Strike the centre of the drum for the deep doum, the edge for the sharp tek and the soft ka. Loop Maqsum or Saidi and watch each stroke light up, add the fills drummers use, then play a maqam on the oud over your rhythm.
Darbouka players build every rhythm from three strokes. Learn them here, then loop the classic rhythms and play along.
The doum is the low, open sound of the hand in the middle of the skin. The tek is the ring finger snapping on the edge, sharp and bright. The ka is the same stroke with the other hand, softer. Tap the zones of the drum, or press X, C and Z.
Maqsum, heard in countless Egyptian songs; Baladi, its heavier cousin; Saidi, from Upper Egypt; Malfuf, quick and driving; Ayoub, a rolling trance rhythm. Each one loops on the grid, with the strokes in their colours.
Rhythms are taught as a skeleton of doums and teks. Players fill the gaps with light ka strokes to keep the hands moving. Switch on Fills and hear the same rhythm come alive.
On a phone, tap with two fingers, one on the centre and one on the edge. On a computer, the bottom row plays the drum: Z, X and C for ka, doum and tek, or B, N and M. Keys are read by position on QWERTY, AZERTY and QWERTZ keyboards.
A darbouka is a single skin over a goblet of metal or clay. GOONS synthesizes the deep doum, whose pitch falls as the skin settles, the crack of the tek with the ring of the metal body, and the muted ka.
Below the drum is a fretless oud in seven Arabic maqams. Start a rhythm, then play a melody in Hijaz or Rast over it, or press Taqsim and let the oud improvise.
Tap the centre of the drum, or press X: that deep sound is the doum.
Tap the right edge for tek (C), the left edge for ka (Z).
Press Play the rhythm: doum tek, tek doum, tek. Follow the grid as it lights up.
Play the strokes yourself with the loop, then switch on Fills and try Saidi.
| Type | Darbouka (darbuka, goblet drum, doumbek), playable on this page, free |
|---|---|
| Strokes | Doum (centre), tek (edge, right hand), ka (edge, left hand) |
| Rhythms | Maqsum, Baladi, Saidi in 4/4; Malfuf and Ayoub in 2/4; fills in the rests |
| Tempo | 50 to 200 BPM, with each rhythm starting at a typical tempo |
| Keyboard | Z X C or B N M (ka, doum, tek); mouse, touch and pen |
| With it | Fretless oud in seven maqams: Rast, Bayati, Hijaz, Saba, Nahawand, Kurd, Ajam |
| Sound | Drum synthesis: falling-pitch doum, bright tek with metal ring, muted ka, room reverb |
| Requirements | Any modern browser with Web Audio - Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari |
The darbouka, also spelled darbuka or derbake and called tabla in Egypt and doumbek in many places, is a goblet drum played across North Africa, the Middle East, Turkey and the Balkans. A single skin, of goat or synthetic material, is stretched over a body of clay, cast metal or wood. It is held under the arm or across the thigh, and played with the fingers and the palm of both hands.
Arabic rhythms, the iqa'at, are written as a pattern of doums and teks over a fixed number of beats: Maqsum is doum, tek, rest, tek, doum, rest, tek, rest. The doums are the anchors that dancers and singers feel, the teks the accents between them. Drummers keep the pattern recognisable while they fill and ornament it, so the same rhythm never sounds exactly the same twice.
The darbouka shares a lot with the tabla of India, another drum of bright edge strokes and deep centre tones, and with the struck metal of the handpan. For the melody, play the oud.
Yes. The darbouka at the top of this page is free, with no account and nothing to install. It runs in your browser with the Web Audio API.
Doum is the low sound of the hand striking the middle of the skin. Tek is a sharp stroke of the ring finger on the edge, usually with the stronger hand. Ka is the same edge stroke with the other hand, a little softer.
The most common rhythm of Egyptian music, in 4/4: doum, tek, rest, tek, doum, rest, tek, rest. Baladi is the same with two doums at the start, and Saidi moves the second doum earlier.
Yes. Darbouka, darbuka, derbake, doumbek and, in Egypt, tabla are names for the same family of goblet drums. Turkish and Egyptian models differ in shape and in how the skin meets the rim.
Yes. Below the drum is a fretless oud in seven Arabic maqams. Start a rhythm, then play the oud over it, or ask it for a taqsim.
The darbouka is free, with no account. GOONS Studio adds a looper, synths, drum machines and a sequencer that play together - free for 7 days, no card required.
Free on this page, no account. Play the online oud →