When the doumbek met the violin

TRIPUNITHURA: The doumbek in tune with the violin evoked the feeling of a thaniavarthanam. For music buffs in Kochi who are familiar with the intricacies of myriad melams, it was an exhilarating experience when Jamal Muhammad played the doumbek, a sophisticated form of the ethnic drum that originated in Egypt. As a prelude to the monthly programme of the Sree Poornathrayeesha Sangeetha Sabha, Jamal played the percussion in tune with the carnatic ragas played on violin by Sabarish Prabhakar. Doumbek, similar to the dholak in appearance, had traces of various percussion instruments  including mridangam, chenda and tabla. On the sky blue face of the membranophone, Jamal presented many intricate talas. As the tempo of doumbek gradually increased, Sabarish adjusted the pace of the movement of the bow to enable Jamal to merge with the melody. The unique feature of his style was such that the force applied by each of his fingers was different.  By applying this technique, Jamal created the effect of different drums ranging from the chenda to the dholak. The duo presented a unique thaniavarthanam by recreating the numbers played by each on their respective instrument. The fast movements of Jamal’s fingers brought out the little known rhythmic sweetness hidden in the small percussion instrument with extreme clarity in each strike. Jamal brought out the rhythmic sweetness of the instrument as he has completed an extensive research,  studying the instrument in great detail — beyond his limitation as an artist who plays the doumbek. Jamal converted the traditional percussion, commonly used as an accompaniment for all dance forms including belly dance and also for scoring the background music of many shots by the crew of the National Geographic channel, to something ethereal. The presentation of each rhythmic pattern was received with thunderous applause by the listeners. Sabareesh also proved his extraordinary skill as he recreated the rhythmic notes presented by Jamal.