The adufe is a square, double-skinned frame drum of Moorish origin, traditionally made of pine with goatskin stretched and stitched on both sides — the stitching covered by a colored ribbon, and small seeds, stones, or metal pieces sealed inside the cavity to produce a soft rattle as the drum moves. It’s traditionally played resting flat against the chest or stomach, struck and shaken simultaneously, by ensembles called adufeiras — and almost exclusively by women, a role documented as far back as the medieval period and still strongest today in communities like Idanha-a-Nova and Paúl in the Beira region.

The adufe’s name comes from the Arabic al-duff, and the instrument is closely related to similar square frame drums across the Iberian Peninsula and into northern Morocco. Traditional adufe songs are sung while playing, often about love or daily life — one well-known verse translates roughly as “this drum I play isn’t played with the hand, it’s played with a golden ring, my heart’s gift.” Since around 2010, a new generation of percussionists has begun developing the adufe as a concert instrument, adding tuning systems and dual-sided designs that didn’t exist in the traditional folk instrument.