Last night Susu and I looked over my riq collection. I think I have too many to keep track of even though I have given away all the riqs that I never play because they were really just tourist toys or because the hardware and metal made them too heavy for comfort. Tony Lammam, one of my teachers, once told me that my obsession with buying riqs was related to trying to find the perfect one that would play itself. Well, I think he’s right. But, when other musicians/percussionists who I admire, play my riqs they actually do play themselves and so musically. I guess I just need to practice even more than I do . That means practice what I can’t do well, not just what feels comfortable. It’s all about drill drill drill. This goes for dance as well as music. I think I can get a pretty good sound and then I get lazy. Or I memorize some nice riffs and only use the riffs in the particular songs I learned them from because I’m afraid to experiment and have the other musicians get mad at me. I need to quit being lazy and also need to play a little more inspired and assertive. But the riq can be a really noisy instrument and I’m afraid of being heard. I mean being heard playing the wrong riff at the wrong time or just playing wrong and sounding off the music. I know that in a takht, the riq is the master instrument over the tabla (if they even use a tabla), and it is considered the lead instrument that directs the takht or band and establishes the tempo. But, me? A master musician? I have always considered myself a dancer who became a riq (tabla and duf) player because I never wanted to stop being around Arabic music. This was and is because hardly anyone wants to see an old dancer. And, like it or not, it doesn’t matter how I feel inside, it’s what people see outside. And here’s another truth - I can dye my hair, wear tons of makeup, dress trendy; but the bottom line is - “you can’t fool mother nature” - or your audience. They see you how you are and also mother nature doesn’t always allow you to do what you used to do. So, how to continue to be involved in this art form that I love love love so much? It was learn the music, take percussion lessons, pick up a duf, learn how to play an instrument. I tried singing and then to study piano in order to learn to play my Arabic keyboard that could play itself, or at least play the demo track. Believe me - I was doing people a favor when I stopped trying to sing when I realized that if I was annoying myself, what must it be like for others’ ears who weren’t my friends or even who were my friends. I was so afraid that I would be heard playing off the music that I took tons and tons (translate that to years of private lessons) of percussion lessons to feel comfortable playing percussion. I already had and was taking Egyptian tabla and riq lessons and decided to also study other loud instruments to get over my fear of being heard. So I studied privately with various drummers I met at Haight St. Music and Guitar Center. Yes, I used to hang out there wanting to be considered a musician. I studied a little djembe, weekly conga drum lessons and then turned to the king of the loud instruments - the timbales! And so my collection of drums continued to include congas as I learned Afro-Cuban, Brazilian and Santeria rhythms. But I liked jazz too, and AfroBlue by Mongo Santamaria soon became my go-to song. https://youtu.be/TjyiG2oaRO8 and https://youtu.be/NeXdn9yUhOw When I heard Tito Puente play in that piece, I knew that I needed learn to play just like him - Tito Puente! I even saw him live in San Francisco and one time we as Susu and The Cairo Cats played on the same World Drum Festival bill as him in 1988. Of course he didn’t know me, and I felt a bit like a stalker, even eating in the same after hours restaurant in Chinatown as he did. But that was ok. Somehow he’d teach me confidence. And this meant that he also would teach me to be loud as well as confident. Or at least his records and cassettes would. So I then started buying timbales - well I bought 5 sets of them total going from beginner level garage sale to the newest and best I could afford. And cowbells, claves and blocks? I can’t count how many I now own. I met a guy at Guitar Center who would come to my house every Sunday night before Salamat Sundays and he would give me a private lesson. We would play congas, bells and timbales before I’d go to my gig so I’d get the confidence to play loud and with rhythmic perfection. Well —- It was fun anyway. Can’t really say I got any better, but when I put on my lipstick, at least my motto of “If you can’t be good, at least you should look good!” was sort of true.
Amina of The Arabian Knights Band at El Valenciano’s Salamat Sundays around 1999 or 2000.
Now while I still collect riqs and am still searching for the ultimate riq, I think I finally found one in Istanbul. Last month, on vacation, Susu, Terri and I happened to run into Emin’s, a music store in Istanbul. It was like being in a candy store but instead of chocolates, there were countless percussion instruments on the walls and in the shelves. Susu played just about every drum and riq in the place and they all seemed to play themselves. Although I had promised myself that I was through shopping for the perfect riq, I ended up purchasing yet another riq. Yes, I felt I found one that really did play itself. Well, at least, it did when I was there when others were playing it.
Although it is smaller than my Hasan Alis, Kevorks and Nakla, it is actually a bit heavier. I didn’t realize this until I got home and noticed that the hand hammered brass jingles are a whole 1/4” larger in diameter than any of the zils on my other riqs. Of course! That makes sense. Turkey is known for making great cymbals from finger cymbal size to drum set cymbals. And my new riq is just an example of the beautiful workmanship and heavenly sound of Turkish cymbals.
So, yes, while I still have to play rhythms and riffs well on my new riq, and I still feel I need to practice more, this new riq really does seem to play itself. Now I can just hold my riq and the beautiful zils just sing with beauty. They do play themselves. And they aren’t afraid of jingling with confidence. Hurray!
Videoed by TerriAnne Gutierrez while at Emin’s in Istanbul, November 2019..