The pattern
| Instrument | Beat 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 | Beat 2 | Step 6 | Step 7 | Step 8 | Beat 3 | Step 10 | Step 11 | Step 12 | Beat 4 | Step 14 | Step 15 | Step 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kick | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest |
| Snare | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest |
| Rim shot | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest | hit |
| Tambourine | hit | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest |
How to play it and where it comes from
The maqsum is the most widely used iqa' (rhythmic cycle) in Arabic music (Maqam World calls it “by far the most common”): Egyptian and Lebanese pop, belly dance, dabke, film music. Basic pattern over 8 eighth notes: Dum Tak – Tak Dum – Tak – (D T . T D . T .). On the sixteenth-note grid: kick = dum (center of the darbuka/tabla, low) on 1 and 3; snare = tak (rim, dry) on 1&, 2& and 3&; rim = ka (the weak hand's tak, a light filler, low velocity); tamb = riq (tambourine) in eighths. Main variants of the family: baladi (D D . T D . T .: two dums at the start, heavier, folk), sa'idi (D T . D D . T .: from Upper Egypt, with the displaced dum), wahda (slower, a single dum), malfuf (2/4, fast, D . . T . . T .). Tempo: from slow 80 to fast 130 depending on the piece; in Egyptian pop often 95–110. The dums should lock in with the bass and, in modern pop, with the electronic kick.