The davul, dhol, tapan, atabal or tabl is a large double-headed

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

that is played with mallets. It has many names depending on the country and region. These drums are commonly used in the music of the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

. These drums have both a deep bass sound and a thin treble sound due to their construction and playing style, where different heads and sticks are used to produce different sounds on the same drum.

Names

Some names of davuls include: *''dhol'' () *''dawola/tabla'' () *'' dohol'' () *''doli'' ( ka, დოლი doli) *''davul'' () *''dahol'' (, ) *''davil'' () *''davula'' ( Sinhala: දවුල) *''tupan'' ( Goranian: tupan) *''daul'', ''tǎpan'', ''tupan'' () *''goč'', ''tapan'', ''tupan'' () *''tapan, tupan'' () *''tobă/dobă'' () *''tabl'' ( or ''tabl baladi'') *''tof'' () *''taoul(in)'' () *''lodra'', ''tupana'', ''daulle'', ''taborre'' () *''moldvai dob'' () Other

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

names for this drum include Davouli, Argano, Toskani, Tsokani, Toubi, Toubaki, Kiossi, Tavouli, Pavouli, Toubano, and Toubaneli. Additionally, other names for the daouli, depending on the area, include toumpano, tymbano, or toumbi, which stem from the (); this word exists in English in the word

tympani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally ...

for the drum section in the modern classical orchestra and the tympanic membrane for the

eardrum In the anatomy of humans and various other tetrapods, the eardrum, also called the tympanic membrane or myringa, is a thin, cone-shaped membrane that separates the external ear from the middle ear. Its function is to transmit changes in pres ...

Traditional uses

In the southern Balkans, the rhythm of the tapan is complex and utilizes many accents in numerous traditional time signatures. In Macedonia, tapans are most often used to accompany other instruments such as the zurla and

gaida Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, Nor ...

, while in Bulgaria they usually accompany

and

gadulka The gadulka () is a traditional Bulgarian bowed string instrument. Alternate spellings are "gǎdulka", "gudulka" and "g'dulka". Its name comes from a root meaning "to make noise, hum or buzz". The gadulka is an integral part of Bulgarian traditi ...

. They are also played solo in some Albanian, Bulgarian and Macedonian folk dances and songs. For centuries the tapan is irreplaceable at Bulgarian village festivities such as weddings and celebrations of patron saints of homes and villages. In Romania and Moldova the toba is sometimes used to accompany dances. In the regions of Moldavia, Maramures and Bihor there are also some varieties with a small cymbal mounted on top. They are generally struck with a wooden mallet on one skin and with a thinner stick on the rim or cymbal. In Armenia, Turkey,

Kurdistan Kurdistan (, ; ), or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo- cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. G ...

, and Azerbaijan, the dhol/davul is most commonly played with the

zurna The zurna is a double reed wind instrument played in Central Asia, West Asia, the Caucasus, Southeast Europe and parts of North Africa. It is also used in Sri Lanka. It is usually accompanied by a davul (bass drum) in Armenian, Anatolian and Ass ...

, a

wind instrument A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube) in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at or near the end of the resonator. The pitch ...

, although it can be played with other instruments and in ensembles as well. It has also traditionally been used for communication and for Turkish

mehter Ottoman military bands were the first-recorded military marching bands. Though often known as the ''mehter'', this term refers only to a single musician in the band. In the Ottoman Empire, the band was generally known in the plural as ''mehterâ ...

, or

janissary A janissary (, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops. They were the first modern standing army, and perhaps the first infantry force in the world to be equipped with firearms, adopted dur ...

music. In Iraq and the Levant, it is predominantly used in

Assyrian folk dance Assyrian folk dances are sets of dances that are performed throughout the world by Assyrians, mostly on occasions such as weddings, community parties and other jubilant events. Assyrian folk dances are mainly made up of circle dances like balle ...

and

Assyrian folk/pop music Assyrian folk/pop music, also known as Assyrian folk-pop, is the musical style of the Assyrian people derived from traditional music that includes a broad range of stylistic varieties, which would also encompass fusions of Western genres such as ...

, among

Assyrian people Assyrians (, ) are an ethnic group Indigenous peoples, indigenous to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians Assyrian continuity, share descent directly from the ancient Assyrians, one of the key civilizations of Mesop ...

, which are mostly accompanied by a

. In Armenia, the dhol does not have as large of a circumference and is usually played with the hands, although a wooden, spoon-shaped drumstick is also used sometimes. It is frequently heard in Armenian folk music, usually along with other drums such as the dap, the dmblak, and native woodwinds such as the tsiranapogh, the

sring The sring (, also transliterated as ) is a shepherd's flute originating in Armenia. Sring is also the common term for end-blown flutes in general. These flutes are made either of a stork bone, bamboo, wood from the apricot tree or cane and have o ...

, the

shvi The shvi (, "whistle", pronounced ''sh-vee'') is an Armenian fipple flute with a labium mouth piece. Commonly made of wood (apricot, boxwood, or ebony) or bamboo and up to in length, it typically has a range of an octave and a-half. The ''tav sh ...

, the , the

parkapzuk The ''parkapzuk'' () is a droneless, horn-belled bagpipe played in Armenia. The double-chanters each have five or six finger-holes, but the chanters are tuned slightly apart, giving a " beat" as the soundwaves of each interfere, resulting in a pen ...

(Armenian bagpipe), and some stringed instruments like the , the , the and some of foreign origin, like the Iranian

kamancha The kamancheh (also kamānche or kamāncha) (, , , ) is an Iranian bowed string instrument used in Persian traditional music, Persian, Azerbaijani music, Azerbaijani, Armenian music, Armenian, Kurdish music, Kurdish, Music of Georgia (country), ...

and the Arabic oud. Not only is it in folk music but also in modern music as well, even having solos in many prominent songs.Dauli - Davul of Turkey.

Construction

The drum shell is made of hard wood, perhaps

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Description ...

, though many woods may be in use depending on the region where the drum is made. To make the shell, the wood is boiled in water to make it bendable, and then it is bent into a cylindrical shape and fastened together. The heads are usually goat skin, and they are shaped into circles by wooden frames. However, one head may be goat skin to provide a higher tone, while the other head can be sheepskin, calfskin, or even donkey-skin to provide a lower tone. Some say that wolf skin and even dog skin are preferred. Rope threaded back and forth across the shell of the drum, from head to head in a zigzag pattern, holds the heads on the drum and provides tension for tuning the drum. Sometimes metal rings or leather straps join neighboring strands of the rope in order to allow for further tuning. Two rings are sometimes attached to the main rope where a belt-like rope is threaded through to hold the drum. In the former Yugoslavian republics and Bulgaria, the tapan is made in two dimensions, , at about 50 – 55 cm diameter, and or tapanche, at about 30 – 35 cm diameter. In Turkey, davuls typically range in size from 60 cm to 90 cm in diameter. Cow hide is used for the bass pitch drum head side, while goat skin is used for the thin, high pitched side. In Greece, daouli can be 12 to 14 inches for the toumbi up to 3 to 4 feet for daouli. Commonly the drum is about 20 to 30 inches.

Playing style

Players often use a rope hooked to the drum to hold the drum sideways, so that one head is accessible with the left hand and one with the right. Each hand is usually dedicated to playing one side of the drum exclusively, though this can vary by local style and tradition. Drummers of this drum typically uses two kinds of sticks. The drummer plays the accented beats with the dominant hand on the side of the drum with the thicker skin, using a special stick known as the , , or (daouli stick). This stick is a thick pipe-like stick about 440 mm long, which is often made with walnut. Its thick shape as well as the thickness of the head give the accented beats a low, full sound. Sometimes the drumhead played with the thick stick is also muted with a cloth to enhance the fundamental low note of the drum. Unaccented beats are played by the nondominant hand on the side of the drum having the thin skin, using a thin stick or switch called , , or (daouli switch). This thin stick is often held cross-grip, and the drummer can quickly hit thin accent strokes by gently twisting the wrist. These thin sticks are often made from soft wood such as willow or cornel. The Balkan school of tapan playing presumes the playing (not the accompaniment) of a melody, where the non-dominant hand is used to express all that the player wishes to say, while the dominant hand is only used to accentuate certain moments in the melody.

References