Rhythm Variations and Lesser-Known Rhythms

RHY-120 What is shoush (5/8)? #

It’s a 5-beat rhythm grouped 3+2 (“123 12”): D - t k t k D - T - (16ths). Carmine Guida’s cheat sheet and Darbuka Planet’s lesson give the same pattern, so you can trust it. Think of it as the mirror image of the Turkish 5, which is grouped 2+3.

RHY-121 What’s the difference between shoush and the Turkish 5? #

The order of the groups, and nothing else. The Turkish 5 (D k T k k) is 2+3, counted “12 123”. Shoush is 3+2, counted “123 12”, with its second dum at the start of the short group. So if the long group comes first, you’re hearing shoush.

RHY-122 What is sudasi (6/4)? #

It’s a 6-beat Arabic cycle. Carmine Guida’s basic form is D - - D D - - D D - T - (8ths), with dums on 1, 2&, 3, 4& and 5, and a tek on 6. His filled version keeps those dums exactly where they are and packs tek/ka strokes into the gaps. Maqamworld also lists sudasi as 6/4.

RHY-123 What is reng (shish-hasht)? #

It’s a Persian 6/8, and the name says so: Carmine notes that shish is 6 and hasht is 8 in Farsi. The pattern is D - - - k T D - T k T k (16ths), with dums on 1 and 4. Keep it in your pocket as a Persian-flavoured alternative to the Moroccan 6/8.

RHY-124 What is the “Moroccan 6” as a two-line pattern? #

Carmine writes it across two bars: D k k D k k (3+3), then D k T k T k (2+2+2), counted “123 123 12 12 12”. That’s a hemiola written down for you: the first bar gives two big beats, the second gives three. It makes an excellent drill for the 3-against-2 feel described above.

RHY-125 What is “Gypsy 9” on Carmine Guida’s sheet? #

It’s a 2+2+2+3 pattern with two dums up front: D - - - D - t k T - t k T - T - t k (16ths). His “3-doum” version adds a dum on pulse 2: D - D - D - t k T - t k T - T - t k. The sheet also carries a “syncopated 9”, where the teks fall between the beats.

RHY-126 What is chobi (choubi)? #

It’s Iraq’s dabke-type line dance and rhythm. Jas’s rhythm FAQ says what sets it apart from the Levantine dabke rhythms: three dums at the start of the bar. On Iraqi recordings you’ll also hear rapid “machine-gun” rolls on the khishba drum over the main beat. Fanack describes the stomping dance, led by someone waving a handkerchief or rosary. No full stroke chart was found, so listen for that triple-dum opening.

RHY-127 What is hacha’a, and is it the same as the hacha rhythm? #

Wikipedia describes hacha’a as an Iraqi folk poetry, music and dance style from northern and central Iraq (Samarra, Mosul, Tikrit), later tied closely to Iraqi Roma (kawliya) musicians. Its sound is marked by khishba rolls running faster than the main beat. The darbuka “hacha/haja” pattern in the table is a drummer’s reduction of all that.

RHY-128 What Gulf rhythms exist besides “khaleegi”? #

Plenty, and Arabic sources name several. Rumba khaliji is described as the Gulf’s signature rhythm, and it isn’t the same thing as the Latin-derived Egyptian rumba. Khabiti is in 4/4 or 3/4, and khowaizani is the energetic one, used for Saudi shilat chants (Starsma, Orsoundstyle). Iraq’s hewa gets named too. No stroke charts were given for any of them, which tells you what “khaleegi” on a darbuka chart really is: a simplification of a whole family.

RHY-129 Is khaleegi really just malfuf with two dums? #

That’s Carmine Guida’s shorthand, and as shorthand it works. Khaligi D - - D - - T - (16ths) is malfuf D - - T - - T - with the first tek turned into a dum. It matches the table row and Baba Yaga’s pattern, so three sources agree on the skeleton.

RHY-130 Is wahda D - - - T - - - or D - - T - - T -? #

Sources disagree. Nesma and Khamis Henkesh’s booklet gives wahda saghira as D - - T - - T - (8ths): one dum, then teks on the “and” of 2 and on 4. Carmine Guida’s filled wahda uses the same skeleton. Maqamworld and the table above give a sparser form. What they all agree on is the single dum. The Nesma/Carmine version is simply wahda with maqsum’s teks and no second dum.

RHY-131 Why does Nesma’s booklet say malfuf has the same pattern as wahda? #

Because in their notation malfouf is wahda saghira, played faster and harder. D - - T - - T - on 8ths is wahda; the same shape on 16ths is malfuf. That also fits maqamworld’s remark that two bars of malfuf can replace one bar of 4/4.

RHY-132 What are the variations of wahda kibira? #

The Nesma booklet, which also calls it wahda tawila, says the first four beats copy wahda saghira and the variants differ only in the second half:

• Base 1: D - - T - - T - D - - - - - - - (8ths), with a dum opening the second bar.
• Base 2: D - - T - - T - T - - - - - - -, with a strong tek there instead.

Naming clash: Baba Yaga’s “wahda tawila” is a different 4/4 pattern altogether (see Odd-Meter Rhythms), so check which one you’ve been handed.

RHY-133 What are the main masmoudi kebir variations? #

Nesma and Khamis Henkesh give four “bases” to work from (grid: quarters):

• D D - T D - T - (the standard two-dum form)
• D D D T D - T - (three dums)
• d d d d d d T - D - - - T - - - (8ths; soft doubled dums)
• D D D D D - T -

They’re clear that this is only a starting point: composers and performers add countless others.

RHY-134 Where does the third dum go in “3-dum” masmoudi? #

Sources disagree. Carmine Guida (“3 Doum masmoudi has doum on 3 instead of TK”), Sahina’s handout (dums on 1, 2 and 3) and Blackroot (D D D …) all put it on beat 3, and Nesma’s second base agrees. The Three Winds description quoted earlier counts the dum on beat 5 as the third one. Both can be true at once: beat 5 is a dum in most forms anyway, so “3-dum” usually means an extra dum on beat 3.

RHY-135 Can saidi start without a dum? #

Yes. Nesma’s booklet gives a variation that opens with a rest and a zak, - Z - D D - T - (8ths). Carmine lists a saidi variation opening with tek-ka, shifting the first dum onto the “and”. Nesma’s other variants are D Z - D D - T - and D D - D D - T -. Whatever you do at the start, keep the two middle dums. Those are what make it saidi.

RHY-136 Why does one booklet call maqsum “wahda we nus” or “baladi”? #

Because naming really is regional. The Nesma/Henkesh booklet lists maksoum as “also known as: Wahda We Nus, Baladi”, and masmoudi saghir as “also known as Baladi”. Elsewhere in this Rhythms section, wahda w-nuss is a syncopated maqsum. The fix is simple: when a teacher uses one of these names, ask them to play it for you.

RHY-137 Are there other zaffa patterns? #

Several. Carmine gives zaffa as D - t t t - t - D - t - t - - - (16ths), sparser than the table’s version. Ancient Future gives an 8-beat “elzaffa” spoken as dum tek-ka tek tek dum tek tek (tek ka). Baba Yaga lists at least five variants. What they all share is the march-like dum on 1 and 3 under a busy light-stroke texture, and that’s the part to hold onto.

RHY-138 Is bambi 4/4 or 8/4? #

Sources disagree on meter. Maqamworld files bambi as 8/4. Carmine Guida compresses it into one 4/4 bar, D - k T - k T - k T - k D - D - (16ths), with a variation that moves the two closing dums to the front. Either way, both keep the run of dums that ends one cycle and starts the next, so play that and you’re playing bambi.

RHY-139 What are “Guwazi”, “Soufi” and “Serto” on older charts? #

They’re names from Blackroot’s Quick and Dirty Guide, a widely copied early web chart. “Soufi” is its name for a Moroccan 6/8, while “Guwazi” and “Serto” are labels that don’t match maqamworld’s classical names at all. The same guide even labels its baladi “aka Massmoodi Kadir”. So treat unusual names on old charts as one teacher’s labels, and match them up by sound rather than by name.