Middle Eastern Rhythms FAQ
(rhythms for middle eastern dance for
dumbek, dumbec, doumbec, doumbek, Arabic tabla, darabuka, tombak, zarb ...)
Here are some traditional rhythms (mizan, iqa, vazn, darb, dawr,
adwar) that are played as Middle Eastern and Mediterranean dance
rhythms or as accompaniment to Middle Eastern and Mediterranean
melodies. I would appreciate any comments, corrections, or
additional rhythms or variations. Send e-mail to me:
!Note: you will need javascript enabled on your browser to send me email by clicking here. Why is that you may ask?
| Translations of this page: | |
| English / text notation | (Original) |
| English / graphical notation | (Original) |
| English printable | (This version of this page is better for hard copy) |
| Spanish / text | thanks Giselle! |
| Spanish / graphical | thanks Giselle! | Portuguese / text | (in progress -- thanks Tania!) |
| Portuguese / graphical | (in progress -- thanks Tania!) |
| Français / texte | merci François! |
| Français / graphique | |
| Français / imprimable | (texte) |
| Français / imprimable | (graphique) |
| Japanese | (partial translation -- thanks NENA!) |
| Hungarian | (An older version of my drum pages. Big thanks to Csaba Szegedi -- he's working on the new version) |
| Russian | (A partial version -- thanks Zulfia!) |
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(send me email if you can translate this page into another language : folks have asked for versions in Spanish and Italian. Please help!
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Tools:
Jas's MIDI Rhythm Generator (Also click on the [MIDI] anywhere on this page to load/play that rhythm)
Palm Pilot / Handspring Rhythm Generator
Links:
Khafif Middle Eastern Dance and Music Troupe
Q: Where can I find out more about tapes, videos and other instructional resources?
Short answer; look here: " Mary Mark's Guide to Middle Eastern Percussion Resources Page".Please don't e-mail me asking me to send you tapes or instructional resources -- what I have is here in these web pages -- at the moment I don't have instructional tapes or videos of my own. Please do e-mail me if you think something needs clarification or you'd like to give me feedback on these pages.
Q: Where do I get a drum?
In the past it had been hard to find good imported Middle Eastern drums, but these days there are many places to order inexpensive, quality drums. If you are an inexperienced buyer, you may want to check for drum shops or import stores locally so you can actually put your hands on the drum and see what style of drum you prefer.See also What Kind of Drum Should I Get?
I suggest the following online stores --
- Casa Percussion -- I like these guys (maybe partly because they are right around the corner from my house), but also they are one of the biggest wholesalers of imported drums. Many other places you shop, who don't directly import, are getting their drums here anyway -- might as well go to the source. Good folks, big selection -- and quite reasonable prices. Tell them I sent you!
- Touch the Earth -- These folks import stuff from a variety of places -- some unique items. They are also SCA merchants and glad to help you find exactly what you are looking for if you get in touch with them.
- Traditional Rhythms -- Another eclectic mix of Middle Eastern and African drums, instruments and sundries...
- Mid-East Mfg -- Mid-East is one big manufacturer of the popular hard-fired ceramic-style dumbek. They also have a sizable import business for drums and other instruments.
- Soul Drums -- If you live in the Toronto, Canada area this is a good source for everything that has to do with percussion. They also run drum clinics and lessons on a regular basis.
- Arabian Nights -- This is an online shop operating out of Victoria BC, Canada. They sell various musical instruments and articles coming from the Middle East.
Shortcuts into this document:
Short Articles:
Unfinished sections:
Q: What's in a name? ( A note on naming conventions )
I use names for these rhythms which tend to be accepted among the community of drummers that I have known and the sparse documentation that exists on this (extremely folk) tradition. I have tried to note variations of name. Also note that many of the names are transliterated from some language that doesn't use roman letters so spelling may vary. Please let me know if you know of other names or local traditions.For Arabic names I've tried to use a consistent transliteration that uses capital consonants for emphatic sounds and double vowels for long vowels. If you are aware of misspellings of the Arabic, please do let me know.
For Greek and Balkan names I've tried to use commonly accepted transliterations and spellings.
In many cases the names that are used in practice are inconsistent. Folk musicians in many of the cultures of these areas often do not even name rhythms -- they simply know what rhythm goes with what song and play it.
Q: What's the deal with 4/4, 6/8? ( Time Signatures, Music Theory )
For a modern western percussionist (or musician considering rhythm) the most important thing is how many beats there are to a measure. That is: modern musicians break music down into repeating segments of the same length called "measures". The measures are then broken down into a fixed number of possible divisions. When you see that some song is in "6/8" -- that means that it is divided into measures that contain six "eighth" notes. The whole modern world doesn't use this method (Balkan folk musicians, for instance, have a pulse-length based system) and it was certainly not used when much Middle Eastern music was formulated (more on this subject below). I've tried to use time notations that would be familiar to western musicians with some notation to show variations such as shortened segments.Q: Wait! I can't read music! ( Notation )
Please check out another version of this page that does not use modern western musical notation.
I assume you know how to hit the drum -- if not I will have a section on that when I get time -- I do suggest, however, that if you are interested in playing in the traditional style you find a teacher or a good player and get them to give you a first lesson. This will hopefully save you from developing bad habits early.
In "traditional" Arabic Tabla/Darabuka, TEK and KA may be played with either hand and represent different sounds: TEK indicates either the accented strike or possibly the resonant (as opposed to damped) high-pitched sound -- depending on your methodology. However many people find it easier to learn (and teach) by using the traditional names to indicate the preferred hand to strike with.
Note that it almost doesn't matter which hand you strike with as long as you are making the right sound -- however by putting the accents on the dominant hand and following the notation for suggested hands you will probably wind up with a more "traditional sound" to your playing.
There are many forms of rhythm notation -- the most popular is standard western musical notation. I find that difficult to read, if you do please check out the more compact text version of this page.
Accents are noted above the note and suggested hand below the bar. Low notes (DUM) are the lower bar and high notes (TEK, KA) the upper. Unaccented strikes are open. Normally accented strikes are usually increased in volume and may be a different tone-style (deadened or closed). The special accent (a little X) indicates a particularly accented strike -- usually a closed, stopped, or deadened tone.
Q: What difference does a "rest" make anyway?
To a drummer, I guess the answer could be "not much".A "rest" in music is a space for a note that is not played.
On many other instruments a note can be sustained, and there is a significant difference in playing "a note, a rest, and another note" and "a long note and then another note". On a drum you don't have much choice about how long the sustain on your "note" is, but the combinations of rests versus sustained notes may give some indications about how the rhythm should be ornamented or filled. Therefore there are a few rhythms that seem very different to melodists but somewhat the same for the drummer.
Q: Where did all of this tradition come from? ( A Grossly Over-simplified Bit of Percussion History )
(If you would like a deeper look into this: stay tuned -- I'm trying to get time to write a better essay -- or start by reading any Arabic music book by Henry George Farmer. And don't say I didn't warn you -- he's hard to read -- not because he is a bad writer, but because his books are academic and full of facts and rather complex arguments attempting to reconstruct a lot of Arabic musical history and theory.)The earliest recorded history of music and rhythm we get from ancient Greece. Greek writers on the subject were fairly technical, but it seems that not much about rhythmic structure was formalized. We do know that they tended to use a system that had two values for time (long and short) where the "long" was from one and a half to two times longer than the short. Musical phrases were built of patterns of long and short -- sometimes these patterns repeated.
We only know as much as we do about early Greek music because Middle Eastern (arabic speaking) scholars studied and preserved (translated) early Greek writings. The Arabic music/rhythm tradition begins in the caravan song -- the vocal music of the nomad. Often a simple percussion instrument (for instance a stick) was used to beat out accents. As the nomadic life was exchanged for urban life new instruments were developed, poetic form matured and scholars studied earlier Greek works, a rhythmic method developed with a basis in long and short syllables(durations) and accent patterns based on poetic meter. As poems tended to repeat the notion of a larger repeating rhythmic cycle emerged.
As the Arabic speaking empire expanded, matured and moved through the greater Middle East and through North Africa into modern Spain and Portugal, it brought an academic attitude toward music. Local traditions were integrated and new forms and instruments developed. The music traditions of North Africa are still today heavily influenced by Arabic empire roots rather than by the rest of mainland Africa. That is the music is primarily monotonal and of simple rhythm. Polyrhythm and harmony are almost non-existent in Middle Eastern music. That does not mean by any measure that the music is simple. The "interesting" and unique aspects of each performance come from the "ornamentation" of the tune by each instrument rather than from the "merging" of various tones and times that is formed by harmony and polyrhythm. The Arabic (and Mediterranean) music tradition tends to be based on the soloist or small ensemble -- a natural outgrowth of folk groups and a nomadic bard tradition.
An interesting side note: Islamic tradition holds the musical arts in an odd dichotomy. Many Islamic fundamentalists have held that music for pleasure (rather than to worship or to declare the glory of Allah) is a sinful distraction -- however throughout history Islamic rulers (and no doubt the general populace) tended to patronize the musical arts.
Khalifates with courts in the Maghreb developed forms of stylized concerts that formalized many new musical as well as rhythmic structures including a complex style of concert called the "nuba". This presence in Europe, along with the cultural interaction during the crusades, was responsible for many Middle Eastern instruments and musical forms finding their way into Europe. For instance I've heard people argue that the frame drum (extremely popular in North Africa throughout history) found it's way into Ireland as the bodhran this way -- this is probably apocryphal I'm not aware of anything but speculation to support the theory.
There are numerous problems for modern students attempting to study early Middle Eastern music: Arabic writers tend to describe such things and music and dance rather poetically (in terms of impressions and feelings and effect on audience) rather than give much technical detail of form or technique. Apparently there was no standardized musical notation -- though Middle Eastern scholars were impressed by western notational methods (probably "discovered" by the Middle East around the time of the crusades), these methods did not lend themselves well to representing the more varied (in terms of tone and rhythm) music of the Middle East. Studying rhythmic modes is even more difficult -- very little rhythmic notation exists, even for songs that are otherwise quite well documented. Apparently either (as in many oral traditions) the rhythmic modes were so well known scholars did not bother to document them or they could find no good method for doing so.
Attempts were made by a number of Middle Eastern scholars to document their highly oral musical traditions; unfortunately most of these documents are not available today -- although there are many references to them in historical works. The Mongul invasions of the 'Abbasid empire and sacking of such academic centers as Baghdad in 1258 destroyed most of the relevant academic documents (not to mention the scholars!). Safi-al-Din, the author of two of the oldest surviving technical texts on music was one of the few who barely escaped the purge and wound up working in the Mongul court.
Additionally there is a long standing division between folk and academic (classical) music in Arabic tradition -- I think most scholars found it beneath them to study (or at least write about) folk music.
As the Turkish/Ottoman empire rose out of the remains of the Arabic Khalifates they adopted the court music forms of the Arabs and also further developed the "marching military band" that the Arabs had found useful in intimidating their enemies. These were loud affairs consisting of many percussion instruments, horns, and loud reeds. In this context loud outdoor instruments and music were developed, while the complex court musical scene fostered more complex musical and rhythmic forms.
Modern Middle Eastern music is mishmash of local folk traditions, the remains of ancient classical forms, and aspects of western popular and sometimes classical music. As the Ottoman empire's influence gave way to western influence during the first part of the 20th century, Egyptian composers developed a lot of music that is a fusion of western classical form with middle eastern music. This movement was responsible for bringing orchestra style ensembles and harmonic music to the middle eastern mix. In terms of rhythmic elements it seems that a lot of diversity has been lost, odd or complex rhythmic forms have been discarded or lost, in favor of more westernized, even-counted measures. Modern (traditional) Persian music, for instance rarely has rhythms that are not cycles of 2, 4, or 6 beats while historical records seem to indicate that much longer cycles were common in the past.
Recently, during the rise of the oil economies (late 20th century), cheap labor brought from Africa has brought a bit of central African polyrhythmic tradition to the Middle East -- especially to areas in the Persian Gulf.
See below for more technical analysis of historical sources.
Q: So I want to learn some rhythms. Where do we start?
Let's start with a rhythm called "maqsuum". This rhythm is common and widespread -- you will find it in music throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean.The simple Maqsum is the basis of many rhythms and is especially important in modern and folk Egyptian rhythm. If you listen to Middle Eastern percussion accompanying music you will often hear the distinctive [DT-TD-T-] of the Maqsum. I've heard Hossam Ramzy exaggerate that maqsum is the basis of all Egyptian rhythm. The simple maqsum and all the ways in which it can be embellished really demonstrates the Middle Eastern percussion tradition. The Middle Eastern percussion instruments are responsible for laying out the meter of a song but there is also room for plenty of expression by each individual instrument. In parts of the Mahgreb (e.g. Tunisia) this family of rhythms may be called "Duyek".
         | [MIDI] | basic form |
   | [MIDI] | filled |
 | [MIDI] | accented |
"baladii", which is a more folksy version of the basic Middle Eastern "maqsuum", is characterized by the familiar two DUMs that lead the phrase. It is probably more properly called "maSmuudii saghiir" ("small maSmuudii") since it has the "maSmuudii" accent and phrase but is played in 4 beats rather than 8. Some say that to play it with the traditional "feel" the accents (after the first) should lag slightly. The rhythm is generally known as "baladii" (beledi, baladi, balady) among the American belly dance community. The word "baladii" means "of the country" or "old fashion" and, I've heard, implies (in Egypt) a bit of a "hick-ness" or folk-ness. This rhythm is very typical (to the point of overuse) for modern belly dance, but the double-DUMs tend to drown out melodic accompaniment -- therefore when playing with a subtle melodic instrument that cannot easily be heard, a simpler version of "maqsuum" is usually preferred. "baladii" is usually played more slowly that a 4/4 "maqsuum".
  | [MIDI] | basic form |
| [MIDI] | filled |
| [MIDI] | "Egyptian Classical" |
An evenly filled version of a rhythm (such as the last baladii variation above) is often called a "walking" rhythm due to its even stride.
walking maqsuum 4/4
  | [MIDI] |
| [MIDI] | with the bridge |
The couple of beats you are finding near the end of some of these variations are known as a "bridge" or "chain" -- they are not basic to the rhythm, but are often played as a pick up into the next measure.
"sayyidii" (saidii, saiidii) is another rhythm of the maqsuum family. A sayyidii is made by doubling the middle DUM. It has a different flavor of fill and accent, is popular in upper Egypt (remember "upper" Egypt is in the south). It is similar to baladii, usually played fast, upbeat and powerfully. It is traditionally used for the Tahtib (a man's ritual "stick dance") as well as belly dance (especially the cane dance -- which is partially a parody of the man's version). I've also heard this rhythm called "Ghawazee" since these dance forms, and a particular style of belly dance using this form of rhythm, are popular among the Egyptian Ghawazee. This form may also be called "baladii maqluub".
Note that, although the rhythm theoretically has a DUM at the beginning, after the initial cycle of the rhythm that beat it is often alternatively played as a TEK. This tends to drag the second TEK of the rhythm earlier and emphasize the double-DUM part.
sayyidii 4/4
| [MIDI] |
| [MIDI] |
| [MIDI] | after 1st measure |
 | [MIDI] | syncopated at the beginning |
| [MIDI] | syncopated with 3 DUMs |
Yet another variation of a maqsum with different accent, Sombati is used during taaqasiim or for vocal accompaniment.
sombati 4/4
| [MIDI] |
  | [MIDI] |
I've heard some Egyptians refer to the simple maqsuum as "waaHida wa niSf". Or possibly "waaHida wa noSS" (half wahida) -- possibly because it (at least theoretically) derives from the simple form of the first half of "waaHida".
"waaHid" means "one" in Arabic. These rhythms are so called because they have a single accent (DUM) at the beginning. A particular, "waaHida sayyAra" is also called "Libi" by Egyptians due to its apparent modern popularity in Libya. "waaHida" is often used during the vocal/legatto parts of songs -- the single accent makes it easy for the drum to follow the long, sometimes stretched syllables of this part of the song where the vocallist or instrumental soloist is improvising. The rhythm part accents the cycle/measure boundary and follows the melody as the measure is stretched or shortened.
The "waaHida", since it is primarily just an initial accent with varying fill, can be used to make transitions between rhythms of various counts and fills (i.e. can be used as a "break").
waaHida 4/4
 | [MIDI] | sayyaara (slow) |
| [MIDI] |
| [MIDI] | saghiira |
| [MIDI] | "tawil" |
| [MIDI] | khafiif (fast) |
"bambii" is a modern rhythm similar to a waaHida that has a 3 DUM sequence either by finishing waaHida with 2 DUMs or rotating it so that the 3 are at the beginning.
bambii 4/4
| [MIDI] |
| [MIDI] |
If you take this "waaHida" and finish with another common 4 beat segment (making an 8),you have another rhythm, "ciftitelli", that is considered a Turkish or Greek rhythm. It is presumably named after the Turkish instrument that has strings tuned an octave apart.
It is, at its basis (if you cross your eyes a lot), similar to a maqsuum. It is usually filled as an 8-beat rhythm and has a much different feel. It is common in Turkish (and other) belly dance -- usually it is play moderately slowly and preferably (I think) with a lot of space (i.e. not all "filled in"). Drummers tend to have fun filling in the end of the rhythm in various, sometimes unexpected, ways. It is sometimes used to accompany a taaqasiim (melodic improvisation). Some drummers (confusingly) call the rhythm "taa-qa-siim". It is very confusing because a very similar Arabic word "taq-sim" means "split" or "divided" and can be used to refer generally to "maqsuum".
Egyptians tend to play simpler version of Ciftetelli than you might find in Turkey and call it "waaHida taaqasiim" or maybe "waaHida kabiir".
ciftitelli (shiftaatellii) 8/4
| [MIDI] |
| [MIDI] |
The Masmoudi (I've reverted to the common transliteration) rhythm is characteristically a joining of two 4-beat phrases. Sometimes it is called "Masmoudi kabiir(big)" to differentiate it from a 4-beat rhythm (Masmoudi saghiir). Often the first phrase has 2 leading beats. One of these versions is sometimes called "warring masmoudi" -- supposedly it sounds like a man and woman arguing. A 3 leading beat version is called "walking masmoudi" -- the even stride making it particularly suited for marching. Masmoudi's are fairly common in belly dance music -- historically they are also used in muwashashat -- they are particularly percussion-intense and make a quite convenient and recognizable rhythm in which a dancer can accent a dance.
This, as I said, is at its core the same rhythm as maqsum but it is filled as an 8 rather than a four and played more slowly. Generally speaking Masmoudi's sound big (kabiir) and the maqsums quick and nimble (khafiif).
There is some evidence that the masmoudi rhythms were used in early muwashahat music and have a more art-music basis than the maqsum which is currently found in a lot of folk songs.
The Masmouda are one of the three main groups of Berbers in Morocco. They live west of the Rif and Grand and Middle Atlas in Morocco. "Masmouda" may also be used to refer to the region.
maSmuudii 8/4
| [MIDI] |
| [MIDI] |
| [MIDI] |
falaahii 2/4
| [MIDI] |
| [MIDI] |
| [MIDI] |
Ayyuub is similar. It is a common and fairly simple 2/4 rhythm. It is played in areas of the Middle East from Turkey through to Egypt. It is used in a slow form for a tribal north African (Egyptian) trance dance known as the Zar (the rhythm is sometimes called "Zar") -- toward the west (Morocco) these same sorts of trance dances are generally done to a 6 beat rhythm. Ayyuub is also quite common at a faster (or much faster) pace in belly dance music and music for folk line dances. Some say that Ayyuub is supposed to sound like a camel walking. Bayou is a rhythm with the same time pattern but has a double DUM and is usually played more slowly -- it is often used in belly dance drum solos.
ayyuub 2/4
 | [MIDI] |
| [MIDI] |
| [MIDI] |
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| [MIDI] |
karAtshi 2/4
 | [MIDI] |
| [MIDI] |
Here are a couple of other simple 2 and 4 beat rhythms. "vox" or "foks" (could it be "fox", and named after the "foxtrot"?) is very simple 2 (essentially a march -- probably inspired by western music) often accented in sets of 4 or 8. Used in modern Egyptian compositions. Used by Egyptian composer Mohamed Abdel Wahab.
foks/vox 2/4
| [MIDI] |
jerk/jaark 4/4
| [MIDI] |
| [MIDI] |
| [MIDI] |
| [MIDI] |
Bolero and a very similar rhythm, Rhumba, are used in many places in the Middle East. Bolero is usually played more slowly and often with a sort of triplet near the beginning -- it is used to accompany songs like "Erev Shel Shoshanim" and "Miserlu". Rhumba is often played almost twice as fast (Rihlat El Ghawzia by Hossam Shaker). Although fundamentally these are 3-3-2 rhythms (like malfuf/waaHida saghiira) -- the feeling is rather different. This family of rhythms (it's ancestors) and variations were probably brought to Spain by Middle Eastern musicians (and gypsies?), adopted into Latin music and probably re-introduced in various ways into modern Middle Eastern tunes.
bolero 4/4
| [MIDI] |
| [MIDI] |
| [MIDI] |
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"zaffah" is a rhythm used in the Egyptian wedding processional. Its basic nature is that of a march. It is used in the wedding processional itself and also sometimes for belly dances that are reminiscent of these events. (Note that the related "candelabra dance" is usually done to a more up-beat 2 or 4 beat rhythm -- e.g. Saidi). It may also be called "Murrabba Jaza'ira".
zaffah 4/4 (or 8/4)
| [MIDI] |
| [MIDI] |
| [MIDI] |
| [MIDI] | Hossam Ramzy's "Big Zaffa" |
Q: OK, I've got that. What's next? ( Middle Eastern rhythm theory and more rhythms )
Now that we've discussed a few rhythms, let's back up a bit.So far I presented these rhythms in a very western way -- as evenly divided "measures" of notes. Historically and traditionally (even now in some folk music traditions) this sense of meter or measure is much less important. As I mentioned the ancient Greeks, for instance, had only a sense of stringing numbers of longer or shorter beats together. Repeating cycles were because of the song, not because there was a particular standard length of measure. The Arabic tradition follows to some extent, as does the modern Balkan music.
Sometimes interpreting a folk rhythm in our modern western musical context is a challenge...
Modern Middle Eastern and Greek musicians tend to approximate the western method of breaking down rhythms down by measures. The number of beats per measure (whether played or not) is important. Measures are made up of groups of 2 or 3 beats (or more) -- usually the first beat of these groups is the important one (that is the one accented or played more fundamentally than the others). Historically the repeating pattern was probably stressed and the sense of a fixed measure was probably weaker. Certainly it is still true in much modern music that the western notation does not capture the subtle timing and syncopation that might be important in a rhythm.
Recall the version of waaHida that has what we thought was a strange accent pattern -- leaving out the accent right in the middle of the cycle.
waaHida saghiira 4/4
| [MIDI] |
More traditionally this rhythm would be broken into segments of 2s and 3s. It would be 3+3+2 in this case:
D---__T-____T---| 1-2-3 1-2-3 1-2 | 3 + 3 + 2You might see it written indicating the segment breaks:
D---__:T-____:T---|There are a number of rhythms of this form where 8 beats are divided 3+3+2 to be found in the music of the Middle East and Mediterranean. The Macedonian gypsy (Romany) version is called "cocek" (CHO-CHEK) and has a spacey swing to it. In other areas of Greece these rhythms are used to accompany many songs and line dances and tend to be known as "syrto" (which is the name of a particular line dance, and also is used to describe the style of music). Syrto's tend to rock back-and-forth on alternating measures changing accent slightly (or dramatically) and sometimes are far from "straight" -- being pulled back sometimes to almost a 7-beat.
In the gulf region (Saudi Arabia) this type of rhythm is called "sa`udI" (Saudi) or "khaliijii" and is played more slowly and less filled with DUMs on both 1 and 3. It is sometimes played polyrhythmically with other 8-beat rhythms e.g. "karaatshii" (Karatshi) -- polyrhythm being an oddity in Middle Eastern music. Apparently this is a fairly modern musical trend influenced by workers imported from other countries (especially from continental Africa) to support the oil economy.
In Egypt and Lebanon this rhythm is called "malfuuf" or "laf" and is more filled and often accented -- most often with a DUM only on 1. "malfuuf" is used to accompany line dances and also used in more modern, popular music.
Western musicians would count many of these rhythms a 2, since the music tends to swing in and out finding accents on the first beat and then on "everything else".
cocek 4/4=3+3+2
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