The Drummer's prespective

by percussionist Amit Gilboa

As a drummer, I view Middle Eastern rhythms as the most elemental and the purest forms of music for dancing, and consider the dancer who can perfectly synchronize her movements to the drums and takes of each rhythm to be the most accomplished of all.

From the driving Ayoub to the flowing Chiftitelli, from the cheeky Malfuf to the majestic Saidi, the Middle Eastern rhythms encompass all that is beautiful and enjoyable about belly dancing.Here are some basic guidelines and descriptions of Middle Eastern dance rhythms you may find helpful. ?

Middle Eastern Rhythms as a foundation

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Middle Eastern music is the foundation of Middle Eastern dance. And Middle Eastern rhythms are the foundation of Middle Eastern music.

A rhythm is nothing more than a sequence of sounds in a regularly recurring pattern. And yet behind this dry definition lies an entire universe of different rhythms with the power to move the music and the dancer in wonderful ways.

Every Middle Eastern rhythm has a name and often an entire history and social context as well. The name of some rhythms will give you a clue about their origins or social context, while other rhythm's histories come to us through word of mouth. Here are just a few of the most common Middle Eastern rhythms you are likely to hear and interpret with your dance.

Rhythms basics - Dom/Tak and time signatures

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Four beat rhythms 4/4
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Maqsoum:

This Egyptian rhythm is widely considered the basic belly dance rhythm and is the most common rhythm in today's belly dancing music. Listen to just about any Middle Eastern song, and youall be able to pick out the distinctive dom-tak tak-dom tak pattern. The word maqsoum itself means half or halved. One theory is that the name and the rhythm come from halving (in the sense of playing half as fast) the very fast and very basic fellahi rhythm.

Saidi:

Saidi is based on three strong dums, enticing us with a single dum at the very start, and then driving us forward with two dums in the middle. You can imagine the first dum as the invitation to a party and the middle dums as the party in full swing, or the first dum as a call to battle and the middle dums are the battle joined. Saidi comes from the Said region of Egypt, also known as Upper Egypt - the 'i' ending indicates something from or to do with the Said. The Raqs al Tahtib or men's stick dance upon which the Raqs al Assaya or women's cane dance is based - originated in the Said, and it is easy to imagine a strong and lively Saidi rhythm accompanying the fierce and powerful movements of the dance's ritualized combat.

Waheda:

One of the first words you learn in Arabic is wahid meaning one. The name is perfectly appropriate in that waheda comprises one dum on the first count, followed by three counts worth of taks. With just one (wahid) heavy dom and a whole series of lighter taks, this rhythm has a very light and flowing feel and is thus particularly well suited to softer movements such as hip circles or camel.

Two beat rhythms 2/4
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Ayoub or Zaar:

The Ayoub rhythm, also called the Zaar, is the simplest and yet also the most spiritually powerful of all the Middle Eastern rhythms. Ayub is a single dom followed by a single tak, and then another dom followed by another tak. But what makes ayub distinctive is the tiny delay just a single sixteenth note, musically speaking between that first dum and the next tak. So the rhythm comes out as dom·tak-dum tak, dom·tak-dum tak. These two loud and evenly-spaced dums are played within Ayoub's two counts, giving the rhythm a strong driving feel. The spirituality of Ayoub stems from these hypnotic, mesmerizing, pounding dums. Ayoub is most often associated with the trance dances of the dervishes, who whirled themselves into a religious ecstasy using the energy of the pounding dums and trance-inducing hypnotic feel of the rhythm. The same rhythm, generally played more slowly and called the Zaar, is used in Egypt and Northern Africa to drive away evil spirits.

Malfuf:

Malfuf is commonly used when a dancer enters or exits the stage. Like Ayoub, it is a two-beat rhythm, but it has only one dom instead of Ayoub's driving two dums. The quickness of the two-beat rhythm and the lightness of having only one dum give Malfouf a lively yet relaxed and rolling feel. Its energetic enough to capture the audience's attention when the dancer enters, but still leaves them wanting more.?

Eight beat rhythms 4/8
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Masmoudi:

The Masmoud are a Berber tribe of northern Africa, and the 'i' ending indicates something from or to do with the Masmoud. Musically speaking, Masmoudi is interesting in that it is 8 counts long and partially symmetric. The first half consists of two doms and one set of taks, while the second half consists of one dom and two sets of taks. The length of the rhythm, its asymmetry and the combination of strong doms and light taks give the dancer lots of opportunity to interpret this rhythm in various creative ways.

Chiftitelli:

This Turkish rhythm is marked by a distinctive rest on the final beat, which gives the rhythm a very soft and relaxed feel. It is often used as the underlying rhythm for taqsim segments of songs, allowing the other musicians to solo freely over the softly flowing Chiftitelli rhythm. In terms of dancing, such fluid moves as snake arms work well, and when the drummer and dancer both freeze for that final eighth beat, the effect is electrifying.

Odd rhythms 9/8, 6/7, 10/8 etc
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The rhythms outlined above are the most common Middle Eastern rhythms, but certainly not the only ones. Although you don't hear them too often, every dancer should try her hand at one of the odd-numbered rhythms.

Because we are so used to 4-beat rhythms (almost every pop song is 4/4), and because 2 and 8 beat rhythms are simple multiples of 4, we tend to believe that 4 is somehow natural. That's why dancing to a beat that is not 2, 4, or 8 is difficult at first, but then feels so very rewarding once mastered.

Some of the wonderful odd-beat Middle Eastern rhythms include the 9/8 Turkish Karsilama and 6/7 Laz rhythms 9-beat and 7-beat rhythms respectively, and the spectacular 10/8 10-beat Samai rhythm from Egypt.