Iqa'at, usul, the Persian six, the Caucasus
· 54 rhythms · 5 traditions
54 Arabic, Turkish, Persian and Caucasus rhythms, maqsum, baladi, saidi and aksak among them, the Arabic ones written as dum and tak, on a metronome.
The Arab world's 4/4: dum tak, tak dum, tak. Everything from Umm Kulthum to the wedding band.
This page holds 54 rhythms of the Middle East, Persia and the Caucasus, each playable on the metronome at its own tempo, the Arabic ones written as dum, tak and rests where their strokes fall. There are 21 Arabic iqa'at such as maqsum, baladi and sa'idi, 19 Turkish usul including aksak, seven Persian rhythms and seven from the Caucasus and Central Asia, the shashmaqom included.
Arabic rhythm begins in the mouth. An iqa', a recurring rhythmic cycle, is spoken as dum, the low open stroke, and tak, the higher rim stroke, some players adding ka for the opposite hand, and the rests are part of the sentence. Maqsum is D T, gap T, D, gap T, gap, not eight equally busy units.
On the Arabic rows D, T and k sit under the sounded units and hollow boxes are rests, with the stronger click on the dums, which usually carry more weight. A click has no darbuka tone or touch, so speak the strokes first, a low tabletop tap for dum and a higher finger tap for tak, every rest measured.
Maqsum is the broad everyday four of Arabic music. Baladi puts two dums at the front; sa'idi moves them towards the middle and is associated with Upper Egyptian stick dance. Malfuf is a fast two for entrances and processions, and sama'i thaqil stretches ten as 3+2+2+3 for the muwashshah and the Ottoman sama'i.
Turkish usul uses related strokes, düm and tek, within its own rhythmic theory. Aksak, limping, names the 9/8 shape 2+2+2+3 and a wider family of uneven metres; say "quick, quick, quick, slow" rather than nine identical eighths, giving the last group three units.
Curcuna shares a 3+2+2+3 ten with the Iraqi jurjina and the slower aksak semai, though tempo, stroke pattern and setting keep them distinct, and so does the catalogue.
Persian classical music offers forms rather than a fixed library of drum cycles. Reng is a six for the dance that can close a dastgah performance; chahármezráb is a fast metered solo form in several metres, so its listed six and twelve are examples, not definitions.
Start with Maqsum, Malfuf and Aksak.
An Arabic iqa’ is a cycle of strokes spoken before it is played. Dum is the low, open stroke and tak the higher rim stroke, marked D and T in the boxes, with hollow boxes for rests. Each iqa’ sits on the grid its strokes fall on, so Maqsum, spoken of as a four, fills eight eighth-note boxes: dum, tak, rest, tak, dum, rest, tak, rest. Count all eight lightly, the rests included.
Maqsum runs through Arabic popular music, from a singer’s accompaniment to the wedding band. Baladi puts two dums at the front (dum, dum, rest, tak, dum, rest, tak, rest) and Sa’idi moves the pair to the middle (dum, tak, rest, dum, dum, rest, tak, rest); play the three in a row and listen to what moves. Wahda is one dum and a later tak, a quiet floor under a taqsim. Malfuf is a fast two for entrances and processions, grouped by its metric division, which is not the same as its attack cell.
Masmoudi kabir follows the common sixteen-unit outline. Sama’i thaqil groups ten as 3+2+2+3; speak its four group openings before adding the strokes. Jurjina is a much faster ten whose Iraqi stroke pattern is not every Turkish Curcuna, though the names and lengths meet. Karsilama is nine as three twos and a three, “quick quick quick slow”. The long muwashshah cycles are not in the catalogue, for want of a stroke transcription.
The click gives the timing and the chosen accents, not a darbuka. Speak “dum” and “tak” on Maqsum’s marked boxes and whisper a number on each hollow one, then play Baladi at the same pace.
Start with Maqsum, Baladi and Sama'i thaqil.
Marks: D is dum, the low stroke, or a down strum; T is tak, the high stroke, or the thumb; k is ka, the light stroke.
The Arab world's 4/4: dum tak, tak dum, tak. Everything from Umm Kulthum to the wedding band.
Maqsum is the widely used Arabic four written across eight eighth-note units. Speak D T, rest T, D, rest T, rest, with dums on 1 and 5. You hear it in songs, dance music and wedding bands across the Arab world. Tap dum low and tak high on a table. Keep counting through units 3, 6 and 8, because those silences give the pattern its shape.
Maqsum with two dums up front: earthy, Egyptian, the belly dancer's home rhythm.
Baladi uses the same eight-unit frame as maqsum but opens with two dums. Speak D D, rest T, D, rest T, rest. The weight on units 1 and 2 gives it a grounded Egyptian character, often heard in dance accompaniment. Practise alternating baladi and maqsum every cycle. If the second dum keeps turning into a tak, isolate the first four units until the opening is automatic.
Upper Egypt's stick-dance rhythm: the two dums land in the middle.
Sa'idi is an Upper Egyptian rhythm associated with stick dance. On the eight-unit grid, speak D T, rest D, D, rest T, rest. The paired dums sit on 4 and 5, crossing the middle of the cycle. Count all eight units while stressing that central pair. Practise slowly with one hand for both dums so their tone matches before adding faster ornamentation that the metronome does not show.
'Wrapped': a fast two with a dum and two taks, the rhythm of entrances and processions.
Malfuf is a fast two used for entrances and processions. Across eight sixteenth-note units, the strokes fall as D on 1, T on 4 and T on 7. Count “one two three, four five six, seven eight”, hearing a 3+3+2 attack shape inside the even grid. Play only those three strokes first, and keep the five rests exact before adding speed.
The trance rhythm of the zar: a galloping two.
Count it as 4 + 4, with the weight on 1, 5, and nothing on 2, 3, 6, 8.
'One': a single dum a bar, the taqsim's quiet floor.
Count it as 4 + 4, with the weight on 1, and nothing on 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8.
The big masmoudi: two dums to open, over eight slow beats (the common sixteen-unit skeleton).
Count it as 4 + 4 + 4 + 4, with the weight on 1, 3, 9, and nothing on 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16.
The slow eight of the solo dancer, in the common Arabic skeleton; the Turkish çiftetelli and the Greek tsifteteli are its cousins.
Count it as 4 + 4 + 4 + 4, with the weight on 1, 9, 11, and nothing on 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16.
Ten as three-two-two-three, the muwashshah's and the Ottoman sama'i's cycle.
Sama'i thaqil is a ten-beat classical cycle grouped 3+2+2+3. Its common skeleton places D on 1, T on 4, D on 6, D on 7 and T on 8. It appears in the muwashshah and Ottoman sama'i. Count the four groups aloud and resist flattening them into five pairs. Practise the group starts with claps before adding the internal stroke pattern.
The fast dance ten of Iraq and Kurdistan, the Turkish curcuna.
Count it as 3 + 2 + 2 + 3, with the weight on 1, 5, 7, and nothing on 2, 6, 8, 10.
Nine as three twos and a three, the face-to-face dance of Thrace and Anatolia.
Karşılama is a 9/8 face-to-face dance of Thrace and Anatolia, grouped 2+2+2+3. The common stroke skeleton places D on 1, T on 3, D on 5, then T T on 7 and 8. Count three quick groups and one slow group. Keep the last three flowing rather than inserting a pause before them. Walk the pattern rather than counting to nine.
Seven as three-two-two, an Egyptian classical cycle.
Count it as 3 + 2 + 2, with the weight on 1, 4, and nothing on 2, 5, 7.
Seven slow beats for the muwashshah.
Count it as 4 + 4 + 4 + 2, with the weight on 1, 7, and nothing on 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 14.
Maqsum doubled up: the peasants' fast two.
Count it as 4 + 4, with the weight on 1, 5, and nothing on 3, 6, 8.
The Gulf's swaying two for the hair-toss dance.
Count it as 4 + 4, with the weight on 1, 6, and nothing on 2, 5, 8.
The Egyptian wedding procession.
Count it as 4 + 4 + 4 + 4, with the weight on 1, 7, 9, and nothing on 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16.
Six: a dum and two taks over a compound bar.
Count it as 3 + 3, with the weight on 1, and nothing on 2, 4, 6.
Classical Arabic music's three: dum, rest, tak.
Count it as 3 even units, with the weight on 1, and nothing on 2.
The Egyptian dance rhythm whose three dums wrap around the bar line.
Count it as 4 + 4, with the weight on 1, 7, 8, and nothing on 3, 5.
Maqsum with the second dum held back a beat: the singer's accompaniment.
Count it as 4 + 4, with the weight on 1, 6, and nothing on 2, 4, 8.
Eleven for the muwashshah: three-two-two-four.
Count it as 3 + 2 + 2 + 4, with the weight on 1, 8, and nothing on 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11.
A Turkish usul is a cycle shaped by its strokes, düm and tek, and every usul in this section plays on the metronome. A row without stroke marks shows groups and accents only; its strokes are not transcribed here.
Begin with Sofyan, four counts, its düm held across the first two before te and ke. Düyek fills eight boxes with a stroke skeleton close to Maqsum’s, the gaps hollow. Türk aksağı brings in aksak, the uneven “limping” family, with five as 2+3, and Aksak itself is nine as 2+2+2+3, “quick quick quick slow”. Oynak is also nine but runs 3+3+3, and is not another version of the limp.
Devr-i hindi and Devr-i turan are a pair of sevens, 3+2+2 and 2+2+3. Curcuna and Aksak semai share a 3+2+2+3 ten, the first fast, the second slow. Performed aksak timing is not always an exact sum of equal boxes, and the Turkish Curcuna is kept apart from the Iraqi Jurjina stroke pattern elsewhere on this page.
Clap only the group openings of Türk aksağı, then switch to Aksak without changing the length of a “quick”, and listen for where the slow step arrives. Leave Raksan’s fifteen until the shorter cycles hold.
Start with Sofyan, Türk aksağı and Aksak.
Marks: D is dum, the low stroke, or a down strum; T is tak, the high stroke, or the thumb.
Two: düm tek.
Count it as 2 even units, with the weight on 1.
Three: düm tek tek.
Count it as 3 even units, with the weight on 1.
Four: a düm held for two, then te, ke; the everyday usul of the şarkı (all four counted here).
Count it as 4 even units, with the weight on 1.
Five as two-three.
Count it as 2 + 3, with the weight on 1, 3.
The fast six that closes a classical fasıl.
Count it as 3 + 3, with the weight on 1, 4.
Seven as three-two-two.
Count it as 3 + 2 + 2, with the weight on 1, 4, 6.
Seven as two-two-three.
Count it as 2 + 2 + 3, with the weight on 1, 3, 5.
Eight: düm tek, tek düm, tek; the sacred and the popular alike (its skeleton is maqsum's).
Count it as 4 + 4, with the weight on 1, 5, and nothing on 3, 6, 8.
Eight as three-two-three.
Count it as 3 + 2 + 3, with the weight on 1, 4, 6.
'Limping': the nine that gave the whole family its name.
Aksak is the Turkish limping nine, grouped 2+2+2+3. Count “quick quick, quick quick, quick quick, slow slow slow”, with düm and tek landmarks at each group start. It belongs to the uneven-meter family that takes its name from this feel. Walk three short steps and one longer one. If the last group becomes merely louder instead of longer, return to a slower eighth-note pulse.
Nine with the three second: the dance limp.
Count it as 2 + 3 + 2 + 2, with the weight on 1, 3, 6, 8.
'Playful': nine as three semai cells, not an aksak.
Count it as 3 + 3 + 3, with the weight on 1, 4, 7.
The nine at ilahi pace.
Count it as 2 + 2 + 2 + 3, with the weight on 1, 3, 5, 7.
Ten as three-two-two-three, fast and rowdy.
Curcuna is a fast Turkish ten grouped 3+2+2+3. Count “one two three, one two, one two, one two three”, keeping all four group starts distinct. It is the quick, rowdy counterpart to the slower aksak semai shape and is related to jurjina. Practise clapping only the group starts at first. Add the intervening eighths once the two threes remain at opposite ends of the cycle.
The same ten, slow: the saz semai's usul.
Count it as 3 + 2 + 2 + 3, with the weight on 1, 4, 6, 8.
Fourteen as 3+4+3+4: two devr-i hindi sevens.
Count it as 3 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 2 + 2, with the weight on 1, 4, 6, 8, 11, 13.
Fifteen.
Count it as 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 2 + 2, with the weight on 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14.
The broad six-count usul, at a walk.
Count it as 3 + 3, with the weight on 1, 4.
The nine at its slow, heavy treatment.
Count it as 2 + 2 + 2 + 3, with the weight on 1, 3, 5, 7.
Several Persian names here are rhythmic forms, not fixed meters, so each row is one example. Reng is a six that closes a dastgah performance. Chahármezráb, a fast metered solo form, appears as a six and as Chahármezráb in twelve, neither claimed for every performance. Pishdarámad (six-count example) is one meter of the slow prelude. Persian duple pulse (zarbi) is a practice pulse; zarbi means metered music, not one rhythm.
Without stroke letters, a strip gives counts, group starts and accents. Reng and Bandari group six as 3+3. Shirazi is six too, but its marked dum and taks and its hollow early boxes give a stroke outline to say aloud, so start there. Count the quicker Chahármezráb as two groups of three sixteenths, with loose fingers.
Chahármezráb in twelve, grouped 2+2+2+3+3, is the hardest; tap its five group starts before adding the counts between. Keep Pishdarámad slow, never a brisk exercise.
Start with Reng, Shirazi and Chahármezráb.
Marks: D is dum, the low stroke, or a down strum; T is tak, the high stroke, or the thumb.
The Persian six: the dance that ends a dastgah performance.
Count it as 3 + 3, with the weight on 1, 4.
'Four strokes': the fast metered solo, six sixteenths at a rush.
Count it as 3 + 3, with the weight on 1, 4.
The twelve-sixteenth chahármezráb: two-two-two-three-three.
Count it as 2 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 3, with the weight on 1, 3, 5, 7, 10.
The slow prelude form in one of its meters, a six; pishdaramad is a form, not one rhythm.
Count it as 3 + 3, with the weight on 1, 4.
A measured two-beat practice pulse; zarbi means metered music, not one rhythm.
Count it as 2 even units, with the weight on 1.
The popular six-eight of the south: a dum and three taks.
Count it as 3 + 3, with the weight on 1, 4, and nothing on 2, 3.
The Persian Gulf's dance six.
Count it as 3 + 3, with the weight on 1, 4.
The five rhythms of the Caucasus and Central Asia here are dances, so the feet are the first instrument. Tamzara is nine as 2+2+2+3, three quick steps and a long one. Shalakho and Kartuli each run a 3+3 six, in different dance settings and at different paces. The accents mark group starts, and with no drum strokes under most boxes the strip is a counting frame, not an ensemble.
Khorumi, the Georgian five, is grouped 2+2+1; say “one two, one two, one” so the last single count is not swallowed. The Armenian eight-pulse example, 2+1+1+2+2, has two one-count groups in the middle, and its plain name is deliberate, since the row is one line dance’s version, not a canonical Armenian rhythm.
Walk Tamzara’s four groups while speaking all nine counts, and move to Khorumi once the nine comes round without a glance at the screen.
Start with Shalakho, Tamzara and Khorumi.
Armenia's nine.
Count it as 2 + 2 + 2 + 3, with the weight on 1, 3, 5, 7.
An eight with two quick steps in the middle, as one Armenian line dance takes it; not a canonical name.
Count it as 2 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 2, with the weight on 1, 3, 4, 5, 7.
The Caucasus' quick six.
Count it as 3 + 3, with the weight on 1, 4.
The Georgian war dance in an uneven five.
Count it as 2 + 2 + 1, with the weight on 1, 3, 5.
Georgia's paired dance in six.
Count it as 3 + 3, with the weight on 1, 4.
Talqin and Ufar come from the shashmaqom. Talqin is a slow seven grouped 3+2+2; Ufar, the dance six that closes a maqom, is grouped 3+3. Accents mark the start of each group. No stroke syllables sit under the boxes, which give lengths and landmarks, not the parts of an ensemble.
Start with Ufar, saying “one two three” twice and tapping both group starts. Then slow down for Talqin, saying “one two three, one two, one two” through several cycles and feeling the first group’s extra unit as time rather than a pause. Then alternate a cycle of spoken numbers with a cycle of taps on the group starts alone, and check that the first three comes back where you expect it.
The slow, majestic seven of the Central Asian maqom.
Count it as 3 + 2 + 2, with the weight on 1, 4, 6.
The dance six that closes a maqom.
Count it as 3 + 3, with the weight on 1, 4.