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Ayoub in Crete: Existential questions and talking to the dead

Updated: Sep 20, 2022

by Walladah

Ayoub in Crete: Existential questions and talking to the dead

Have you ever thought that the rhythm which we call ayoub along with some

of its ritual aspects exist in Crete island today?

Crete is the big island in the south of Greece, more or less in the middle of the

Eastern Mediterranean and exactly between Greece and Egypt if one draws a

line to connect the two countries.


There is a group of traditional songs of Crete island, which seem to have a very

strong connection to the rhythm of ayoub in Egypt.



1. What is ayoub?

Ayoub is the name used for a 2/4 rhythm in Egypt that has various forms (very

slow, slow, quick, very quick) and consists of basically two heavy/deep sound

hits (centre of drum) and two light/surface sound hits (crown of drum). In

western representation it is two Dum(s) and two tek(s), where the first is the

stronger and isolated from the rest, so that everything else sounds to be

attracted to that first Dum. Dum…. TekDumTek – Dum…. TekDumTek.

Listen to an example of ayoub

https://www.maqamworld.com/en/iqaa/ayyub.php

Listen to slow ayoub https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viRbENDI1Z0

The quick versions, although same rhythmic pattern, have a completely

different movement sensation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTU-LO_-C6g

Here is a progression from very slow to very quick ayoub

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVSB_LZh-nM

The autonomy of the first Dum creates a very clear sensation of wave in

movement and sound that attracts the repetitiveness of the rhythm, which is

for this reason also used for ritual purposes, i.e. in trance dances, for example

in Zar ceremonies. A Zar ceremony is a collective ritual, usually held or led by

women, that aspires to heal a person who is perceived to have been possessed

by a spirit (jinn, afrit), not by eliminating the spirit but by negotiating with it

and allowing it to speak.

Zar music uses various rhythms and not only ayoub, and in many cases ayoub

might not be the only rhythm used in the same song.

Listen for example to Mazaher band here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzA4XFek5nw

and here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGp3QFtHzh4

Try to remember the melody, maqam and structure of the voice over the

rhythm, because it will be very useful in the next sections.


2. The same rhythm 2/4 as ilahi, used in Muslim rituals

The same basic rhythmic pattern with many variations is used throughout the

Eastern Mediterranean world and beyond, for ritual purposes, like the

dhikr/zikr ritual by sufi orders.

Here is a dhikr excerpt by an Egyptian band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ruc67Db39E

and this is an entire dhikr/zik(i)r ritual

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIFYygUezmI

This is a reconstruction of zikr in a Turkish TV series, where the main theme of

the lyrics is that “world is a lie”, which is a theme we will also see in Cretan

songs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0IT3aNacJc

Listen here to a slow version of ilahi in 2/4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkuFDhOYd20&t=555s

And a quick version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPkq7K7DkpU


3. Why is this important?

One would ask why the same rhythmic pattern is so important and why it

would not be a coincidence. Actually, the rhythm in the music of the

Mediterranean and the regions around it is not only a metric but a “way” to

play music, i.e. it bears with it more elements that the counting of time. Not a

coincidence, it is called iqaat, durub, darb, usul which means that rhythm is not

a simple arithmetic.

The Greek word ρυθμός (rhythmos) from which rhythm is derived has also the

meaning of flow, which makes it a word that has more than mere numbers and

divisions of numbers.

This article, therefore, is about the flow of ayoub in some Cretan songs.

Ayoub (or ilahi 2/4) is used in many occasions without ritual aspirations. It is

also very popular in Middle Eastern/MENAHT dance performances, as it allows

impressive movement sequences that are trance-like (for example, head spins,

floorwork with hair tosses, or full body spins) inspired by but not representing

any ritual. How is ayoub rhythm used in Cretan songs? Which songs use it that

much?



3. Cretan songs in ayoub

The songs we are interested in have similarities in melodic line or they seem

so, depending on the performance. In many cases, particularly in

contemporary performances, two or three songs of this type are played

together in a form of a suite.

3. 1. Dakryzo me parapono – Δακρύζω με παράπονο – I well up with a niggle

“I well up with a niggle, I reflect with pain, because everything is vain, in this liar

world that I am in”

This is a very old performance. The lyra is played by Mihalis Lagos/Lagoudakis

and the singer is Ioannis Bernidakis-Baxevanis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np4lTHbpZ0k

The same song by Nikos Xylouris

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7og007miuM

In the much quicker version by Marina Kakli, she uses the song in a suite with

“Oloi mou lene yianta klais” and “Ta vasana mou haromai” that we will see a

bit later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuVAT_Qnpe8


This is a contemporary version performed by the Cretan laouto team of the

Music School of Meron of Amari, Crete.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz42bFed4As

A very slow version performed by a big music band, a chorus and Bishop

Makarios being the lead singer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-

mVOESyqJA Observe how Bishop Makarios keeps the beat of 2/4 with his right

hand when he sings on his own.

Bells are used in this version by Yannis Xilouris (Psaroyannis) and Giorgos

Xilouris (Psarogiorgis) to accentuate the first beat of the rhythm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lktAN0b8GeI

A very slow ayoub is used in this suite of the song with Stafidianos song (next

sub-section) by Lampis Xilouris and other musicians.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvzRFNKTPDg


3.2 Stafidianos - Σταφιδιανός Σκοπός – Tune of Stafidianos/Stafidakis

This is a song composed by Mehmet Stafidakis, who died in the 1900s out of

sorrow (he got severely ill with tuberculosis) because of the separation with his

wife, as the oral tradition says. He wrote this song to express his feelings. The

variability of lyrics however, implies that the song or tune was probably a

previous traditional song and Stafidakis made it famous or popular in the

island, at least with the lyrics attributed to him.

“I am dying and getting rid of worries and you that you live, you escape, and if I have

any rights on you, you pay them back in the Underworld. You whore/liar world do

not brag to me, because I was the one who enjoyed you and now you renounce me”

Some of the older recordings are these

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BODJvKMuDkM by Stelios Foustalieris

playing boulgari and Ioannis Bernidakis-Baxevanis singing the song.

“Aman, but stafidianos tune gets old but does not melt, and the who have love in

hidden this [tune] reveals it. Aman, but you are the reason and the excuse and my

heart has pain, and I entered the torments and I do not escape anymore”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpJninO7SHM again by Foustalieris &

Antonis Kareklas


“I wish I were an immortal doctor, and never die, to heal the hearts of those who

area wounded”.

Stafidianos by Vasilis Skoulas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zelvHhWWN9U

“Oh, my fate has it, my fate, and where I love, they think that I hold fire, aman aman,

to burn the world.

Oh, your love is fire, it is fire, and I am a candle and I melt, and the more I see that it

burns me, aman aman, the more I get closer”.

This is Kostas Mountakis singing Stafidianos but at 06:00 he changes both the

rhythm and the maqam. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU5UEvQqAcM

“ But stafidianos tune gets old but does not melt, and the who have love in hidden

this [tune] reveals it”.


If you want to listen to the melodic line and the in-built ayoub, this is a

mandolin solo by Michalis Kontaxakis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh5z6kXKaX8

Evgenia Damovoliti-Toli and Yannis Paximadakis use the lyrics traditionally

attributed to Stafidakis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj0_fCpDu5o

”Aman, I am dying and getting rid of worries and you that you live, you escape, and If

I have any rights on you, you pay them back in the Underworld. Aman, but you are

the reason and the excuse and my heart has pain, and I entered the torments and I

do not escape anymore”.

Stelios and Leonidas Lainakis perform Stafidianos at about 00:36:00 of the

video. In this performance they avoid the lyrics that talk about death, probably

because those lyrics are not appropriate for the gathering, while they use them

in their music album about Tabahaniotika music (see section 4).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz7fZE90-pI

“Oh, but stafidianos tune gets old but does not melt, and the one who has love in

hidden this [tune] reveals it. Oh, but you whore/liar world, do not brag to me,

because I was the one who enjoyed you and now you renounce me”.


The lyrics concerning the imminent death of Stafidakis are performed by

Lainakis band at 07:49 of the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAYdZFBCoBk


“Oh, but I am dying and getting rid of worries and you that you live, you escape, and

if I have any rights on you, you pay them back in the Underworld”.

Leonidas Lainakis recites more lyrics

“Oh, but you whore/liar world, do not brag to me, because I was the one who

enjoyed you and now you renounce me”

Observe that this is not a big celebratory gathering, but a documentary, and

the performance is intimate.

Stafidianos as a very slow ayoub by Lampis Xilouris and a chorus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvzRFNKTPDg

“But you are the reason and the excuse and my heart has pain, and I entered the

torments and I do not escape anymore. But stafidianos tune gets old but does not

melt, and the one who has love in hidden, this [tune] reveals it”.


3.3. Ta vasana mou hairomai – Τα βάσανά μου χαίρομαι – I rejoice in my

sufferings

“Aman, I rejoice in my sufferings, I am having fun with my pains, Aman, and if I wait

for joys, I think I do not recognise them. Aman, the torments feed me and the pains

keep me alive, Aman, but I do not wait for life in the danger where I am. You are a

glass jug and you love [i.e. reflect] everyone you see”.

An old recording by S.Foustalieris and Y.Bernidakis is this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP5Nwcutzl4

Another very traditional performance by Kostas Mountakis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJvGsXO8cLM

This performance has additional lyrics:

“You come and I enjoy myself, you leave and I am tormented. Aman, my many

torments, and my horrific sufferings, I will print them on paper, for the world to learn

about them”.


This is by Lainakis band. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzMX4WhGL9A

The additional lyrics say “You say that you love me, but I see you that you go

elsewhere”.


In this version by Giorgis and Nikos Ntagiantas, the song starts with ayoub but

then it mixes the form with the 4/4 of Qadduka al mayyas melody (see section


3.7). The suite travels between the two melodies, maqam/modes and rhythms

until it establishes itself as syrto.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K4w84xSmIw

The song has different lyrics in the 2 nd part

“There is a water in Chania city, inside the fountain, and whoever has pain in their

heart, should go and the water will heal it. Everybody tells me that you love me, but I

see you that you go elsewhere”.


3.4. Ki esy ston ypno mou sklira – Κι εσύ στον ύπνο μου σκληρά – And you in

my sleep in a harsh manner

“Ah, and you in my sleep in a harsh manner, aman aman, you still torture me, and I

open my eyes, ah you tall dark-skinned, and you quickly leave from me.

Ah, and you in my sleep in a harsh manner, aman aman, you torture my body, I wake

up and there is no, ah you tall dark-skinned, mind in my head, I wake up and there is

no, ah, you live and let me die, mind in my head”.

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