Zortziko

The zortzico is a dance rhythm that originates in the Basque Country. It is also used as an accompaniment rhythm for vocal melodies, such as "Gernikako arbola", the unofficial anthem of the Basques, composed in 1853 by José María Iparraguirre (Laborde 2001).

The zortzico has a distinctive 58 time signature, consisting of three subdivisions of 1, 2, and 2 beats. Some theories hold that it is in 54 time, "like the Rueda except that the 2nd and 4th beats are almost always dotted notes" (Kennedy 2006), or that it actually is a double compound meter combining an irregular binary (516 divided 2 + 3) and an irregular ternary (816 divided 2 + 3 + 3), creating an ostinato pattern of "irregular bichrome" measures, which in Constantin Brăiloiu's terminology is called an aksak rhythm (Laborde 2001).