12/8 Mali rhythm family short:medium:long

[djembefeeling]

Lately, I am working intensely on the 12/8 Mali rhythm family with short:medium:long swing, that is manjanin, suku, wolosodon, garanke (as a jina rhythm, too), and numu. I want to compare the styles of different jenbefolas by analysing distinct recordings of each player. so far, I am interested in the traditional style only. Especially recordings of Mady Keita, Matche Traoré, Drissa Koné, Sidiki Camara, Sega Sidibé, Sega Cissé, Jaraba Jakité, and Jeli Mady Kouyaté would be interesting, but if you know some other drummer with traditional style recordings, please let me know.

If you have such recordings I would be happy to get them. I will give the results of my research and your recordings notated in sheet music in return.

with kind regards, jürgen

[bops]

What do you mean by short:medium:long swing?

Also, "traditional" style is open to interpretation. :) The drummers you mentioned each has a different style, and all influenced to some degree by modern adaptations.

I have some recordings with Matche. I'll take a listen for any of the rhythms you mentioned.

[djembefeeling]

Hi Paddy,

by short:medium:long I mean the duration from one pulse to the next, the typical swing of that familiy. from the beat to the second pulse the duration is usually short in those rhythms, from the second pulse to the third the duration is a bit longer, and, finally, from the third pulse to the next beat the duration is the longest.

You are absolutely right about the "traditional" style. this is very much open to interpretation. I guess I mean what Rainer Polak calls the "classical" Bamako style, prevalent from the 1960s to the 1980s, when they used to play duo, trio, or quartett with one or two konkonins + one or two djembes. I know that Rainer focused much on Yamadou Doumbia and his former students for his research, but if you listen to Mady Keita, Sega Sidibé, and Drissa Koné you can often find very similar solo patterns. Even Sidiki Camara is, though in the National Ballet of Mali for a long time, playing this old style sometimes. So, I mean the old school with konkonin and djembe only. This is my focus here.

Would be glad to compare your recordings of Matché with mine. Which year are recordings from?

[djembefeeling]

Here is an example for the "old school" style, Mady Keita's Manjanin. I just finished the first part of the transcription and analysis. This is what your recordings would look like in my notation. My symbols are square for bass, circle for ton, and triangle for slap (muffled is a line under or diagonal through the symbol).

What Mady Keita plays here is very much alike (at least in part) to Sega Sidibé, Yamadou Doumbia, Jeli Madi Kuyaté, Drissa Koné, Brahima Samaké, early Soungalo Coulibaly (Na Yan), and Sedou Balou.

[michi]

Awesome effort!

Did you notate the remainder as well? I'd love to get a complete copy!

Cheers,

Michi.

[djembefeeling]

The remainder is yet to be done. The track is over 8 minutes, continually speeding up, and the recording is not always clear. So I will have to spend some more hours listening. But I just edited my first page for minor errors. Some things sound different when I listen to the CD on my hi fi stereo than on my pc with audacity...

[bkidd]

Thanks for sharing this Jürgen.

[kosta]

Jurgen that is an outstanding effort!

I cant believe your patience to notate the whole thing.

I ve got a video of Mady playing Mendiani, hope it helps you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYC83sI7Zng

Cheers
Kosta

[djembefeeling]

Hi Kosta,

thanx for the video, I'e seen it a dozen times before. It helps to get a notion of his handing, but the sound is low quality. Quite often, it is really hard to tell what kind of sounds Mady plays. I would like to listen to Mady with just a Konkoni...

[djembefeeling]

Hi Kosta,

I thought again about the video, and it actually helps a lot. The sound is low quality, the accompaniment sucks, but the tempo hardly speeds up and you can actually watch him playing instead of only listen. So some crucial aspects are easier to pick up.

I transcribed the complete video as far as I could. I ignored the parts where Mady gets increasingly mad and changes from his off-beat pattern into the accompaniment and I straightened it up. Probably some sounds are different from what Mady plays, I may have forgotten some or added where really is nothing, but this is not really important.

The structure of his playing is. And it is really interesting to see how close some structures of his playing in your video are to the recording of the CD. He starts out with the same basis pattern (basis 1), does not play for long before he plays the old school echauffement, and even the time he needs to reach basis 3 is almost completely identical.

With different recordings from one artist you can extract something like a style. Thats why I see forward to some new recordings of you guys (hey bobs, could you find your recordings of Matche Traoré?). Then, it is even more interesting to compare this artist to others.

So Kosta, can you tell me what year you recorded the video? Since I promised a notation and you have this video out in public, I post the notation right here.

best, jürgen

[kosta]

Hi Jurgen,

Thanks so much for this notation!

The video was recorded in 2007.

I ignored the parts where Mady gets increasingly mad and changes from his off-beat pattern into the accompaniment and I straightened it up.

Its not Mady's fault. The accompaniment keeps going off and Mady being Mady...gets a bit pissed off . Have you been able to write down the words for the song? Do you know if this a traditional Mendiani song or if it is something that Mady likes to sing?

He starts out with the same basis pattern (basis 1),

These phrases are the signature for Mendiani and I ve heard them from other Malian and Guinean djembefolas.

Thanks again for your great effort!

Cheers
Kosta

[djembefeeling]

Have you been able to write down the words for the song? Do you know if this a traditional Mendiani song or if it is something that Mady likes to sing?

Not yet, but I will. It's a nice song, and I would bet my grandma on it that the song is traditional. I only know the "Manjanin Daba" song so far, but Mady's song on the CD is nice, too.

These phrases are the signature for Mendiani and I ve heard them from other Malian and Guinean djembefolas.

Yes, Basis 1 is one signature for Mendiani, but there are others (all basis-patterns are). Drissa and other Djembefolas in Bamako start with Basis 0 (along the basic structure: s.ts.bs.tstt with lots of variations), which Mady doesn't even touch. So it is already interesting when you check out styles to see where the djembefolas start from, how they usually proceed, and what they play at the end, when the speed is up. There are some interesting differences in the individual styles, even though the material is common for these "old school" djembefolas.

[Afoba]

sorry guys, which two songs are you talking about? which recordings?

[kosta]

Hi Jurgen,

There are some interesting differences in the individual styles, even though the material is common for these "old school" djembefolas.

You are so right about the individual style. For example even though Mady and Abdoul Doumbia had the same teacher (Moriba Keita) I find their style totally different. Mady is still playing the traditional Bamana style where Abdoul has "evolved"

Mendiani, on their cds with KSK, even though it has many similarities it feels totally different. Even when Mache solos on Abdoul's mendiani his phrasing has his own signature even though he had both of them as his teachers.

I guess this is the magic of African drumming. You might be studying just one rhythm for years thinking that you finally got it and then you come across some elderly in a village and he blows you away

Cheers
Kosta

[kosta]

Hi Afoba,

This is a link with Mady Keita singing for Mendiani or Mendianna as is it labeled there...
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/madykeita

Jurgen have you got any links or recordings for Manjanin Daba? I dont think I know which one is that?

Cheers
Kosta