Davul

Overview

The davul is a large two-headed cylindrical drum of the eastern Mediterranean region, with a wooden shell about 50 to 70 cm in diameter, animal-skin or synthetic heads on both sides, and a slung-from-the-shoulder playing position. Wikidata describes it as a large double-headed drum and gives the country of origin as Turkey, with classification under individual double-skin cylindrical drums, both heads played.

The instrument shares a single basic design across a wide region, with regional names: davul in Turkish and Kurdish, tapan and tupan in the Balkans (Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Serbia, Greece), daouli in Greek, toubeleki (a smaller goblet-shaped relative) and dohol in Persian and Armenian. It is the standard outdoor and processional drum across this entire region — at weddings, celebrations, military parades, religious processions, and folk-dance events.

Origin & History

Two-headed cylindrical drums of the davul type appear in Anatolian and Mesopotamian archaeological and artistic records from at least the 2nd millennium BCE. Hittite, Assyrian, and later Byzantine and Ottoman military and ceremonial uses are well documented. The Ottoman mehter (military) bands of the 15th to 19th centuries used a particularly large davul (the kös) as the bass voice in their characteristic loud outdoor instrumental ensemble — Ottoman military music is one of the documented influences on European 18th-century military and orchestral percussion writing.

In the Balkans the same drum design has been used continuously from the late medieval period onward, often paired with the zurna (the loud double-reed shawm) as the standard wedding and outdoor-dance music ensemble. The same zurna-and-davul pairing appears across Anatolia, the Caucasus, Iran, Central Asia, and as far as northern China, suggesting a single deep cultural-musical pattern shared across the wider Eurasian region.

In modern usage the davul retains its outdoor role almost everywhere. In Turkey the instrument is associated particularly with rural Anatolian wedding music and with the Ramazan davulcu — the traditional Ramadan drummers who walk the streets before dawn during the holy month, waking residents for the pre-fast meal. In the Balkans the tapan anchors the čalgija and zurla-i-tapan ensembles of Macedonia and Bulgaria.

Construction & Materials

A standard davul has a cylindrical wooden shell — typically walnut, oak, or beech — about 30 to 50 cm deep and 50 to 70 cm in diameter. Two heads (traditionally goat or sheepskin, in modern instruments often synthetic) are mounted on hoops at each end of the shell and tensioned with rope or steel-cable lacing that runs in a zig-zag pattern between the two head hoops.

Two different beaters are essential to the playing technique. The tokmak (Turkish) or large mallet is a heavy wooden stick about 35 cm long, used to strike the bass head (the larger, looser head) for the deep low tone. The çubuk (Turkish) or thin switch is a flexible wooden stick about 25 cm long, used to strike the treble head (the smaller, tighter head) for the sharp high tone. Together these produce the characteristic davul boom-tek-boom-tek pattern: heavy bass on one side, sharp treble on the other, often simultaneously.

A leather strap allows the instrument to be slung over one shoulder, with the player’s body between the two heads — left side struck with the heavy mallet, right side struck with the thin switch (or vice versa, depending on player handedness).

How It’s Played

The player stands or walks with the davul slung diagonally across the body. The dominant hand wields the heavy mallet against the bass head; the other hand wields the thin switch against the treble head. Standard rhythmic patterns combine the two voices in interlocking patterns appropriate to the dance rhythm being supported — typically 9/8, 7/8, 5/8 aksak meters in Anatolian and Balkan repertoire, plus simpler 4/4 and 2/4 patterns for processional and military use.

In ensemble with the zurna (the wedding-and-dance pairing), the davul supplies the rhythmic floor while the zurna carries the melody. The two instruments are typically played by men, often by family members from established musical lineages, and the zurna-and-davul pair often holds particular ritual status in the local wedding tradition (entering the wedding hall first, accompanying specific ceremonial moments).

Cultural Significance

The davul-and-zurna pair is the central outdoor-celebration ensemble across a vast region — Anatolia, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Iran, parts of Central Asia. In Turkey the wedding-music role is essentially universal in rural and traditional contexts. The Ramazan davulcu street-drumming tradition during Ramadan retains continuous urban presence in Istanbul, Ankara, and other Turkish cities, with neighbourhood drummers walking specific routes to wake residents before sahur (the pre-fast meal).

In the Balkans the tapan-and-zurla pair is similarly central to Macedonian, Bulgarian, and Serbian wedding music. The Macedonian Roma musical communities have particularly strong tapan-playing lineages — the family of Esma Redžepova and the wider Šutka neighbourhood of Skopje have produced internationally-touring zurla-and-tapan players for decades.

In Greece the daouli-and-zournas pair fills the same role at island-and-village weddings and festivals.

Notable Examples & Recordings

• The Mehter recordings of the Istanbul Janissary Band — Ottoman military-music reference.
• Esma Redžepova and Stevo Teodosievski Ensemble — Macedonian Roma davul-and-zurla reference.
• Kočani Orkestar (North Macedonia) — Balkan brass band with prominent tapan.
• Burhan Öçal and the Trakya All Stars — Turkish-Balkan-fusion reference with prominent davul.
• Field recordings on Smithsonian Folkways (the Music of Bulgaria and Music of Turkey series).

Related Instruments

• Tar — the smaller frame-drum relative.
• Bendir — the Moroccan and North African frame-drum cousin.
• Daf — the Iranian and Kurdish ritual frame drum.
• Goblet drum / darbuka — the smaller hand-played goblet-drum relative.
• Zurna — the standard partner instrument.
• Dohol — the Persian and Kurdish davul cousin.
• Tabl baladi — the Egyptian davul cousin.

Where to Hear It

In Turkey: every rural wedding, every Ramadan dawn-drumming season, the annual Istanbul Music Festival’s traditional-music programme. In the Balkans: Macedonian, Bulgarian, Serbian, and Greek folk festivals (the Kostursko Ezero festival in North Macedonia, the Koprivshtitsa Folk Festival in Bulgaria). Internationally: WOMAD and the wider world-music festival circuit; the Festival au Désert (Mali) and Roskilde Festival have both featured Balkan tapan-led groups. Recording labels include Kalan Müzik (Turkey), Pan Records, World Music Network, and Smithsonian Folkways.

• Wikipedia: Davul
• Wikipedia: Tapan
• Wikidata: Davul (Q1178361)
• DBpedia: Davul
• Wikimedia Commons: Davuls

Learning Resources

A starter davul from a Turkish or Balkan maker costs 200 to 600 USD; high-end professional instruments from named makers (Demir in Istanbul, the Skopje workshops) run 800 USD or more. Pedagogically the instrument is most often learned in person from established players within local wedding-music or folk-dance contexts; published method work is limited but the Burhan Öçal instructional series and the workshops at the Bulgarian National Academy of Music (Pancho Vladigerov, Sofia) cover the central tradition.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the davul made of?
A wooden cylindrical shell (walnut, oak, or beech) with two animal-skin or synthetic heads tensioned by rope or steel-cable lacing.

Why two different sticks?
To produce two distinctly different sounds from the two different heads — a deep bass tone from the heavy mallet on the loose head, a sharp treble tone from the thin switch on the tight head. The two-voice texture is the entire characteristic sound of the davul.

Is the davul always played outdoors?
Almost always — the instrument is loud, designed to be heard at processional and outdoor-wedding scale. Indoor performance is unusual and typically uses a smaller goblet-drum relative (darbuka) instead.

What music does the davul play?
Wedding, dance, processional, religious-ceremony, and military music across Turkey, the Balkans, the Caucasus, and the wider eastern Mediterranean. The standard partner is the zurna (loud double-reed shawm).

Is the davul the same as the tapan?
The same basic instrument under different regional names — davul in Turkish, tapan and tupan in the Balkans, daouli in Greek, dohol in Persian and Kurdish. Construction, playing technique, and ensemble role are essentially identical.