Daouli (drum)

Its size varies. It is made with goat or sheep skin, and in the past also with wolf or donkey skin. The player (daoulieris) hangs it from his left shoulder and strikes the right side with a heavy beater and the left side with a thin stick. The right side gives a deeper sound and the left a sharper one. The daouli often accompanies the clarinet and the zournas at village festivals, and in the past it was part of Byzantine military music. Well-known uses today include the Anastenaria of Serres, the Pyrrhic (Serra) dance of the Pontic Greeks, and the 'Boules and Janissaries' carnival custom of Naoussa. Its name is thought to come from the ancient Greek 'depsō', meaning to work the skin and soften it.