A 7/8 tune split as 123,12,12 is a cetvorno. The ruchenitsa is a couple dance in 7/8, with the beats split 12,12,123. The countries where you can find such tunes include Serbia, Romania, Greece and Albania, but it is in Bulgaria and its neighbour Macedonia that they are most common and highly developed.Īmong the most common dances in Bulgaria are the paidushko, or “Old Man’s Hobble”, in 5/8 time. Whereas we are familiar with 2/4, ¾, 4/4 and 6/8, in the Balkans such time signatures as 5/8, 7/8, 11/8 and 13/8 are common. The two features which most differentiate their tunes from those of western Europe are the exotic scales or modes, and the complex rhythms. The Balkans is a region of south eastern Europe which has a long and unbroken tradition of folk and dance music. In this article I will try to shine some light into the origins of these Balkan rhythms, and show how and why they have so successfully entered the Celtic tradition. Not many decades ago, such a tune would have been considered outlandish in a Celtic context, whereas today it seems to fit quite naturally into the genre. The only odd thing about it was that it was in 7/8 time. The tune fitted perfectly into his repertoire of contemporary and traditional Irish music. A couple of years back I had the pleasure of playing with fiddler Sam Proctor, and one of the tunes he showed me was a recent composition Cous Cous Kiss.
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