Aksak

Template:Use shortened footnotes In Ottoman musical theory, aksak (Template:Langx) is a rhythmic system in which pieces or sequences, executed in a fast tempo, are based on the uninterrupted reiteration of a matrix, which results from the juxtaposition of rhythmic cells based on the alternation of binary and ternary quantities, as in Template:Serif, Template:Serif, Template:Serif, etc. The name literally means "limping", "stumbling", or "slumping", and has been borrowed by Western ethnomusicologists to refer generally to irregular, or additive meters.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In Turkish folk music, these metres occur mainly in vocal and instrumental dance music, though they are found also in some folksongs. Strictly speaking, in Turkish music theory the term refers only to the grouping of nine pulses into a pattern of Template:Serif.Template:Sfn Some examples are shown below.Template:Additional citations needed

Units	Subdivision	Name(s)
5	Template:Serif	Türk Aksağı [Bulg: Paidushko]
	Template:Serif
7	Template:Serif	Devr-i Turan [Bulg. Račenica]
	Template:Serif
	Template:Serif	Devr-i Hindi Template:Sfn [Bulg. Lesnoto, Četvorno]
9	Template:Serif	Aksak [Bulg. Daychovo]
	Template:Serif
	Template:Serif
	Template:Serif	[Bulg: Grancharsko]
11	Template:Serif
	Template:Serif	[Bulg. Gankino]
13	Template:Serif	[Bulg. Elenino horo]
	Template:Serif	[Bulg. Krivo Sadovsko horo]
	Template:Serif	Şarkı Devr-i Revâni
15	Template:Serif	[Bulg. Bučimiš]
18	Template:Serif	[Bulg. Jove Malaj Mome]
22	Template:Serif	[Bulg. Sandansko Horo]
25	Template:Serif	[Bulg. Sedi Donka]

In jazz

The aksak rhythm Template:Time signature is prominently featured in the jazz standard "Blue Rondo à la Turk" by Dave Brubeck.Template:Sfn

In rock

The Belgian experimental rock group Aksak Maboul take their name from this rhythm.

See also

• Additive rhythm and divisive rhythm

References

Works cited

• Bektaş, Tolga. 2005. "Relationships between Prosodic and Musical Meters in the Beste Form of Classical Turkish Music". Asian Music 36, no. 1 (Winter–Spring): 1-26.
• Brăiloiu, Constantin. 1951. "Le rythme Aksak" Revue de Musicologie 33, nos. 99 and 100 (December): 71–108.
• Fracile, Nice. 2003. "The 'Aksak' Rhythm, a Distinctive Feature of the Balkan Folklore". Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 44, nos. 1 and 2:197–210.
• Reinhard, Kurt, Martin Stokes, and Ursula Reinhard. 2001. "Turkey". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
• User. 2015. “The Music of Dave Brubeck”. Jazz Academy website (accessed 16 September 2016).

Further reading

• Arom, Simha. 2004. "L'aksak: Principes et typologie". Cahiers de Musiques Traditionnelles 17 (Formes musicales): 11–48.
• Cler, Jérôme. 1994. "Pour une théorie de l'aksak". Revue de Musicologie 80, no. 2:181–210.
• Tanrikorur, Cinugen. 1990. "Concordance of Prosodic and Musical Meters in Turkish Classical Music". Turkish Music Quarterly 3, no. 1: 1–7.