Daf (musical instrument)

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A Persian woman is playing Daf. Wall painting in the Tschehel Sotun Palace in Isfahan from the 17th century
Painted Daf

Daf ( Arabic - Persian دف), also daff, deff, def, tef, duff , is the supraregional name for different frame drums that are common from the Middle East , southern Central Asia and India via the Arab countries to the west, to the Maghreb and south-east Europe. There are versions with and without a clamp ring or metal rings loosely attached to the inner surface of the frame.

Distribution and Etymology

While the name tambourine is common in different variations in Europe, frame drums in Iran , Uzbekistan , Armenia and Azerbaijan are called daf in variations of the spelling . In Turkey are def and tef usual, in Macedonia , Serbia , Bosnia , Albania , Herzegovina def and North Greece defi . The daph occurs in northern India and the duff in the Swahili music of Tanzania . The name can still be found in the Portuguese rectangular frame drum adufe

The plucked rubab is accompanied by the frame drum dāireh ( daira, dāyere, doira ) in Afghan music . The distribution regions of daf and daira overlap in many areas, with daf rather classical and entertaining music of the men and daira is more connected to the folk music of women.

A regional name for frame drums in the countries mentioned is gaval. In the Arabic music is riq widespread. Another name for a frame drum with or without a clamp ring is tar . The daf , which is only played in folk music (by the musician daffali ) in central India, corresponds to the southern Indian frame drum kanjira .

Daf and similar spellings are onomatopoeic derived from Semitic DAB or TAP . A Sumerian frame drum has been handed down as ADÂP . As evidenced by the related Hebrew word tof and also in ancient Egypt , round or rectangular frame drums were meant.

Design and style of play

Dafs consist of a flat, circular wooden frame , often made of plane wood, which is covered on one side with goatskin or sheepskin . The diameter can be up to 60 centimeters or more. In the Maghreb, a frame drum called deff is played, which consists of a square wooden frame covered on both sides with camel skin. The membranes are attached with copper nails. Andalusians are said to have introduced them during their retreat from the Iberian Peninsula in the 13th to 15th centuries . A daf is held between the fingers of one hand or both hands on the frame at chest or head height and is usually struck with the fingers in a vertical position.

Turkish frame drums with a bell ring are called zilli def or zilli tef , where zil is the Turkish name for cymbals .

Frame drums have an important function in the ceremonies of the Sufi brotherhoods, consisting of recitations ( dhikr ) , chants and dances . The easy-to-hold Dafs are particularly popular at Arab wedding celebrations, where they are called tabl al-nikah ( ṭabl , "drum", nikah , "wedding").

A large, heavy frame drum in the Near and Middle East is called mazhar . It has a frame measuring 50 centimeters in diameter and 12 centimeters in height. The deep-sounding instrument is used for popular Islamic rituals, especially by women in the tsar cult . Arabic musical influences brought the Daf to the Taarab style of music on the East African coast.

A related frame drum with snare strings is the bendir played in the Maghreb .

Well-known Iranian Daf virtuosos (selection)

literature

  • Guido Facchin: Daff, In: Le Percussioni. Storia e tecnica esecutiva nella musica classica, contemporanea, etnica e d'avanguardia. Zecchini Editore, Varese 2014, pp. 489-508.
  • Jean During, Zia Mirabdolbaghi, Dariush Safvat: The Art of Persian Music . Mage Publishers, Washington DC 1991, ISBN 0-934211-22-1 , pp. 142-145.
  • Nasser Kanani: Daff. In: Traditional Persian art music: history, musical instruments, structure, execution, characteristics. 2nd revised and expanded edition, Gardoon Verlag, Berlin 2012, p. 181 f.
  • Madjid Khaladj, Philippe Nasse: Le Tombak. Méthode d'initiation à la percussion persane. Supplement to the DVD, Improductions / École de Tombak, Bornel (La Salon de Musique) 2004, p. 64 f. ( Le Daf ).

See also

Web links

Commons : Dafs  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ www.grassie.net: The complete painting .
  2. ^ R. Conway Morris, Cvjetko Rihtman, Christian Poché, Veronica Doubleday: Daff . In: Stanley Sadie (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , Vol. 6 . Macmillan Publishers, London 2001, p. 832.
  3. ↑ Jean During: Gaval. In: Encyclopædia Iranica
  4. ↑ Laurence Picken : Folk Musical Instruments of Turkey. Oxford University Press, London 1975, pp. 133f, ISBN 0-19-318102-9 .
  5. ↑ Madjid Khaladj, Philippe Nasse: Le Tombak. Méthode d'initiation à la percussion persane. Supplement to the DVD, Improductions / École de Tombak, Bornel (La Salon de Musique) 2004, p. 65.
  6. ↑ Viviane Lièvre: The Dances of the Maghreb. Morocco - Algeria - Tunisia. (Danses du Maghreb d'une rive à l'autre, 1987). Otto Lembeck, Frankfurt am Main 2008, p. 93, ISBN 978-3-87476-563-3 (translated by Renate Behrens).
  7. ↑ Nasser Kanani: Daff. In: Traditional Persian art music: history, musical instruments, structure, execution, characteristics. 2nd revised and expanded edition, Gardoon Verlag, Berlin 2012, p. 181 f.
  8. ↑ Gerda Sengers: Women and Demons. Cult Healing in Islamic Egypt. (International Studies in Sociology and Social Anthropology, Vol. 86). Brill, Leiden 2001, p. 111, ISBN 978-90-04-12771-5 .
  9. ↑ Youtube: Bigjeh-Khani & Farnam (3/3) .