Mini Darbuka Drum

About Mini Darbuka Drum Android App

The goblet drum (also chalice drum, darbuka, debuka, Kratom, doumbek, dumbec, or tablah) is a single head membranophone with a goblet shaped body used mostly in the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. The African djembe-wassolou is also a goblet membranophone. This app lets you play with a small North-African darbuka drum. Hitting the drum on your phone touchscreen with your fingers will make exactly the same sounds as the real goblet drum. This hand drum has a thin drumhead, which helps to produce a distinctively crisp sound, and a chalice cavity that helps to obtain a bass resonance. Traditionally, goblet drums may be made of pottery, wood, or metal. The darbuka this app is based on is made of pottery. The bottom is open, and the goat skin drum head is directly attached with glue and threads.
The origin of the term darabukka probably lies in the Arabic word darba ('to strike'). The original use of goblet drums in Babylonia and Sumeria dates from as early as 1100 BCE. The Eastern and North-African goblet drums are played under the arm or resting on the player's leg, with a much lighter touch and quite different strokes (sometimes including rolls or quick rhythms articulated with the fingertips) than hand drums such as the djembe, found in West Africa. There are a variety of dumbek rhythms that form the basis of the folkloric and modern music and dance styles of the Middle East.