The question pops up a lot. Which Riq to choose? How to get hold of Kevork, what are the alternatives?
Here a quick review of some of the models around.
1. Kevork
http://www.total-knowledge.com/kevork.net/
Kevork Krikor Kazandjian is probably the most famous riq maker in the world. His instruments are the number one choice in the middle-east and got famous in the US after Glen started playing them.
They are very hard to get and the last one on ebay sold for about 900$. The other way to get them is to contact Kevork directly which works only by phone and with a lot of persistency.
His instruments are fantastic. He has all kinds of different designs and they usually ship with 2 extra skins (in addition to the plastic one that’s on the instrument), one more plastic, one natural. He has different choices of jingles too. The simple dark brown design is the most common one, and all kinds of artworks are available too. Some of the artworks are beautifully made inlay works, some of the new ones are simple stickers. The inlay drums are quite a bit heavier than the simple wooden ones. The standard model is 23cm diameter, he also has a larger size (25 cm) with an extra pair of jingles.
Generally his drums are quite heavy, which I like, but it’s often an issue for beginners.
2. Eli Huli
http://www.nurikom.com/elihuli
Riq maker from Israel. His instruments got popular when Zohar Fresco started playing them.
Beautifully made and a very nice and balanced sound. Softer and not as sharp as the Kevorks and quite a bit lighter in weight, which makes it easier to handle also for the not-so-experienced player.
I use it a lot in the studio and in soft acoustic settings.
3. Cooperman
My first riq was a Cooperman and I played it for years. It was their old model and very light. They have a new artist series model now which has a lot of improvements including a metal bearing edge like Kevork’s instruments. I really like the skin sound, I think with the jingles there is some room for improvement. As far as I know Patrick Cooperman it won’t take too long before the next version. In regard to weight it is somewhere between Kevork and Eli.
4. DavidRomanDrums
http://www.davidromandrums.com
All DavidRomanDrums instruments come with air tuning system. For those of you who don’t know it, it is a very convenient and fast way to tune drums. (as long as you don’t forget your pump at home) I play a lot of their instruments and I like it a lot.
They don’t use plastic skins. This makes a big difference, more on that later. One advantage of natural skins is that the drums tend to sound way better in lower tunings. Another nice thing is that they customize your instrument however you want. Wood, Skin, weight, just tell them your exact specifications. I like their riq lots, but for now it is not the super-traditional sound. If you’re looking for something with a bit more punch in the low end, this one might be for you.
5. Anklang Musikwelt
http://www.anklang-musikwelt.de/
A German Company that recently started to work a lot with artists on signature models. Glen Velez Shaker and an Andrea Piccioni Tamburello (that you gotta hear, it sounds fantastic) are just 2 examples.
Their Version of the Riq is called a “Kanjiriqq”, a Murat Coskun Signature instrument. As the name suggests, it’s a cross between Kanjira and Riq. It has a natural skin head, and cutouts between the jingles. Personally I don’t like cutouts, to me the instrument feels less stable and feels weird in the soft position, but that’s a matter of taste, some people like it. Soundwise this model is also not very traditional, but more soft and warm. I like this kind of sound to accompany old music for example, where a Kevork can be simply to loud and sharp.
6. Egyptian Metal Models
http://larkinthemorning.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_MOT015_A_Professional+Egyptian+Riq_E_
These ones sound actually pretty ok, but are extremely heavy. Very loud and sharp sound, but difficult to handle especially if you are thinking about shaking techniques.
7. Elman Percussion
http://www.myspace.com/elmanpercussion
Elman is a riq maker and player from Jerusalem and started building these not too long ago. I discovered them at the Tamburi Mundi festival in Freiburg. Beautiful balanced sound, frame is not very deep which makes it easy to handle, and very light weight. One “China” pair of jingles which gives you a nice sound option. Due to the light weight you have a bit more jingle noise than with the Kevorks for example. I like this one very much.
8. Remo
Remo has Glen Velez and Layne Redmond Signature Riqs. There are tuneable and non-tuneable versions. All of them feature fiberskin heads which are thicker than the transparent plastic heads mostly used on riqs. I knever owned one of these, they are not very expensive and might be a good ooption if you want to start off and are on a budget.
Natural head vs. plastic head
in my opinion both have its pros and cons.
Natural skin:
pros: less overtones, warmer sound, way better for low tunings.
cons: have to deal with tuning a lot, sensitivity to climate, can break if you regularly tune it high
Plastic skin:
pros: no worries about tuning in any climate, sharper sound
cons: overtones can be annoying, in low tunings especially, sometimes sound a bit “artificial”
