Goblet drum: India musical instrument

The goblet drum which also be called chalice drum, darbuka debuka, kratrom or tablah is a single head membranophone with a shape of a large cup and are mostly used by the people of the middle east, north Africa and eastern Europe.

source of picture: worldartswest.org

 The origin of the term darabukka has been assumed to be derived from the word darba which is an Arabic language which means to strike. The original use of the goblet drum by the Babylonians and the Sumerians has been traced to be as far back as 1100 BCE. On Celebes one large form serves as a temple musical instrument that is set on the floor when performed and could be a survival of the ancient use of the drum. There has been some argument on the fact that they actually emanated from Europe and were brought to the Middle East by nomadic Celtic tribes. 

          The goblet drum are being played under the arm or resting it on the player’s leg in the Eastern and North-Africa and with a much lighter touch and quite different strokes than the drums that are being played by the bare hands in the western part of the Africa. There are two main type of the goblet drum, the style of the Egyptians which has a rounded edge around the head and the Turkish style which reveals the edge of the head. This exposed edge permits a closer access to the hand so finger-snapping technique can be possibly done. But the rigid edge does not encourage the swift roles possible with the Egyptian style. Some drums are produced with strap mounts so that the drum may be attached over the shoulder to enhance playing while standing or dancing. It produces deep and rich sound while it is being played lightly with the palms and the fingertips. There are three main sounds produced by the goblet drum, the first of them is called “doum” “tek” and “pa”. the doum is the deep bass sound that is being produced when a player strike the head near the center with the length of the fingers and palm and takes off the hand in order to give out an open sound. The tek is a higher-resin sound that is being produced when a player hits the near edge of the head with his fingertip this sound can also be called “ka” when a player strikes it with the secondary hand. The pa is produced by resting swiftly the hand on the head in order not to allow an open sound. Another technique that has been in use by the people of Greece, Bulgaria, and Egypt is to tap with the fingers of one hand and use a thin stick on the other hand.