A pair of small kettledrums tuned a fifth apart, the naghghârât (naqqârât) weave the rhythmic foundation of the malouf orchestra.
The naghghârât are two small kettledrums joined by leather straps. Their resonating bodies are two little bowls of pottery or red copper, about fifteen centimetres across, hemispherical in shape, each covered with a goatskin membrane carefully scraped like parchment.
They are struck with two slender wooden sticks, turned on a lathe and each ending in a small ovoid swelling. The naghghârât player is called the naghirzân (a word of Turkish origin).
The two skins are tuned, roughly, a fifth apart. The left one, which produces the tum (muffled sounds), is slightly dampened; the right one, which produces the tak (thin, dry sounds), is warmed over the heat of a brazier.
The player holds the two sticks between thumb and forefinger, fists half-closed, and strikes the two membranes between their centre and their edges, obtaining a great variety of timbre and intensity.
Through the variety of sounds it yields, their playing alone forms a rudimentary melody. The naghghârât hold an important place: the player improvises variations around the main rhythm to enrich the accompaniment.
