Balkan and Greek Rhythms

RHY-110 What meter is daychovo horo? #

It’s 9/8, counted 2+2+2+3 (“quick-quick-quick-slow”), per Wikipedia. That’s the same grouping as karsilama, but here it’s a Bulgarian circle dance with a leader, which Wikipedia calls unusual. A karsilama-style skeleton gives you a starting point, but be clear that it’s a mapping, not a documented Bulgarian drum pattern.

RHY-111 What is paydushko and why does it “limp”? #

It’s a 5-beat dance, 2+3 (quick-slow), written 5/8 or as a fast 5/16. The limp is built into the name: Wikipedia derives it from Turkish paytak, a person with uneven legs, which is the same idea as aksak. It’s danced in Bulgaria, North Macedonia and neighbouring countries.

RHY-112 What is pravo horo? #

It’s the basic Bulgarian “straight” line dance, in 2/4 and sometimes 6/8. It’s the even-meter counterpart to all the aksak dances, which makes it a sensible warm-up before you tackle the 7s and 11s.

RHY-113 What is čoček, and what’s a “gypsy 9”? #

Čoček (kyuchek) is a Balkan Romani dance and brass-band genre that grew out of Ottoman military band music. Wikipedia says its traditional 9/8 has two groupings, 2+2+2+3 and 2+2+3+2, and the second of those is sometimes called the “gypsy 9”. Roma musicians also play čoček in 2/4, 4/4 and 7/8. One thing to watch: this “gypsy 9” grouping isn’t the same as Carmine Guida’s “Gypsy 9” darbuka pattern, which is a 2+2+2+3 stroke pattern.

RHY-114 How do I tell gankino from kopanitsa if both are 11/16? #

You can’t, not by meter alone: both are 2+2+3+2+2. Listen to what the tempo does instead. SoCal Folk Dance describes gankino as holding a steady tempo, slow to moderately fast. Kopanitsa runs from moderate to extremely fast, can change speed several times in one dance, and is traditionally danced mostly by men. That tempo behaviour is your clue.

RHY-115 How do I feel 11/16 without counting to eleven? #

Don’t. SoCal Folk Dance’s tip is to count 1-2-3-4-5 with a quick “hiccup” on 3, so 3 becomes the long beat (quick-quick-slow-quick-quick). That extra pulse in the middle then behaves like a syncopation rather than an eleventh thing to count.

RHY-116 Why do Bulgarian rhythms sound blurry to me? #

You’re not imagining it. Singer and researcher Martha Forsyth describes a real case: a song’s rhythm was indistinct when sung seated, and became clear when the singers danced while singing, partly because the pauses between verses disappeared. Her practical advice is to ask what dance goes with it. Listeners disagreed on one song too, some hearing gankino (2+2+3+2+2) and others a 9/8. She also observes that in kopanitsa the long third group can be “seriously truncated”, so it comes out sounding almost like 2+2+2+4.

RHY-117 What drums actually play Bulgarian rhythms? #

Mostly the tapan, a large double-headed drum played with a heavy stick on one side and a light cane on the other, found from Macedonia to Turkey. The tarabuka (darbuka) does appear, in groups in Pirin Macedonia (Eliznik). Darbuka versions of Balkan meters are adaptations of tapan parts, which is exactly why the first-pass Balkan patterns here are labelled as simple mappings.

RHY-118 What meter is Greek tsamiko? #

It’s in 3/4 (Wikipedia): a slow, proud dance where style matters more than footwork, often with leaps from the lead dancer. On darbuka, a samai-darij/vals-type D - T - T - (8ths) fits the meter. Once again, that’s a mapping, not a documented Greek pattern.

RHY-119 Do laz and kalamatianos have one fixed stroke pattern? #

No. The sources disagree.

• Laz: Baba Yaga gives D - D - T - - (dums on 1 and 3). Carmine Guida gives D k T k D k k, with a tek on 3 and the second dum on 5, counted “12 12 123” or “1234 123”.
• Kalamatianos: Baba Yaga gives D - - T - T -. Carmine gives D k k D k T k, with dums on 1 and 4 and a tek on 6, counted “123 12 12” or “123 1234”.

The grouping agrees; the stroke placement doesn’t. Pick one by ear and stick with it.