This is the corrected link to additional pictures of the three riqs I have available. Please contact me if you are interested in one. For the month of November, I am offering FREE WORLDWIDE shipping* (must be to a deliverable address). Offer expires November 30, 2009.

web.me.com/tmabbatt/iWe...ture_Riq.html

I feel like it might be best to get the "official" price from Essam as he may still be figuring out how much he wants to charge. Maybe Dede or Faisal can ask him if he wants to post a price here.

It looks like a very good design. They seemed to take the principle of the tunable riqqs that have been around for a while and honed them and then outfitted them with superb hardware. They don't really patent these ideas in the Middle-East, so we may be seeing many very similar in the next few years (good for all of us) just like the "Egyptian Style" cast aluminum derbekke that was first introduced less than 40 years ago and have become the "standard" and are produced almost everywhere in the Middle-East and Turkey.
I won't be buying one right now because I have quite a few riqqs that I like very much, but if I were in the market, I certainly would consider it. Maybe in a couple of years when I can pick one up used after the person that bought it decided to take up something else. ;)

I got to compare my old crappy $30 Riqq with the Issam Riqq. The Issam Riqq is actually slightly heavier but because it is shorter by about 5mm I have a slightly better grip of it. The only other Riq that could possibly give me a better grip would probably be the red Remo cutaway Riq but the head is not tunable.

As you will see in the photos the clamping brackets are nicely machined with no sharp edges. The old riqq had square brackets that you could cut youself on fairly easily.

The sound is nice and warm. I've tried an older style cooperman in a shop once and found the head on that was too thick and seemed to drown out the sound. As you can see in the video the Issam Riqq has good acoustic qualities.

I have to restate that the close-up photos look identical (or nearly so) to the riq I bought in İstanbul in September for 200 lira ( about $135 US). David said that they are made in Syria. It is a very fine instrument and I am very pleased with it. The only difference I can see is that there is no badge on mine and no signature. The case is cheaper, too. (But it has a really cool power top loge with the bat on it!) I can post a photo if anyone cares. My point is, that there is a lot of merchandising going here. Signature models are no doubt one way to ensure some degree of quality in an otherwise sketchy mail-order/net-order world. But you a pay a premium and you have to decide if that's worth the extra mark-up. If it is, I can understand that. But the best way to get an instrument that you will be happy with is to get your hands on it before you buy it. After that comes having a good and trusted friend or associate pick it out for you (thanks for all of your help David!) Obviously few of us will be traveling to anywhere near the source (but if you have a chance to go to İstanbul, I heartily suggest you take advantage of it, amazing city, I love it). The whole signature series thing is sort of like having a trusted friend pick out your instrument for you, except this friend has a name and a reputation, so they (justifiably) charge you a premium for the instrument.

my two cents

Isfahan,
I appreciate your thoughts and I respect what you are saying. For me it was first, getting a quality Riqq to play it . Second, The person who did this project did put his heart to doing this by traveling to Syria and having different people do what he wanted. The Riqq is a typical model but it is made with care. I liked the Riqq, not because of Issam, I liked it because it sounded great period. Even if it was another person who did it, I still would support it because it is made will and sounds great.
Issam is a well respected drummer and it is important for him if he wanted to have a product out to be a quality product and not just a signature product for fame and money.
I appreciate any person who would put his heart to making a good Derbakki or Riqq or frame drum.
Also, in regard to G. E. F. Issam said that he knows the owners of the company and that one of the owners went to Syria, to the same makers that Issam used and asked them to make the Riqq for him. In the Arab world we still don't patent products like these or even care about copy rights, which is sad. So this gives the chance to any body to copy any body's work and claim it to him self. I know that Issam's Riqq is made in Syria because of a lot of signatures on it and the names of the makers of the instruments are available.
I have been to Egypt few times and I have seen the latest models that came out of Egypt and none of them has the style like Issam's Riqq. They have quality Riqqs but different designs.
Once again all the respect to you and I hope you don't think that we are over marketing the instrument. I know on tribe things can sound so big and over hyped, we are not trying to do that. Simply the instrument is good and the price is fare and it is available in the states.

Faisal

And to clarify, none of this was directed at Faisal (who happened to post while I was writing my last response). I know how much effort goes into getting a signature instrument made. It takes a lot of overseas travel and overseeing of the project from afar, and often several tries before a worthy product comes out. I'm sure anything endorsed by Issam is a quality instrument and worth paying for the labor and costs it took to make it happen.