# Arabic — maqsum, baladi, saidi, ayyub and malfuf # Reference: the standard Egyptian/Levantine rhythm (iqa') repertoire as taught # for darbuka (tabla) — Hossam Ramzy's "Rhythms of the Nile", # Mahmoud Reda ensemble recordings, Cairo baladi orchestras. # Pairs with the maqam scales in the Xen module: maqsum under Rast or Ajam, # saidi under Hijaz, ayyub under Bayati. # # The vocabulary is two strokes, not many: # DOUM — open bass stroke in the centre of the head, the low "boom" # TEK — sharp slap on the rim, the high "tak" # KA — the weak-hand tek, half the volume, fills the gaps # Every rhythm below is a specific arrangement of doum and tek over eight 8th # notes. Learn the doum placement and the rest follows. # # GM substitution: General MIDI has no darbuka, so the closest-sounding kit # pieces stand in — low conga for the doum, muted high conga for the tek, high # bongo for the ka. Tambourine covers the riq and the mute triangle the sagat # (finger cymbals). With a Middle-Eastern SoundFont loaded these land on the # real instruments; on the default GM set they still read as the right rhythm. # GM notes: 64=low conga (doum), 62=mute hi conga (tek), 60=hi bongo (ka), # 54=tambourine (riq), 80=mute triangle (sagat), 39=hand clap, # 36=kick, 49=crash # # ── Step grid notation ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────── # Each character in a step grid represents one subdivision of the bar. # Resolution controls how many steps per bar (16 = 16th notes in 4/4). # # X Strong accent — velocity = base_velocity × 1.00 (full hit / downbeat) # x Medium accent — velocity = base_velocity × 0.75 (firm stroke / upbeat) # o Soft hit — velocity = base_velocity × 0.55 (brush / light touch) # g Ghost note — velocity = base_velocity × 0.28 (barely audible, mostly felt) # . Rest — no note fired at this step # # Beat positions — 4/4 at resolution 16 (one char per 16th note): # pos 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 # 1 e1 +1 a1 2 e2 +2 a2 3 e3 +3 a3 4 e4 +4 a4 # The eight 8th notes of the iqa' fall on the even positions 0, 2, 4, 6, # 8, 10, 12, 14 — the odd positions carry only ka fills. # # Swing / feel: straight — Arabic iqa'at are played on the grid; the expressive # variation comes from stroke choice and ornament density, not from swing. # ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── name: Maqsum & Baladi family: arabic bpm_range: [80, 140] time_signature: [4, 4] resolution: 16 feel: straight instruments: doum: { note: 64, base_velocity: 108, velocity_range: 10, timing_jitter: 0.010, duration_beats: 0.14 } tek: { note: 62, base_velocity: 92, velocity_range: 12, timing_jitter: 0.010, duration_beats: 0.07 } ka: { note: 60, base_velocity: 72, velocity_range: 12, timing_jitter: 0.012, duration_beats: 0.05 } riq: { note: 54, base_velocity: 74, velocity_range: 12, timing_jitter: 0.012, duration_beats: 0.07 } sagat: { note: 80, base_velocity: 68, velocity_range: 10, timing_jitter: 0.010, duration_beats: 0.06 } clap: { note: 39, base_velocity: 86, velocity_range: 12, timing_jitter: 0.014, duration_beats: 0.09 } kick: { note: 36, base_velocity: 96, velocity_range: 10, timing_jitter: 0.010, duration_beats: 0.14 } crash: { note: 49, base_velocity: 94, velocity_range: 8, timing_jitter: 0.010, duration_beats: 0.24 } humanization: timing_jitter: 0.012 velocity_jitter: 12 velocity_drift: 0.05 sections: intro: type: count_in hits: 4 note: 62 groove: bars: 1 variations: - name: maqsum weight: 4 # Maqsum — the most common rhythm in Arabic music, the one under most # of the Umm Kulthum and Abdel Halim repertoire. # D T . T | D . T . # Doum on the 1st and 5th 8ths (pos 0, 8), tek on the 3rd, 4th and 7th # (pos 4, 6, 12). The ka fills the odd 16ths so the pulse never stops. doum: "X.......X......." tek: "....X.X.....X..." ka: "..g.g.g.g.g.g.g." riq: "x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x." - name: baladi weight: 3 # Baladi ("of the country") — maqsum with the second doum pulled forward # onto the 2nd 8th, giving the heavy double-doum opening that names the # style. D D . T | D . T . doum: "X.X.....X......." tek: "......X.....X..." ka: ".g.g.g.g.g.g.g.g" riq: "x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x." - name: saidi weight: 3 # Saidi — Upper Egypt, the tahtib stick-dance rhythm. Two doums in the # middle of the bar rather than at its edges, which is what makes it # feel like it is leaning backwards. # D . T . | D D . T doum: "X.......X.X....." tek: "....X.........X." ka: "..g.g.g.g.g.g.g." riq: "x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x." sagat: "x...x...x...x..." - name: ayyub weight: 2 # Ayyub — a fast 2/4 zar and Nubian rhythm, written here as two cycles # per bar. Doum on the beat and on the "a" after it, tek on the backbeat. # Under a Hijaz or Bayati melody this is the trance end of the repertoire. doum: "X..X....X..X...." tek: "....X.......X..." ka: "..g.g.g.g.g.g.g." riq: "x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x." - name: malfuf weight: 2 # Malfuf — the 3+3+2 processional rhythm (zaffa, wedding entrances), # also two cycles per bar: doum, then tek at the "a" of the beat and on # the following offbeat. doum: "X.......X......." tek: "...X..X....X..X." ka: ".g.g.g.g.g.g.g.g" riq: "x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x." fill: bars: 1 variations: - name: darbuka_roll # Continuous 16th tek roll (roulement) — the darbuka player's way of # announcing that the singer is about to come back in. doum: "X..............." tek: "XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx" - name: doum_cadence # Doum accents accelerating from quarters to 8ths, everyone landing # together on the next downbeat. doum: "X...X...X.X.X.X." tek: "..x...x........." riq: "x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x." - name: riq_flourish # The riq takes the fill: tambourine 16ths under a held doum, the way a # takht ensemble hands the break to the frame drum. doum: "X.......X......." riq: "x.x.x.xXx.x.XXXX" clap: "............X.X." crash: bars: 1 variations: - name: standard crash: "X..............." doum: "X.......X......." tek: "....X.X.....X..." riq: "x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x." structure: fill_every: 8 break_every: 0 break_length: 1 crash_after_fill: true dynamic_build: false