Music > Persian Instruments > IS THE TONBAK UNLADYLIKE? BY PEYMAN NASEHPOUR
A Short Review Women Drummers In The World
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If one investigates in the history of tonbak, the chief percussion instrument of Persia, will notice that there is no mention to the name of any female tonbak player. This may cause some people to believe that tonbak is unladylike and it is unfortunate that some really believe this. Therefore it is natural to ask, if tonbak is really unladylike.
Up to now, so far as the author knows, still there is no professional female tonbak player that her level can be compared to great tonbak players such as the late maestro Hosain Tehrani.
In the author's opinion, the reason is not that the tonbak is unladylike. Apparently the reason is that women have not been encouraged to play the tonbak, if they have not been discouraged. And the only sign that increases the hope to have some great tonbak players in Iran in future, is that in recent years more ladies have started to play on Persian frame drums particularly the daf (large-sized frame drum). One may ask if this problem exists only for the tonbak.
The author decided to research to see if such a problem exists in other societies. It is unfortunate that the more the author investigated, the more he noticed that 'considering drums as unladylike instruments' is more or less a general traditional belief that exists in many societies.
For example in India, people believe that tabla (North Indian small pairs of drum) is an unladylike drum and so far as the author knows there is no historical legendry female tabla player, but the good news is that today there are two female tabla players that they have been able to attarct international attentions. One is maestro Anuradha Pal, the famous disciple of the late Ustad Alla Rakha Khan and Ustad Zakir Hussain and the other is the young tabla phenomenon, Rimpa Shiv, the student and daughter of Swapan Kumar Shiv.
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Also so far as the authors knows still there is no famous and professional female darbouka (gobelt shaped drum played in Arabic countries and Turkey) player.
At the end the author wishes to mention that recently a report by Boston Globe says that the Amazones, master woman drummers performing Saturday at Brandeis, have been criticized at home in Guinea for playing the djembe, traditionally reserved for men.
In author's opinion, not only drums (particularly the tonbak and darbouka) are not unladylike, but also every single day the status of women drummers getting better and better. Our duty is just to encourage women to drum.
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