Ambirhythmic Music

Ambirhythmic music is a species of polyrhythmic music distinguished by the extreme independence and complexity of the two rhythms used. It was first introduced on Terra by Harrican Syldanade. While controversial, ambirhythmic music has been an important influence on contemporary music and culture.

Definition
LIke all polyrhthms, ambirhythms feature the simultaneous sounding of (in the case of ambirhythms) exactly two independent rhythms. The two rhythmic lines in an ambirhythm are always in conflict with one another. Furthermore, in almost all cases both are complex enough as to defy reduction to any simple ratio of beats per measure. Ambirhythmic music is also polyphonic, employing exactly two voices. The two voices in ambirhythmic music never stand in a conventional melodic/harmonic relationship with one another, and often switch rhythms at unexpected moments.

Many people find ambirhythmic music difficult to appreciate (see Critical and Popular reception, below), let alone dance to or perform. On Terra, dancers and performers generally work in pairs, with one partner taking the part of the alpha thorax and the other the part of the beta thorax.

Origin
Ambirhyhtmic music was first introduced to Terra by Harrican Syldanade, who claims to have learned it from the legendary Bithoraxians on Gemeni II. Syldanade himself had only a brief and very low-fidelity sample of Bithoraxian music, which he gave to his friend, noted avant-garde artist and dilettante Dweecisco Offields. Unfortunately, Syldanade's recording was accidentally erased shortly after being delivered to Offields' studio. Thus, the principles underlying contemporary ambirhythmic music derive not from Syldanade's recording, but from Offield's painstaking reconstruction and extrapolation of it.

Critical and Popular Reception
The mysterious loss of the only link (and a tenuous one, at that) between Offield's music and the music Syldanade allegedly heard on Gemeni II led many critics to question the authenticity of ambirhythmic music. Lesster Sideburnsteen famously derided the "discovery" of ambirhythmic music as mere prank on the part of Syldanade and Offields, likening Offield's first composition to "an amateurish, fifth-rate mashup". However, despite a dismissive and often openly hostile reception from established musicians and critics, ambirhythmic music gradually caught on in avant-garde circles and was a crucial component in the development of the short-lived but extremely influential Chitin subculture.