Music Spirituality: The Darbuka Drum

 The darbuka, also called doumbek or derbeki, is a traditional goblet-drum known for being the foremost percussion instrument in Middle Eastern music.(Sacred Arts Reasearch Foundation)

It started, like how all magical things started, from a song (imitating the opening line of Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys. Haha). The song is Dumaan Ako, it was a poem by late Maningning Miclat and then later transformed into a song by Joey Ayala, my favorite song.

What makes a favorite song? I really don’t know. It is a spiritual thing, and maybe, a mixture of the spiritual pleasures the song elements triggers, intrigues, and touches our senses. It’s seeing an elegant tree, a perfect flower, a beautiful morning. A first kiss maybe, a sweet hug in a very rainy night, a smile from a crush. These things are indescribable, as is proclaimed by another song by Pinikpikan “Walang hangganan ang lakbay ng diwa, ‘wag mo na lang pilipiting alamin pa” (our consciousness has no place of limits, don’t force yourself to understand) What I can elaborate now is how the lyrics of Dumaan Ako touched me.

Look at these lines: “Kung mag-isa ako ay ‘wag nang isipin. Sa dilim ay dapat pa akong hanapin. Habang may luha ay ‘wag pang ibigin. Sa pangarap ko ay ‘wag nang gisingin. Kaya kong maghintay sa mga tula mo, at makinig sa awit mula sa kabilang dako. At sa paglalakad sa lilim ng mga puno, matutuklasan ang laman ng pusong malayo” (Don’t mind me when all alone. I am still needed in the dark to be found. I still have tears, so don’t love me. Don’t wake me up on my dreams. I can wait for your poems, and listen for your song on the other side. And as I walk under these trees, you will discover the burdens of this heart that is away.)

Where on earth can I find a poem as lovely as this? It captivated me. It’s a combination of a favorite song and a poem. It’s a budget meal, a Gemini; it’s a feeling of eating your favorite food while in favorite place.

But if there is still an element of this Dumaan Ako experience that is more worthy to note, it is the arrangements and the musical accompaniments.  The simplicity and elegance of Cynthia Alexander’s version of Dumaan Ako soon permanently changed my standard on considering a song beautiful. This performance is what beautiful really means. That was about three years ago, when I first noticed a peculiar percussion instrument, a hand drum played using hands to be specific. The instruments sang to me alongside the violin, a shaker made of goat horns that mimic that sound of falling water (the sound of this shaker when played alongside violin is very eargasmic), keyboard, the voice of Joey Ayala and her sister Cynthia, and acoustic guitar (beautifully and skillfully played by Cynthia Alexander herself). The name of the hand drum is Darbuka. At first I don’t know its name, but by inquiring a player of this instrument, I discovered and searched for it on the internet.

The sound of the Darbuka when I first heard it reverberated in my soul. I am a drummer the time I first heard it, and man, Darbuka satisfied me unlike a typical full-set drum. I now began to think of me playing it, and owning one.

I was informed by researching on internet that the Darbuka is native in Middle East Asian countries specifically Egypt and Saudi.

My father is an overseas worker in Saudi for nearly 6 years so I told him to look out for this specific drum. He said, oo naman sige pangako ko ihahanap kita niyan (sure I’ll find you one). But the search is not that easy as it was expected. He tells everyone he knew for them to help him in finding the drum but majority of these people said “Ay malabo kang makahanap niyan” (You have a very little chance of finding one). But he don’t mind, he looked for it at every corner of the places he went, and even when he sees one - the musicians who owned it don’t want to let the drum be taken away by a Filipino stranger. One day he saw a Darbuka for the very first time. It was owned by a wealthy Arabian man. He happily lifted it for the joy of seeing and the owner smiled at him. He told the Arabian that he is looking for the instrument for a very long time. The man said that he really wants to give it to my father but the Darbuka is very valuable to his family because he inherited it from his fourth generation ancestor.

       [My father holding the Darbuka the day he bought it]

We waited and waited, until one day a man approached him saying that he is selling a used Darbuka. After a very long time of searching, he finally found a darbuka, not a brand new, but a vintage and used one at least.

All the magic of playing this hand drum started. It now became another element of my life as a musician. 

Listen to my songs featuring the Darbuka drum here:

https://soundcloud.com/rommel-bonus

Why we need to secularize Christianity.

Conservative Christian institutions build their churches to the point of it being “unreachable”. No surprise every non-Christian, or the seculars, views the church establishment as “forbidden”, or in street parlance “masusunog ako diyan”.

People who say that they are Christians and that other people must gain what they call “salvation” are being alienated from what Christianity really means: humbling themselves.

Most conservative Christian pastors prohibit “secular” or what they termed “di pa hinog” on speaking and quoting their holy book. They view themselves as “forbidden” and that they are the only one who must be speaking and quoting their holy book, while others are not. Instead of being weak to gain the weak, they boast that they are holy, to the point that no “seculars” or non-Christian or even people in their own herd wants to talk to them.

People who say that they are Christians and that other people must gain what they call “salvation” are being alienated from what Christianity really means: humbling themselves.

Most self-proclaimed Christians divorced themselves to the other ways of life. They don’t mingle on “secular” or non-Christian groups anymore; secular songs, clothing, idioms, and trends. Because the mainstream genre for self-proclaimed Christians is pop-alternative rock, they reject other forms of music such as world fusion. They reject ethnic instruments and called it pagan. They call this “pang makasalanan” o “makamundo” because they call these groups “makasalanan”. These self-proclaimed Christians don’t view themselves as “mahina rin”, that everyone is a sinner, instead they call themselves as righteous or even infallible. These things turned them “forbidden” for the seculars and non-Christians, which is why many homes refuse to entertain self-proclaimed Christian missionaries or call them in street parlance “alive-alive”, “banal”.

People who say that they are Christians and that other people must gain what they call “salvation” are being alienated from what Christianity really means: humbling themselves.

Most self-proclaimed Christians divorced themselves in having their voices about social issues. When a trapo or a political leader has done a misdoing, they were silent. They don’t participate in democratization; they don’t post and talk about it, they don’t support advocacies for State welfare, on the ongoing violation of human rights, instead they linger in their Church establishments.

People who say that they are Christians and that other people must gain what they call “salvation” are being alienated from what Christianity really means: humbling themselves.

If your church was established to save the seculars, secularize your institution and yourself. Wala ka pa sa langit, tumapak ka sa lupa.  

Conyo Culture Bearer

So you listen to Kalayo, or Pinikpikan, Bagong Lumad, Gary Granada, and other cool music you like

And respect Lupang Hinirang so tumigil ka sa paglalakad when you heard it playing, or maybe, like Joey Ayala did, you sang gusto mong magmahal

imbes na mamatay

Popular is no longer an option for you, you define your own alternative; you have your own stream. If the recipe says toyo, you experiment with bagoong. You make plain and simple two words that means magical.

You read first before watching movie adaptation, you listen first before talking and making a point. You are amazed by difference, not by common standards, so natuwa ka when you saw someone at your age carving a piece of wood, playing a different kind of instrument, listening to oldies and unique new music, talking about what is the meaning of life, writing a poem to someone he loves.

You consider your life as a book, you are turning every other page day by day, or pwede rin naman, in most magical moments; seconds by seconds. You keep secrets, for yourself and for the other people, and most of the time, maniwala ka sa akin, you seems very mysterious to other people at iyon ang dahilan why they like to dig deeper on your personality. May sasabihin ako sa’yo, gusto ka nilang makilala.

You don’t tell to other people na magaling ka and they want to be you. Instead you let them notice it, and most naturally, they want to learn what you did. Gumagawa ka ng sariling daan. Umuukit ka ng sariling kasaysayan.

You own an industry, actually; industries. When someone talks about painting, ikaw ang unang naiisip, or in film-making, or drinking coffee, or wearing a very nice shirt, o pwede din naman, ikaw ang naiisip kapag naiisip nila ang mag-isip.

You’re standing up for your own rights, and the rights of others. Meron kang isang salita, and if a circumstance happens, you know how to apologize. You don’t blame others for your mistakes; instead you claim it and use it for your own personal growth. Alam mo ang ikaw, at alam mo ang hindi ikaw.

You don’t copy, you recycle. The result is something new, something you sinasabi man nilang wirdo ang mga gawa mo. You are not dictated by bandwagon and populist politicians. You condemn killings, sexist chuvinism. Hindi mo sinasabing dapat na lang tumahimik, you participate, you post or share, nagbubulatlat ka ng sa tingin mo ay tama, you care for the society which you belongs.

Culture is for you the way of life, not an old concept written in an old textbook. Culture makes you shine in every places you go, culture makes you a light to others.

Culture bearer ka nga. And believe in me, kahit conyo ka pang magsalita, hindi ka nila madidiktahan.