Hand drum

A hand drum is any type of drum that is typically played with the bare hand rather than a stick, mallet, hammer, or other type of beater. The simplest type of hand drum is the frame drum, which consists of a shallow, cylindrical shell with a drumhead attached to one of the open ends.

Types

The following descriptions allude to traditional versions of the drums. Modern synthetic versions are available for most if not all of the drums listed through various manufacturers.

Middle & Near East

The tar is a frame drum common in Middle Eastern music.
The tambourine is a frame drum with jingles attached to the shell.
The daf and the dayereh are Iranian frame drums.
The ghaval is the Azerbaijani frame drum.
The tonbak is the Persian goblet drum.
The doumbek is a goblet shaped drum used in Arabic, Jewish, Assyrian, Persian, Balkan, Greek, Armenian, Azeri and Turkish music.
Mirwas

Africa

The most common African drum known to westerners is the djembe, a large, single-headed drum with a goblet shape.
The Ashiko is another African drum in the shape of a truncated cone. Similar to the Djembe it is rope strung. This drum is easily recognized as having straight sides (many actually have a slight curve but appear straight compared to most hand drums). The ashiko contrary to popular belief is tradditionally mounted with wild game heads such as a gazzel. Most modern Ashikos are made with goat skin as a matter of convenience or legality. A more tradditional sounding Ashiko can be created using hand picked goat skins that imitate the game skin or using deer skin (which requires more frequent tuning and maintenance). Ashiko drums are quite popular but less so than other types of hand drums and the difficulty in making sound like it should tradditionally probably explains why they are less common. Most Ashikos found in common use have a non tradditional sound to them due to different skin types being used.
Bougarabou are African drums with cow skin heads. The base of the drum is shorter than a djembe and the goblet shape less pronounced. (This is the believed by some to be the African tradditional predecessor of the Conga.)

Latin percussion

Congas and bongos are essential to all kinds of Latin American music, especially that of the Caribbean and South American regions, used in both folklore (punta, santeria, rumba, etc.) and popular music such as merengue, salsa, son, boleros, bachata, cumbia, latin jazz, and others.
The Tambora, a two-sided drum played with both a stick and a hand, is essential to the merengue dance of Dominican Republic.
The pandero or plenera, is a percussion instrument included in the group of frame drums. A set of these hand drums from Puerto Rico is usually performed in plena music. There are three sizes, primo or requinto (for playing solos), segundo or seguidor, and tercero or tumbador (for playing a fixed rhythm).
The maracas and timbales are widely played in popular music.

Far East and India

Ancient hand drum without leathers at archaeological museum of Jaffna, Sri Lanka.

Tabla are central to Indian music.
The mridangam takes the main spot in Indian classical (Carnatic) music.
Ghatams and Kanjiras accompany the mridangam in carnatic music.
Răbāna or Raban, Gáta Béra, Yak Béra and Udákkiya are used in Sri Lankan music.
One drum head in Daŭla is played by hand, which is again used in Sri Lanka.
Dhōlki is used both in Sri Lanks and India.
Klong Yao is the Thai "long drum" which is shaped like an elongated or stretched goblet and rope tuned.

Europe

The Irish Bodhrán is sometimes played with the bare hand.

New Age

The Hang is a modern tuned steel hand drum used in new age music.

External links

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