The Heavy Sa’idi

Let’s get down to business and put some of what we have learnt into practice. We are going to look at our first darbuka rhythm, the Heavy Sa’idi.

The basic form of the Heavy Sa’idi #

The basic form of Heavy Sa’idi includes only Doum notes and Tek notes and is a straightforward rhythm to learn. I almost always start with this rhythm when teaching darbuka because of its ease to play. The drum tab looks like this:

As you can see, the Heavy Sa’idi is a 4-beat rhythm, with five notes in it; 4 Doum notes and 1 Tek note.

However, to get us playing this rhythm quickly and decently, I’m going to present it differently for you.

Internalising the Heavy Sa’idi rhythm #

Look at the following drum tab:

If you notice, the rhythmic emphasis is still the same, i.e. the highlighted Doum and Tek notes haven’t moved at all. However, I have added three instances of the letter “X” into the rhythm. These “X” notes stand for a Space. All I want you to do is remember that when you see the letter “X”, there is a space there. If you’re confused, don’t worry! We are going to internalise this rhythm using the “X” notes to help us.

I’m going to introduce two ways to internalise this rhythm. Note that this doesn’t work for every rhythm, and we shouldn’t need to internalise more complicated rhythms like this later in the course. We are just going to try a few things to make it easier for us to learn our first rhythm.

Internalising the Rhythm by saying it #

One of the easiest ways to internalise a rhythm and get used to it before playing it on the darbuka is to say the rhythm and get used to its flow. I want you to say the rhythm like this:

Doum – Doum – Space – Doum – Doum – Space – Tek – Space – REPEAT

Each Doum, Space and Tek should be said with an equal amount of time between them. I want you to tap repeatedly and evenly on something (like a table, or even your leg) while you say this rhythm. Each time you tap, you should be saying one of Doum, Space or Tek. After every eight taps, you should be repeating the rhythm. Once you can do this, move on to walking the rhythm.

Internalising the Rhythm by walking it #

Once we can say the rhythm, we are going to practice the rhythm by saying it while walking. It might seem a little strange at first, but it is a fantastic way to get used to the timing in this particular rhythm.

1. Find a place where there is space to walk around (a garden, a street, a park etc.)
2. Start walking at a constant speed, not too fast, not too slowly. About the same speed you would walk when regularly going about your day.
3. Start repeating the rhythm, saying a note every time you put your foot down and take a step, as follows:

4. Once you can do this, and you are comfortable with it, I want you to stop saying “Space”. This means on your 3rd, 6th, and 8th footstep, you just take a step, without saying anything. It should sound like this:

Congratulations, if you can do this, you’ve been saying the Heavy Sa’idi rhythm correctly! That’s a fantastic accomplishment. It’s now time to start playing this on the darbuka.

Playing the rhythm on the darbuka #

Now that you can say the rhythm correctly, we’re going to start playing it.

Here’s how I want you to start playing the Heavy Sa’idi:

1. Before you start playing, just practice the Doum Doum sound. Just get used to playing two Doums right after each other.
2. Once you’re confident at this, ensure you are in the optimal sitting position (either on a chair or on the floor) to start practising.
3. Start saying the Heavy Sa’idi rhythm, as you’ve been practising.
4. Once you are saying the rhythm in a nice flow, start playing the Doum and the Tek strokes along with your voice.
5. After a little practice, and maybe more than a few mistakes, you should be able to play the Heavy Sa’idi confidently!