The Turkish term aksak, borrowed from Ottoman musical theory, means "limping", "stumbling", or "slumping", i.e., irregular (Brăiloiu 1951; Fracile 2003, 198; Reinhard, Stokes, and Reinhard 2001, §II, 4). It designates a rhythmic system in which pieces or sequences, executed in a fast tempo, are based on the uninterrupted reiteration of a matrix, which results from the juxtaposition of rhythmic cells based on the alternation of binary and ternary quantities, as in 2+3, 2+2+3, 2+3+3, etc.
In Turkish folk music, these metres occur mainly in vocal and instrumental dance music, though they are found also in some folksongs. Strictly speaking, in Turkish music theory the term refers only to the grouping of nine pulses into a pattern of 2 + 2 + 2 + 3 (Reinhard, Stokes, and Reinhard 2001, §II, 4).
Examples:
5 units: 2+3 (Pajduška) 3+2,
7 units: 2+2+3 (Račenica) 3+2+2 (Lesnoto) Četvorno 2+3+2,
9 units: 2+2+2+3 (Dajčovo) 3+2+2+2 2+2+3+2,
11 units: 2+2+2+2+3 2+2+3+2+2 (Gankino),
13 units: 2+2+2+2+2+3 (Elenino horo) 2+2+2+3+2+2 (Krivo Sadovsko Horo),
15 units: 2+2+2+2+3+2+2 (Bučimiš - Bulgarie),
18 units: 3+2+2 + 2+2+3+2+2 (Jove male mome),
25 units: 3+2+2 + 3+2+2 + 2+2+3 + 2+2 (Sedi donka)
