Here's a Macedonian tune in 25/8 I posted in another forum:

Dvajspetorka

This is another fairly typical piece of Balkan funny-rhythm dance music (Turkish gypsies, I think - can't read the comments in the video on this browser):

davul zurna (part 2 seems to have gone missing)

Listen to the interaction between the melody and the drum pattern ("dum" with the heavy stick on the right hand, "tek" with the light switch on the left). The drummer is doing much more work than the zurna player, and in that culture they are given higher status. You may be able to have a party without a melody player, but not without a drummer. This sometimes shades into downright theatre, as in this simple 7/8 tune from Cappadocia where you are left in no doubt about who the star is:

drum spectacular

In Turkish classical music, the rhythm often centres around the kudüm (small kettledrums), which in Sufi imagery symbolizes the continuing creative impulse of God underlying everything that happens in the universe (so don't drop a beat). You can see the kettledrums leading the group at 7:40 in this, where the whole group first plays together. As usual the kettledrum player is sitting dead centre.

Sufi music recital