Beledi

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Beledi is a rhythmic style common in Middle Eastern music.

[edit] Notation

The word Beledi means “country” in Arabic, although it is a word that often has the connotation of referring to something as “hick” or lower-class. This is the most common rhythm among music used for belly dance, including Arabic pop and traditional Egyptian dance music. Traditional Egyptian bellydancing is most often done to a beledi piece. As the music tells the bellydancer how to move, a bellydancer must accent the stressed domba ("dum") beats traditional beledi dance by making some abupt or emphasized movement.

Some people theorize that the word "bellydance," as Raqs Sharqi is often referred to in modern popular culture, came from "beledi."

The basic structure of the Beledi rhythm, played on the domba, is as follows:

1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & D D T D T (Dun, Dun, Tek...Dun Tek Tek...)

The drummer has freedom to “fill” in between these stressed beats as he/she sees fit to interpret the music. A common fill is something along the lines of:

1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &D D Tkt D t kT tk(Dun, Dun, Tek ka tek, Dun, Tek ka Tek, tek ka)

(Capitals represent stressed beats)