Filling in the sound

I wanted to write a bit about what type of sound we are going for as a troupe. I have been looking at a goodly number of other Middle-Eastern drum groups, bands, and ensembles here in the United States.  For the most part they seem to consist of mostly doumbek players with the occasional riqq […]

Rehearsal: July 29, 2009

Drumming for dancers is a lot of fun, even during rehearsals, but as a troupe we still have a lot to work ahead of us.  The work is fun though, because even the worst hour drumming is still an hour well spent. We had a bit of an uneven start.  Everyone was on time, but […]

Rehearsal tonight with the dancers

Going to the dance studio tonight, to drum for the dancers and work on our changes, and probably on the intro as well. We are going to be playing the Nawari in our 4/4 mix for the first time tonight, so we need to see if it helps the dancers, or throws them off. A […]

You play a what? Part 2: Tar, Bendir, Daf, Tambourine and Riqq

Part 1 was essentially all of the lap drums.  Now for the hand held, frame drums. Tar This is a very basic frame drum, usually somewhere between 10” and 18” in diameter, although some are certainly larger.  It is held by the frame with the left hand at the bottom of the drum, pinching the […]

You play a what? Part 1: Doumbek, Tonbak, Darbuka, and Tabla

At the urging of a few people who are reading this, and because this has come up within the troupe as well, this is probably a good time to go over the various instruments that we hit with our hands. Let me start though with a word of advice: Take all of the following with […]