“Doba” or “dual,” a musical instrument: membranophone: percussion: two-sided cylindrical drum with two “chibyklar” or drumsticks

Gagauz

Russian Empire, Bessarabia province, Bendery district, village Chadyr-Lunga

late 19th century

Wood; metal: iron; threads; leather; wood; threads; leather; metal: iron

height 10.0; diameter 43.0

РЭМ 4097-2

A traditional ensemble was formed from zurna players. One zurna carries the melody, and the other one drawls long low sounds. Zurna players can drawl such sounds continuously: while the air in the mouth is spent, they inhale air into the lungs with their nose. The ensembles always included percussion instruments: a tambourine with ringing round copper plates (doira/ daira/ dareh /daf) and/or a large drum (dhol in Armenian, daul in Greek, chubukly davul in Tatar, and doba in Gagauz and Bulgarian) played with sticks. A bagpipe could be added to the orchestra. Instruments with a very strong and shrill sound audible far away determined its main intended purpose, that is, to perform dance tunes and music for listening, most often outdoors.