categorized into the same family of high quality globlet drums as the darbuka and doumbek of Azerbaijan. So many other common drums are present in Afghanistan, including a skin-covered open ended drum from India, this drum id similar to the table of India and dholak of Pashtun, a double drum which is played by hand in a similar position to the dohol and is hung around the neck with a ribbon and played with pair of sticks.

            

Drums may be shiny or unglazed but the zerbaghali is more durable than ordinary clay and more expensive than any ordinary drum. Some are made of wood, the skin glued and held to the edge with a long flat piece of red goatskin. When needed, the skin can be taken near fire to tighten it and make it strong. In recent days, the musicians have learned to apply something like black paste known as Syahi to manipulate the tone of the drum going by the Indian tradition. Also the size can vary very much starting from a range of 30 inches in diameter and a length of 45cm.

      

To play this drum, the player will have to sit cross-legged on the floor with the drum under his left armpit or he may lay it in a horizontal form over his two legs. The beat is mostly kept by the use of right hand. In rural areas of Afghanistan, no special technique is employed as playing zerbaghali is primitive and is played all through the country except in the far north of Afghanistan.

            
In the early times of the 20^th century, the zerbaghali was not very rampant in Herat as dohol was more important then. The zerbaghali was introduced to Herati tea houses as a musical backing to the Persian dutar in the early 1950s and in 1970s, band groups started using 14-string dutar, an Indian harmonium or rubab and zerbaghali and the Germans registered some group of musicians playing zerbaghali.