The name of various single- or double-headed drums of Spain and Latin America. In Spain tamboril is the most common name for the double-headed drum in the Pipe and tabor combination. In this form it is an important folk instrument in many regions, including Salamanca and Extramadura (gaita y tamboril) and the Basque country (txistu y tamboril). The tamboril of the Salamanca region is 30–40 cm in height and a little more in diameter, and is now typically made of tin. It uses goat-skin membranes tensioned by cords attached to paired wooden hoops and is either slung from the player's left forearm or from a broad belt hung around one shoulder.
In the rural Andes the term tamboril is sometimes applied to a small double-headed drum used to accompany, for example, pinkillu (duct flute) ensembles. The Colombian tamboril was a small drum used in the 18th century for church services. It is also documented throughout the 19th and 20th centuries as an instrument accompanying dancing. In Uruguay, where it is a major folk instrument, the tamboril is a small single-headed drum, the membrane of which is nailed to a barrel-shaped wooden shell. It is carried over the shoulder and played with two hands, one holding a stick. Four sizes were traditionally played together: chico (smallest), repique, piano and bajo (largest), although the bajo is now rarely heard.
I. Aretz: El folklore musical argentino (Buenos Aires, 1952)
H.C. Davidson: Diccionario folklórico de Colombia: música, instrumentos y danzas (Bogotá, 1970)
C.A. Coba Andrade: ‘Instrumentos musicales ecuatorianos’, Sarance, vii (1979), 70
JOHN M. SCHECHTER/HENRY STOBART