[alanbuchanan]

I'm on the lookout for:

• Rhythms that leave me bamboozled because it's hard to keep track of where the phrase starts
• Rhythms where the dundunba player/part has a lot of freedom
• Rhythms where it seems chaotic, you can't tell where the beat is and then bam! The phrase starts over again, and actually it's very carefully structured!

So far, the most disorientating rhythm I have come across is Bolokonondo, which, for me, fulfills all of the above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHRsj5EzcQ4

Similarly Takosaba - in this particular recording I am physically unable to hear the phrase start where it's meant to (I hear it on the dundunba not the sangban): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uozVO7925U

What other rhythms are there like this?

[djembefeeling]

Yeah, those two are kind of nasty. Konkoba, konkoba dunun, koredjuga, not easy to feel, too. For me, unfortunately, madan/ djagbe gives me a hard time not to confuse the one with the three...

[davidognomo]

me and some friends were talking about this last night. Mendiani. The several versions of it. It's a world. I still can't hear Famoudou's Rhythmen der Malinké's on beat. Getting close to it, focusing on the sangban.

Takosaba is also a rhythm I haven't get into yet, so, yes, the sangban line just takes me with it and I get of the beat of the rhythm. Bolokonondo is easier, I think, or just maybe because I've been getting into it for some time now.

The most difficult rhythm to hear on the right beat, or the rhythm that I most frequently start hearing with a misplaced beat is Bando Djeli. I know how it is, but if I happen to start listening to it wrong, it's almost impossible to get back on track.

But it's, as in all, a question of practise, I believe.

[Carl]

how about djagbewara? an easy tune if you do not hear the pulse in the right place.
Great recording on MK's Afo.

The first time I learned Siran Kurunei I got the beat backwards in my head. to this day, if I start from the song I only have a 50/50 chance of putting the call in the right place. the brain can do funny things.

C

[michi]

Add Sandia (Djelidon). Can be endlessly confusing because you can feel it equally well on the up-beat or down-beat.

Mané also had me confused for a long time. It took forever before I felt comfortable feeling the start of the cycle where it actually is.

Cheers,

Michi.

[utar090]

I am not quite sure about it.

[korman]

I recently went to dununba workshop and I have to say Dundungbe and Konowoulen were not easy but sort of OK.
However, getting my head around Bada was difficult. You can hear three different beats in it, and none of them is the dance beat!

[djembefeeling]

getting my head around Bada was difficult

At least in the chauff the dundun plays straight beat. I think it's fairly simple once you get used to the family.

[Dugafola]

dununba rhythms become pretty straightforward once you understand the melodies.

for dununba liberation, i think most of the non-collective dance dununbas allow for a lot of phrasing...ie dunungbe, dji, konowulen, bando, kuraba etc. also soli and den/bundiani. dansa and sandia too.

disorienting....i have some recordings of old guys playing garanke and take/maraka/demba. the root konkoni phrase is exactly the same but just shifted against the beat.

[djembefeeling]

isorienting....i have some recordings of old guys playing garanke and take/maraka/demba. the root konkoni phrase is exactly the same but just shifted against the beat

I know exactly what you are talking about - that's a killer for me.

[korman]

getting my head around Bada was difficult

At least in the chauff the dundun plays straight beat. I think it's fairly simple once you get used to the family.

Ja, but it's kinda difficult to go into chauff if you play feeling the "wrong" beat .. but I'll get there, with practice:)

for dununba liberation, i think most of the non-collective dance dununbas allow for a lot of phrasing...ie dunungbe, dji, konowulen, bando, kuraba etc. also soli and den/bundiani. dansa and sandia too.

What do you mean by "non-collective dance dununbas"?

[Dugafola]

isorienting....i have some recordings of old guys playing garanke and take/maraka/demba. the root konkoni phrase is exactly the same but just shifted against the beat

I know exactly what you are talking about - that's a killer for me.

we are prolly talking about the same recording even!!

What do you mean by "non-collective dance dununbas"?

by collective dance, i mean the rhythms that are danced in groups/lines. for example, bolokonondo, takosaba, gbereduka. some ppl would put n'fa kaba/donaba II in that grouping as well but i've never seen it danced in the village. there's alot action in those rhythms but the sangban will never abandon it's part to play a chauffe pattern in a traditional foly setting. of course all bets are off if you're in the city.

maybe i shouldn't refer to them as colletive dances anymore since other dununba rhythms have group/line dancing as well (ie kon/dunungbe, bando, bada, denmusoni etc).

it's more to do with the structure of the music then the dancing. complicated to play but musically poor compared to the other dununba rhythms where there's alot more conversation b/w sangban and dununba.

[boromir76]

Famoudou's Kebendo can be quite disorientinating when soloing and leading. Quite simple rhythm similar to Djole, but reversed. It has sangban and dundun strictly on offbeat and kenkeni on the beat. The brain can quickly shift the beat and comprehend this rhythm in "wrong" way, making the duns and sangban for the main beat and kenkeni for offbeat.