Membranophones

My first encounter with the tarambuke took place in the theatre. A band was playing an energetic dance and suddenly I heard rhythmic beats that awakened forgotten memories. Vivid colours, strange voices and sweet perfumes came surging back to take the shape of an exotic fairytale festival.

It was in India. We had been invited to a wedding. A very young musician played a strange instrument that looked a little like the one producing the rhythmic sounds in the Bulgarian theatre. The young man wore a long white tunic. His skilful hands beat the drum rapidly and lightly.

It is this memory that inspired me to find out more about the Bulgarian instrument called the tarambuke. I learned that it is an instrument of the membranophone family and is always played together with other folk instruments. Its sound is soft and low. The tarambuke provides a background rhythm for songs. It fills your heart with joy and makes you want to dance. It creates a party atmosphere.

This is an instrument you can hear being played at parties and gatherings. I was very interested to learn that the tarambuke is of Eastern origin. That made me think that there must be a relationship between the Indian and Bulgarian instruments and that there may perhaps be a link between these two very different cultures.

The tarambuke is an instrument with a single vibrating body that belongs to the family of membranophones. Musicians obtain sounds from it by hitting it with both their palms and fingers.

The tarambuke is made of a long narrow earthenware cask shaped like a bottomless vase. A skin is stretched taut over its largest opening while the smaller opening is left open. The musician holds the instrument under the left arm or between the knees. The left hand rests on the hoop that attaches the skin head leaving the four fingers free to produce light quick compound rhythms. The palm and fingers of the right hand emphasize the basic rhythm.

The tone of the tarambuke is soft, light, tender and very unique. It is an accompanying instrument that goes well with other traditional instruments like the zourna (a kind of shawm), the caval (end-blown flute) and the tanbura (lute) as well as voices. It can be found over a wide area especially in the Pirin Mountains. The instrument originated in the Middle East.