Desert Orchid rhythm

indrayu

New member
Trying to count through "Desert Orchid" by Kairo by Night for a choreography...it isn't as easy as it first seemed. Listening to the tinny sound from the laptop while waiting for the CD I ordered doesn't help, but it seems to be in cycles of 10 beats, is that how anyone else hears it? Counting sets of 8 doesn't fit as naturally to me. Does the rhythm have a name?

Thanks in advance!
 

Ariadne

Well-known member
I found a video of someone performing to it as well as the mp3 sample offered on the musicians own site and while I can't tell you the name of the rhythm it counts as a 6/8 to me.

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 & 6
 
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Daimona

Moderator
Trying to count through "Desert Orchid" by Kairo by Night for a choreography...it isn't as easy as it first seemed. Listening to the tinny sound from the laptop while waiting for the CD I ordered doesn't help, but it seems to be in cycles of 10 beats, is that how anyone else hears it? Counting sets of 8 doesn't fit as naturally to me. Does the rhythm have a name?

Thanks in advance!

If I listened to the right tune, I counted 4 beats to each bar after the taqsim intro, but where the main dums of the rhythm (x below) are syncopated coming just before the second and third beats of the bar and with variations of the last taka/taktak/takata:

Code:
1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - -  4 - - -
x      x_      x_   x    i i i 
dum    tek     dum  tek  takata

One-tTwo-tThree - and- four -a- and

If you prefer to count in 8:
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 -  7 - 8 -
x      x_      x_   x    i i i 
dum    tek     dum  tek  takata

Unfortunately I can't help you with the name of the rhythm.
 
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Ariadne

Well-known member
You know, evidently Shems uses it in her classes for "sword practice in Belly Dance Essentials". You could always PM her and see if she knows?
 

mahsati_janan

New member
You can hear the full song on this lovely video: Sonya - Belly Dance - Desert Orchid - Chicago - YouTube.

I can't listen to it now, but from my memory, I tend to hear this one in 8s with the accents at the 1 4 7 8 and fill teks in a syncopated feel.

A bit like this (bold = doum, italics=tek)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

or maybe D tD tTT or D tD tDT

I'll try to listen when I get home and see how far off my memory is :) [could be a lot!]
 

gisela

Super Moderator
Listening and reading Mahsatis answer at the same time. I think you got it about right, Mahsati.

It is definitely countable in 8, and not a 6/8 rhythm

I hear it as:

Dum-me-Tek-ke-dum-Tek-tek-tek

and at the end it changes to:

Dum-me-Tek-ke-dum-Tek-dum-Tek

and with some syncopation that I can't figure out how to write here.
 
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Ariadne

Well-known member
Ok, it was driving me crazy enough that I just called them and asked.

The song is a Dave Weisenburg original. He wrote it in 4/4 but most of the song is written in triples so it is actually a 12 count except for a small section which is doubles with a count of 8.

And evidently the composer loves puzzling people so he will be delighted to hear that we have been stumped by him.


Night all. :D
 

Sophia Maria

New member
I listened to it and it sounds like 4:4. It sounds similar to a rhythm I've heard before called "Tawil", which Saida dances to in this instructional.



the only difference is that Desert Orchid seems to have more dums, because I hear Saida's Tawil as "dum, a-tek a tek, tek tek tek, and I hear Desert Orchid with more dums and slightly different stress.

:think:
 

indrayu

New member
Thank you, everyone! Well done Ariadne for going to the trouble of calling them to clarify :) And that Saida video was lovely to watch.

Now I don't feel so bad about not having got it, with so many experienced dancers all hearing it differently.

I'm very impressed with the composer's skill: the rhythm has an edgy, dynamic quality like flamenco rhythms.
 
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