Having played darbouka since youth, an activity not common among Egyptian girls, Sabrine El Hossamy, aka Sabrine Darbuka, proceeded to take the art and move away from the concept that it must be tied to belly dancing. She opted instead to run with it into various genres such as jazz, and break the barriers that traditional rhythms can place. Her album Darbuka Heat is a voyage around many countries, including Egypt, Turkey, Austria, Spain and Hungary, and involved a number of musicians from these places. Sabrine is creative, and above all open minded when it comes to her approach to rhythm.
Countless collaborations later, in a multitude of countries, Sabrine decided to open a rhythm school in Cairo, Dom Tak Cairo Rhythm House, in which she aims to teach rhythm in a fully interactive way that pushes the practice beyond the drum itself, focusing on collective learning and all-inclusiveness. She specifically emphasized her focus on teaching girls.
After she opened the D-CAF festival with her hypnotic performance in which she played darbouka and daf with an interactive light installation, Sabrine sat with us to talk about her history with rhythm, her collaborations, and of course her love for teaching.
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