Tamzara

Tamzara is an Armenian dance form that has a distinctive rhythm with 9 beats. I came across commentary suggesting that it dates back to Assyrian rule. Hard to know, though! But it shows up with many different melodies, and I have a track of Anatolian music named “Pazara” that also has this rhythm. Suggestive!

Recording¶

Of many great recordings, this page focuses on this one.

Score¶

Here are scores for treble and
alto clefs.

Rhythm¶

The rhythm pattern has the pattern

2 2 2 3

However, the rhythm has a distinctive pick up and kick on the last beat, so a better representation might be

2 2 2 1 2

.
A default drumming pattern would be

| | | *
D-T-D-TTk

or, with embellishments

|   |   |   *
D-TkT-TkD-TkT-T-k-

.