Sufi Rhythms for the Daf
by Peyman Nasehpour

At Right: Daf, with Persian painting and calligraphy worked on it

The Daf, the large Persian frame drum, is used in Khangah (temple of dervishes) during the zekr (spiritual chanting) ritual. Its Pahlavi (pre-Islamic Persian language) name is Dap and Daf is the arabicized version of Dap. Many Persian poets have alluded to the Daf in their works; perhaps the most famous one is Molana Jalal-al-Din Rumi.

It has become very popular these days and is now integrated into other styles of Persian music. Indeed, the Daf is becoming more popular around the world.

Here, we offer you nine audio samples of Sufi daf rhythms. For broadband, click hi fi; for slower connections, click lo fi. To download the mp3 to your computer, windows users, right click on the word 'download' and choose 'save target as' . The transcriptions are thanks to Jeff Senn of khafif.com . These rhythms are also playable on the Arabic tabla, and they are postred in MIDI at Jeff's Middle Eastern Rhythms FAQ, along with a ton of other worthwhile content.

Daem HI FI | LO FI | 4 beats - D-tt

Garyan HI FI | LO FI | 14 beats D--D-t-t--D-t-

Haddadi HI FI | LO FI | 8 beats D-Dtt-tt

HalGerten HI FI | LO FI | D-ttD-t-T-ttD-t-

HayAllah HI FI | LO FI | 8 beats D-Dtt-T-

HayAllahAllah HI FI | LO FI | 10 beats D-kT-D-T--

Maddahi HI FI | LO FI | 12 beats D-D-TtD-T---

Saghghezi HI FI | LO FI | DttDt-TttDt-

Zekr-e-Dovvom HI FI | LO FI | 16 beats D-ttD-ttD---T-T-

Please note: All these tracks are extracted from an audiocassette of the great work, Daf, performed by Seyyed Ataollah Salamiyye, produced by Mahoor Cultural and Artistic Institute, in the winter of 1997.

For more information about Daf please refer to the following articles at Tonbak Network:

Daf: The Spiritual Frame Drum and Daf and other frame drums in Asia, North Africa and East Europe.