Fox

Fox is a simple Arabic rhythm from the family of short binary meters, and its name is a shortened form of foxtrot. References describe it as usually being played with relatively little ornamentation, and this simplicity, together with the high speeds at which it is often performed, gives it a fast and insistent feel. Its importance appears especially in the longa form, where many sections alternate between Fox and Malfuf. It also appears at times, though less centrally, in the introductions to some twentieth-century tarab songs. Fox is therefore not merely a transferred Western meter, but something that became part of the internal structure of the longa and of Arabic instrumental practice.

Fox is used as a rhythmic template for feeling the 2/4 meter. Start from the first Dum, then connect the Taks and rests to the movement of the melody or song.

• Longa Farahfaza / Longa Riyad Al-Sunbati