The Dammam ( Arabic الدمام, DMG al-dammām) is a large double-headed cylinder drum or frame drum played by Shias in Iraq and Iran in religious ceremonies. The dammām is usually struck with the left hand and a curved stick in the right hand, especially during passion plays in the mourning month of Muharram or to wake up the devotees early in the morning of Ramadan.

Doubtful cylinder drums, worn by standing musicians on a belt around their hips and played with both hands, are illustrated as first known in the Middle East in the Neo- Assyrian period (first half of the 1st millennium BC). In Iraq, the dammām is one of the drums commonly called tabl, which can be tubular drums or kettle drums. Medieval authors only exempted the flat frame drums (duff) from this classification. The grammarian al-Mufaddal ibn Salama (died around 904) mentions the single-skinned beaker drum in addition to the two-skinned cylinder drum tablkabar (precursor to today's darbuka) and the dubious hourglass drum kūba. Cylindrical drums, together with the small pair of kettle drums naqqāra (pl. nuqqāirāt), the medium-sized kettle drum kūs (pl. kūsāt ), gongs (tusūt), bells (dschalādschil) and various wind instruments belonged to the medieval military bands, which were up to 40 strong and were used to represent the ruler. The instrument's are illustrated in the painter Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti's miniature illustrations from 1237 in Baghdad, in the manuscript Maqāmāt ("Assemblies") of al-Hariri.

In today's classical Iraqi music (maqām repertoire), the "Baghdad ensemble" (al-schālghī al-baghdādī) plays to accompany the song with the melody instruments santūr (dulcimer) and jūza (four-string spiked fiddle with coconut resonator) as well as the rhythm instruments tabla (name of the Goblet drum darbuka), duff (frame drum), and naqqāra (pair of kettle drums). Cylindrical drums do not appear in classical music. In folk music, various drums are used to accompany singing and dancing, such as the double-headed round frame drum tabl, which tabl al-ardah means when it is used for the Arab group dance of men, ardah, cultivated in southern Iraq. Throughout the country, the ensembles tabl wa surnā (“drum and bowling oboe”) are on the move for festive entertainment, which correspond to the ensembles davul – zurna in Turkey and the ensembles davul – zurna in the Balkans and tapan – zurla.

The same types of drums—frame drums, goblet drums, kettle drums, and cylinder drums—are also found in Iranian music. Barrel drums, hourglass drums and large kettle drums known from pre-Islamic depictions probably disappeared from the Iranian Highlands after the 14th century. The barrel drum doholak survived in Balochistan, while all three drum types mentioned are widespread further east in India. On the other hand, the hand-played goblet drum tombak and the frame drum duff are essential to classical music in Iran .

The drums played with sticks in folk music are functionally differentiated from this. The sticks are usually bent at the end and wrapped with fabric. In addition to the dammām, drums used regionally in folk music include the large double-headed cylinder dohol (dhol in India) and small kettledrums played singly or in pairs. In addition to being a generic term for drums, tabl can mean a small cylindrical drum that is struck with sticks on both heads.

Dammāma used to be the name of a small double-headed drum in southern Iran, or a kettle drum. Another name for dammāma was dabdaba, and dabdabi used to be called the small cylinder drum doli in Georgia.

The body of the dammām consists of a thin-walled hollowed-out wooden trunk or a metal tube. The two skins made of goat skin are tied to thick palm fiber cords, which are tightened against each other by a continuous Y-shaped lacing. The size of the drum and the type of lacing are variable over a wide range. To change the drum sound, either the lacing is retied at its ends, or a secondary lacing placed across the middle is stretched taut. As with the bass drum, modern metal-bodied drums have clamping rings that are adjusted with clamping screws. The musician, who plays standing, holds the cylinder drum hanging on a strap over his left shoulder horizontally or slightly inclined to the left and below at hip height and hits the left skin with his hand and the right skin with a bent stick.

In the narrower sense, dammām, specified as ad-dammām al-mudala, denotes a large frame drum with a body height of only nine to twelve centimeters and a five, seven or octagonal shape. This drum hangs horizontally from a strap around the neck in front of the player's stomach, who hits it on top with a stick in his right hand. With his left hand he holds the drum by the frame or belt.