Articles

Tonbak does not have a standard size. Some people play on a large Tonbak and some on a small tonbak. Some like Tonbaks with convex-formed body and some don't. The different forms of tonbak is not the subject of this article. Here only the five parts of tonbak will be discussed......

The tombak (also called zarb) is the principle percussion instrument of Persian classical music. Its technique involves innumerable strokes and techniques employing all the fingers of both hands, alone and in combination. Strokes on the tombak and strokes on the doumbek (Arabic/Turkish-style goblet drum) are related, but they're very, very different.

The aim of this article is to explain the basic strokes of the tombak as taught in the style of Ostad Hossein Teherani -- though this is a difficult subject to tackle in print, without visual aid. Photos of the hand/arm positions for these strokes can be found in the liner notes of the CD Iran: L'Art du Tombak (Zarb) by Madjid Khaladj (Buddah Records no. 92594)......

Tonbak is the chief percussion skinned instrument of Persian art music. In this article, I try to explain different names of the instrument and conclude that tonbak is the most suitable name for it......

Among the percussion instruments used heavily across Asia, North Africa and Eastern Europe are four broad classes of drums, known to musicologists as frame drums and goblet drums, cylindrical drums and kettledrums. This article deals with the goblet drums.

In this article I try to recall some Tonbak players of the past that there is no much information about most of them......

Tonbak (a kind of goblet drum) is the chief percussion skinned instrument of Persia. Great masters of tonbak, especially Ostad Hossein Tehrani and Ostad Nasser Farhangfar, have in recent times advanced playing techniques and have created new rhythms and have refined many old rhythms......

A recognized master of ghaval (Azerbaijani frame drum), Ostad Latif Tahmasebi-zadeh, was born in the city of Ardebil in province of Azerbaijan in Iran, 1944......

Akhlakandu: A very ancient percussion instrument. It was made of skull that it includes gravel stones in it. Today its name is Jeghjeghe that literally means rattle. It was played by shaking the instrument......

Frame drums are most ancient type of musical instruments. They have a simple structure with strong spiritual and entertainment effect. Frame drums are usually round made of wood with animal skin and sometimes metal rings or plates incorporated into the drum to provide jingle. They have different sizes; the larger drums are played mainly by men in spiritual rituals and medium size drums are played mainly by women. Frame drums are originated in the ancient Middle East, India and Rome and reached medieval Europe through Islamic culture. Similarity of the names of frame drums in these regions shows the common history of these drums. Daf is one of the most ancient frame drums in Asia and North Africa. In Iran, Sufis use Daf during their Zikr (spiritual chanting) ritual; in recent years Iranian musicians have successfully integrated it into Persian music......

Daf is one of the percussion-skinned instruments of Persia that it has become very popular these years. In Middle East there is a broad class of drums known to musicologists as Frame Drums. In this article I will discuss these percussion instruments......

Every artist has his own unique style. Therefore, any classification will be very broadly based. Modern method of playing Tonbak can be divided into four major overlapping styles. One of them is based on traditional style of playing Tonbak and recent masters have developed the others.......

Good King Bahram Gour of Persia was moved by the laments of his most impoverished subjects. They called for music, and wished to celebrate like the rich. Bahram Gour asked his father-in-law, King Shankel of Kanauj, who lived in the high valley of the Ganges, to send twelve thousand musicians. When they arrived, the king provided them with a means of living off the fact of land, giving each a donkey, a cow and a thousand bushels of wheat. After a year had passed, they appeared before him, starving. They had simply eaten the cows and the wheat. Annoyed, the king advised them to fit their instruments with strings of silk, mount their donkeys and take to the road - and henceforth earn their living from their music......

Ghaval (not to be confused with qawwali music) the Azerbaijani frame drum is played in Azerbaijani folk and art music. In folk music of Azerbaijan Ashigh (poet-musician) sings and plays on gopuz (nine-stringed long-necked lute) and sometimes composes poems in different festive occasions. The drum that usually accompanies the Ashigh is ghaval. In Azerbaijani art music a traditional ensemble contains a singer, which plays on ghaval and two instrumentalists, one plays on tar (long-necked lute) and the other plays on kamancheh (bowed spike fiddle). In modern art music of Azerbaijan an ensemble can contain more than two instrumentalists. Usually the drum that accompanies the modern ensemble is naghara (a kind of cylindrical drum that is called in Armenia dhol)......

Dohol is a double-headed cylindrical drum for accompanying the sorna (Persian oboe) to be played in outdoors in regional music of Persia in the festive ceremonies. Different names are applied for this drum in Iran and other countries. In this article I will discuss different versions of this instrument in different regions. Any other information is welcomed......

There are two systems for notating rhythms played on the tombak (Persian goblet drum). This article introduces both, and explains the various symbols used to indicate all the basic techniques of the drum......

Ostad Nasser Farhangfar was a brilliant poet and calligrapher as well as a great tonbak artist......

It is really hard for me to write in remembrance of the late Ostad Hosain Tehrani who is the father of modern tonbak. He changed the negative view that people had about tonbak and tonbak players......

Dance is to move rhythmically to music. In every age and among every race dancing has existed either as recreation or as a religious manifestation in the world. Persian term for dance is 'bazi' though bazi literally means game, playing and sport. There are some expressions that they contain the word bazi in this meaning......