Dabakan Drum

The dabakan is a single-headed Philippine drum, primarily

used as a supportive instrument in the kulintang ensemble.
Among the five main kulintang instruments, it is the
only non-gong element of the Maguindanao ensemble.

Description

The dabakan is frequently described as either hour-glass, conical, tubular, or goblet in

shape Normally, the dabakan is found having a length of more than two feet and a
diameter of more than a foot about the widest part of the shell. The shell is carved from
wood either out of the trunk of a coconut tree or the wood of a jackfruit tree which is then
hollowed out throughout its body and stem. The drumhead that is stretched over the
shell is made out of either goatskin, carabao skin, deer rawhide, or snake/lizard skin,
with the last considered by many dabakan practitioners as the best material to use. The
drumhead is then fastened to the shell first via small metal wire and then using two
hoops of rattan very tightly to allow the rattan sticks to bounce cleanly. Artists,
especially the Maranao, would then carve the outside of the shell with elaborate and
decorative okkir patterns

Technique

The dabakan is normally played while standing with the player

holding two sticks made either out of rattan or bamboo but the player
could be sitting or kneeling instead. The rattan strips are held
parallel to the surface of the drumhead and are then pivoted
between the thumb and forefinger using the wrist to activate them to
strike the drumhead’s surface along the entire length of its
diameter. The sounds produced are normally quick and muted and
thanks to the flexibility of the strips, one could
employ dampening, roll, or open stroke patterns upon
its surface.

Thanks to the exposure of many artists to western culture, new styles of

playing have emerged among the newer generation of players. These
include playing rhythmic patterns for the dabakan not on the surface of
the drumhead but on the sides of the shell and even at the edges of the
drum’s mouth. These exhibition-style pieces are used to shift focus away
from the melody instrument, the kulintang, and onto the other supportive instruments
such as the dabakan.

Uses

The main use for the dabakan

in Maguindanao and Maranao society is as a supportive
instrument in the kulintang ensemble, keeping the tempo of the
ensemble in check like the babendil. On most rhythmic modes,
such as sinulog and duyog, the dabakan enters after babandil but
in tidto, where the babendil is absent, the dabakan always starts
the piece. The Maguindanao and the Maranao usually position
the dabakan to the right of the kulintang player, near the end of
its frame, during a traditional performance.

The dabakan could be used in other types of playing other than the ensemble. The
dabakan could be used as the accompaniment for the kutiyapi, a type of
Philippine boat-lute. The dabakan plays a major role in a type of playing known as
Kasorondayong. In the Maranao version, which is in recognition of their prince hero,
Prince Bantogen, two dbakan players face one another, standing behind their
dabakans, striking them with two slender bamboo sticks while playing an interlocking
rhythm.
Traditionally, the dabakan is considered a masculine instrument by the Maranao and a
feminine instrument by the Maguindanao but as a sign of the times, one could see both
men and women handling the dabakan. In wooden kulintang
ensembles, the takemba, a bamboo zither of the Manobo, is
usually substituted for the dabakan part.
During older times, the bigger, longer double-headed
dabakan, known as a dadabooan, would be hung horizontally in
the mosque (See Kendang, for smaller version of this drum).
An imam (spiritual leader) would hit the drum repeatedly
announcing the beginning of prayer time throughout the outerlying areas. As a sign of
the times, the dabakan in Mindanao have now been replaced by more modern
equipment such as a speakerphone but the practice still continues in places
like Sulawesi, where a mesigit, equivalent to the dabakan, would be used for the same
purpose.
Origin

The origin of the name “dabakan,” is said to have been borrowed and adapted from
the Middle East. Dabakan is derived from the word, dbak meaning to “hit, strike, or
beat,” meaning that the dabakan is something upon which you hit. Scholars also
suggest that another clue is that the dabakan may have been an adaptation and
enlargement of a pan-Arabic goblet drum, the dombak/tombak.
 Requirement in
Readings in the
Philippine History

Submitted by:
John Rey P. Ellorin
BSED FILIPINO I

Submitted to:
Mrs. Loida Esoy-Alegre
INSTRUCTOR
 Requirement in
Readings in the
Philippine History

Submitted by:
Kim Christine Catipay
BSED FILIPINO I

Submitted to:
Mrs. Loida Esoy-Alegre
INSTRUCTOR
 Requirement in
Readings in the
Philippine History

Submitted by:
Jessa Mae G. Reyes
BSED FILIPINO I

Submitted to:
Mrs. Loida Esoy-Alegre
INSTRUCTOR