Atlas of Ancient Rhythms
Documented rhythm cycles in nine parts: Anatolia, mehter, West Africa, India, Japan, Turkish usuls, the Balkan aksak, Cuba and Brazil, and finally traditions that share the same skeleton. The positions and order of the strokes come from sources that were opened and read; the sounds are abstract percussion timbres and imitate no instrument. There is no claim of any effect.
Why this order? The first stage is drum and ceremony: the zeybek and the Ramadan drum of Anatolia, the kös and ceng-i harbî of the mehter. The second stage is time lines: the bell pattern of West Africa, the tāl cycle of India and the layers of taiko. The third stage is the skeleton of cycles: Turkish usuls, the Balkan aksak, the patterns of Cuba and Brazil, and finally the shared skeletons of distant traditions. Strokes come at most eight times a second; where a source gives no tempo the tempo was chosen, and the text says so. Religious and ritual contexts (the gülbank prayer, the âyin, the shaman's drum) were not sonified.
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Stop 01/09 · I Drum and ceremony
The Pulse of Anatolia
Zeybek, the Ramadan drum and the nine.
Parts
- Evidence level S: Soundscape, no claimDetails
- Evidence level S: Soundscape, no claimDetails
- Evidence level S: Soundscape, no claimDetails
- Evidence level S: Soundscape, no claimDetails
- Evidence level S: Soundscape, no claimDetails
- Evidence level S: Soundscape, no claimDetails
- Evidence level S: Soundscape, no claimDetails
- Evidence level S: Soundscape, no claimDetails
- Evidence level S: Soundscape, no claimDetails
Parts are not locked; progress stays on this device. The parts are listening practice with no claim of any effect. You can see how each session was made in its details.
Sources
The explanations in the parts rest on these sources; they make no claim of any effect. The citations were checked against Crossref, PubMed or the publisher's record.
The davul's mallet and stick, the halay and the Ramadan drum.
The nine beats of the zeybek and its 3+2+2+2 arrangement.
The kös used in pairs.
The nakkare, a small paired drum.
The mehter band and the end of the ceremony.
The ceng-i harbî usul.
The standard bell pattern of West Africa.
The tresillo, cinquillo, Mpre and samba patterns.
The tāl cycle: sam, tālī and khālī.
The theka syllables of tīntāl and rūpak.
Taiko: ji, ouchi, honji and ma.
Oak National Academy. Taiko drumming (Key Stage 3 Music). Oak National Academy; 2025.
Hachijō-daiko: tempo and base rhythm.
Taiko and regional rhythms.
The Japan Foundation. Taiko: Rhythms that Transcend Time. Stage Beyond Borders; 2022.
Düm, tek, te and ke in usul.
The sofyan usul.
The düyek usul.
The semâi usul.
The aksak usul.
The stroke sequences of the usuls.
The definition and typology of aksak.
Arom S. Aksak – principles and typology. Macedón Füzetek. 2024;7(1). doi:10.56309/ckv0xv70
The son and rumba claves.
The same skeletons across traditions.
Arab rhythmic cycles and the maqsum.
Frishkopf M. Some Arab rhythmic cycles (durub, awzan, iqa'at). University of Alberta; 2009.