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Posted: **Tue Aug 08, 2006 7:03 am**

Hi everyone!
I´ve just got hold of a darbuka (GEWA) and although the overall sound is quite OK, I´m wondering about the way of tuning. I´m used to tune my congas, but is it the same with a darbuka (circular mode etc.)?

Any help on the secrets of tuning and especially fine-tuning is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Posted: **Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:15 am**

hey man
i tune my darbouka in a circular mode
i play my TAK's just over the 6 screws of tuning and try to make them sound equal
plus the sound is not everything in darbouka you should also get the most comfortable position of the rim
if your darbouka is not a very good one you might have problem concerning the rim and you might hurt your hand while playing
you know its pretty hard to describe the tuning because you should know the sound
try to get some recordings and imitate the sound of the DOM

Posted: **Tue Aug 08, 2006 3:08 pm**

Thanks Gilbert,

as far as the perfect sound is concerned, I have got a great model, a truly fantastic superhero indeed: Yoni´s playing on the video knocked me sideways!!!!
I´m just a humble beginner on the darbuka, therefore I have cosen the Egyptian-style mode with the curved top which is quite comfortable to play.

I LOVE the doum - sound, but the rim-near-sound is not really as sharp and metallic as I want it - I guess my technique is pretty poor yet

As to the synthetic heads: Are there any differences in quality?
Everyone knows about the great variety of sound quality with the conga heads, but is it very different with the darbuka heads, I wonder?

Posted: **Tue Aug 08, 2006 7:53 pm**

Mike wrote:Thanks Gilbert,

as far as the perfect sound is concerned, I have got a great model, a truly fantastic superhero indeed: Yoni´s playing on the video knocked me sideways!!!!
I´m just a humble beginner on the darbuka, therefore I have cosen the Egyptian-style mode with the curved top which is quite comfortable to play.

I LOVE the doum - sound, but the rim-near-sound is not really as sharp and metallic as I want it - I guess my technique is pretty poor yet

As to the synthetic heads: Are there any differences in quality?
Everyone knows about the great variety of sound quality with the conga heads, but is it very different with the darbuka heads, I wonder?

the rim-near sound is called TAK and its hard to play with the left it needs some time
as for the DOM be carefull because yoni's video is on Daholla not darbouka

the synthetic heads are used now because they can be tuned as opposed to the natural skins which are only fitted on clay darbukas
the natural skins needs a source of heat always to stay tightened so they are not practical anymore

if you want record a sound sample of your darbouka and i can tell if its in tune or not

Posted: **Wed Aug 09, 2006 8:20 am**

Hi

Check out the Kobi Hagoel book below, Great book on Middle eastern rhythms.

[http://www.knockonwood.co.uk/details.asp/percussion/605/buy/the_art_of_middle_eastern_rhythm.htm

Ricky

Edited By ricky linn on 1155111647

Posted: **Wed Aug 09, 2006 5:19 pm**

ricky linn wrote:Hi

Check out the Kobi Hagoel book below, Great book on Middle eastern rhythms.

[http://www.knockonwood.co.uk/details.asp/percussion/605/buy/the_art_of_middle_eastern_rhythm.htm

Ricky

i saw that book and honestly its just a gallery of rythms, in the middle east we only use around 15 rythm and the rest are just for putting in books
for me rythms arent very important , the technic is .
you should hear music to see which technic you choose : turkish or egyptien

Posted: **Thu Aug 10, 2006 3:32 pm**

Listening to music sounds like a good idea indeed!

Do you have any tips or hint as to Egyptian music?

Posted: **Thu Aug 10, 2006 7:44 pm**

check out this link it contains alot of egyptien and turkish music but you have to register to be able to download

http://forum.eftekasat.net/index.p....rum=186

Posted: **Fri Aug 11, 2006 12:55 pm**

Thanks,
I´ve just registered. Let´s see what music awaits me...

Posted: **Fri Aug 11, 2006 3:47 pm**

Wow, Gilbert,

the music is .... fantastic! Lots of inspiration, superb mp3s....

Thanks again.

Posted: **Sun Aug 13, 2006 10:22 pm**

Hey Mike, Hey Gilbert,

Mike, in Turkish style there is Ahmet Misirli and his brother Levent, well worth checking out. Hossam Ramzy is a father and innovator in Egyptian style... I didn't check out Gilbert's link yet but I bet it's full of great stuff. The masters I mentioned come to mind at the moment.

Glad you enjoyed my clip!
There's a site called iqaat.com about darbouka with video clips, but two of Ahmet's there I couldn't get to play. On youtube I saw a clip of a young guy, maybe Turkish, who does a "split hand" thing on 2 darboukas - wild!

Enjoy!

Edited By yoni on 1155507821

Posted: **Sun Aug 13, 2006 11:33 pm**

hey yoni

i saw this guy on youtube and i was amazed by his technic very fast left hand

Posted: **Mon Aug 14, 2006 4:40 am**

Hey Gilbert,

Yeah that guy is something else. He was doing rolls with fingers of just one hand, maybe with 3 fingers - I think I once saw a roll like that used on frame drum, but I'm not sure. Anyway he's great!
I hope you are staying safe, and getting to play.

Posted: **Mon Aug 14, 2006 9:24 am**

hey
you're right he's doing a roll with his left only i saw something like this before on darbouka
btw today is the first day of cease fire i think everything is going back to normal

Posted: **Mon Aug 14, 2006 11:57 am**

gilbert wrote:hey
you're right he's doing a roll with his left only i saw something like this before on darbouka
btw today is the first day of cease fire i think everything is going back to normal

Amazing, that one-handed roll!

Yeah, let's hope things go back to normal - and improve!

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Darbuka aka Doumbek question - Tuning