I have two very different, very cool Middle Eastern drums for sale. In Turkey, they are called ‘darbuka’ … in Egypt, ‘tabla’ … while most people in the USA and Europe call them ‘doumbek’or ‘dumbek’. They are great for playing all kinds of Middle Eastern, Balkan and World music, and they are frequently found at belly dance parties and drum circles all over the Central Virginia area. Despite the simple design and structure of the drum, a good darbuka player can achieve many, many different sounds and techniques, ranging from deep, bass tones pulled from the center of the drumhead to crisp, high-pitched, tones found at the drumhead’s rim.

The first (photos #1 and #3) is a used Daveed Korup signature series darbuka made by Mid-East Manufacturing. It is a 17 ½” tall, clay / ceramic drum with a rough, almost sandy texture that really keeps the drum from slipping and sliding around while you’re playing it. It has a permanently mounted, non-tunable nine and one-half inch (9 ½”) Remo FiberSkyn head and a extremely narrow rim that makes all kinds of rim-playing techniques (including Turkish split-finger techniques) a lot easier than other, more traditional darbukas. It has a good combination of medium-deep bass tones and crisp rim-tones. The ceramic shell is a medium olive green color, has Daveed Korup’s distinctive “Seeds of Time” design in bas-relief and was designed by Daveed to be played across the lap (Middle Eastern style) or between the knees (African djembe style); there is one small knick in the drumhead (at the side, NOT on the playing surface) that I have patched with a drop of cyanoacrylate. This drum does not have a case. Last I checked, these drums were no longer in production. I am asking $110 for this drum.

The second (photos #2 and #4) drum is a new Syrian darbuka, made by Ikaa Diab, very typical of the kind of darbukas being used by every working percussionist from Cairo to Athens to Ýstanbul. This one is a medium-weight aluminum cast drum covered in a flat black vinyl / synthetic leather covering with an artifical snakeskin pattern. It stands 16 ½” tall and has a standard 8 5/8” pale blue Mylar synthetic drumhead that produces higher-end bass tones and the extremely crisp, machinegun-like rim-strikes that are essential to lead and solo playing, tuned to be heard above the rest of the percussion and melody instruments in the band. This drum is tunable and has six bolts in the collar. It comes with an inexpensive nylon case. I am asking $100 for this drum.

I live in the Museum District in Richmond, VA, but I can also arrange to meet with you in the Charlottesville and Northern Virginia areas, as well. Please here at Tribe.net if you have any questions or need additional photos and/or soundfiles. Thanks for your time!