To akshak or not to akshak the Zhok

[W. H. Phillips <wphillip...>]

This is becoming an arcane discussion.

It seems to me that the views of both Itzik-Leyb Volokh and Fred Jacobowitz
are correct, but in differing contexts. We hear some players use a
sauntering 6/8 meter and we also hear (non-Jewish) Romanian mountain bands
play the rhythm that way.

But isn't the "limping" akshak beat - 5/8, 7/8 ... even 11/16 in some of the
wilder Bulgarian dances the real finger-snapping pulse of the Balkans? I'm
sure I've heard "Nokh A Glezl Vein" played with that "staggering" meter by a
clarinet-tzimbal duo I can no longer identify. There are also Armenian tunes
(e.g. "Astari" by Mike Sarkissian & the Cafe Baghdad Ensemble) that have the
2-2-3 compound meter at a brisker tempo with a dumbek making sure you don't
miss a single semiquaver.

Jewish "Bulgar" music and the Stambolovo-style rhythms Fred mentions have
little to do, I think, with the Zhok - be it 5/8, 7/8 or 6/8. They're neat
in their own right, but they come from a different place.

Bill Phillips