Origin of the djembe call

[James]

So I've been thinking a bit about djembe calls. I know there are certain calls that are particular to certain rhythms. Like Sorsonnet and Tiriba. (This has led me to wonder about how many distinctive djembe calls there are).

So I guess that's some indictation of where they came from.

We all know the dundunba call came from a lizard

...I was thinking more in terms of the generic 4/4 call or the generic 6/8 call...

At some point they must have been improvised and if so were they just done so on the basis of their aural characteristics and ability to mark time. Or did they come from somewhere? ...and who decided to use them?

[bubudi]

several malinke masters have said in relation to malinke rhythms that there are 3 basic calls and that rhythms can be grouped on the basis of those calls. they are:
1. ft - t t - t t - t t - -
ternary call for soli rhythms, dununbas, mendiani, etc
2. t t t t t t - t t - t - -
ternary call for djaa, soko, maraka, etc
3. ft - t t - t - t t - t - t - - -
call for most malinke binary rhythms, also with the variation:
ft - t t - t - t t - s s s - - -
(references to 'binary' and 'ternary' is of course my own)

sorsornet and tiriba aren't malinke rhythms, but still tiriba is played with the 2nd call above.

traditionally, rhythms start and finish more by instinct. the women would sing, and according to the song, people would fall into the corresponding rhythm. when it's time to end the rhythm, it fades out a little, before coming to a stop, often the master/soloist will play quieter towards the end and do a roll. a lot of the communication for starting and stopping rhythms happens non-verbally.

the need to start and stop rhythms quickly to facilitate precise choreography and breaks became necessary after the inception of the african ballets. that's when these breaks were invented. still more calls were invented over the years. as the adage goes, necessity is the mother of invention...

[Afoba]

Hi Bubudi,
I'm not convinced that there were no signals at all before ballet times.
But they have become much more important through ballet music and classes for sure.
Very nice posting of your's!
Greets, D

[bubudi]

i hear you, daniel. there are some calls that some teachers and masters call 'appels anciens' (old/ancient calls), which predate the ballets. maybe you already know some examples? i'm sure then that the concept of calls was around for a long time before the ballets, but of course the modern format of calling between soloists, before and after breaks, or to signal change of dance steps, was established by the ballets.

[Afoba]

the modern format of calling between soloists, before and after breaks, or to signal change of dance steps, was established by the ballets.

very true!
there's a lot of older signals, some are quite clear as for Soro and Kassas:
% oo oo oo oo (like the well known ternary one in a binary rhythm)
others are much more individual. In other words: you can play a million of different phrases to end something, it's the context that makes it a signal (not only, but it's a big part of it).
The ballets have "cleared" the affair, they have broken it down to these 3 to 6 or 7 phrases
/% oo oo oo /
or: /o o o o o /
oooooo oo o
or: /o o o o..../
/% oo o oo o o /
or the MK version: /% oo o oo sss /

Greets, Daniel

[bubudi]

daniel, i find it hard to read your notation!

do you mean this?

Code: Select all

Ft- t t - t t - t t - t t - - -

(Ft = tone flam)

i've heard a very similar call to that for soboninkun.

i've often wondered if any of the three main calls used by the ballets were once ancient calls for a specific rhythm...

[e2c]

I believe Daniel's abbreviations are for the German words used for different strokes/sounds...

[Afoba]

hello, no it's english d;-)
but me, too, I prefer the "t" instead of "o", I just thought "o" was more used in english for what I call a tonique or a "gun" or "ghin" d;-)
You got it right, Bubudi. the other signals I wrote aren't that clear the way I did it. Again
Ft-tt-tt-tt--
t-t--t-t-t (now "traditional" in CKY for Soli)
tttttt-tt-t-- (I prefer: tt-tt-tt-Fs--)
t-t-t-t-... (all binary)

Ft-tt t-tt-t-t--- (MK version as Bubudi wrote it above)

I hope this is clearer. I think most people here know most of these signals.
Greets, D

[bubudi]

my difficulty was more in making sense of the notes in relation to time, but knowing the calls helped somewhat. still, when i saw 't t t t t' i was thinking more about the modern dununba call, but when you rewrote it, i recognized it: t - t - - t - t - t - -. this call is used in liberte (the ternary one), and in breaks for soko and sometimes other ternary rhythms, but i've seen a couple of conakry boys use it during dance class for soli also. if you have the opportunity to talk about this with your teachers, they will probably tell you (as has been my experience) that you can play anything as a call, as long as you are leading properly, the good players will just know how to follow it. so i wonder if it's really just a thing in the capital cities, or was this always happening to some extent, especially in some of those rhythms that never had a distinct call? as you said before:

In other words: you can play a million of different phrases to end something, it's the context that makes it a signal (not only, but it's a big part of it).