- Mon Jun 19, 2017 2:03 pm
#37654
Hello,
I'm back with a new specific subject. In june 2015, I proposed my idea of clave-expanding, in order to try and explain the origin of clave-patterns that are often underlying west-african music. The idea was to consider a rhythm made of an odd number of strokes (typically 3 or 5), played twice alternating hands, and keeping only the pattern of the "strong" hand. My hypothesis was that some musicians would play with a stick in the strong hand, the other hand remaining bare, and so the rhythm of the strong hand would emerge.
Later, I decided to go further in my study of Gnawa music, that I had begun fortuitously in the late 80's. My aim was, among others, to study LSM swing in this music (I'll go back on this a bit later).
During my investigations, I stumbled upon videos of "desert Gnawas" (Khamlia, Morocco) who played ganga drums (it's the name of the tbel drum they use) exactly the way I had supposed.
Here are two videos to show this : this one and this one.
While qraqebs play an ostinato (approximately q . q q q . q q q . q q etc.), the "little" drum plays the same rhythm : o . o * o . o * o . o * etc., where "o" is an open stroke on the head of the drum with a bent stick, and " * " a slight stroke of the bare hand at the periphery. The big drum plays the same rhythm, but alternating hands : c . * o * . c * c . * o * . c *, where c is a closed (muffled) stroke in the center of the skin.
To summarize, you obtain :
1 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . 2 . . .
o . o * o . o * o . o * o . o *
c . * o * . c * c . * o * . c *
Gnawas often play between quaternary and ternary, so it approaches the following :
1 . . 2 . . 1 . . 2 . .
o o * o o * o o * o o *
c * o * c * c * o * c *
So I consider this validates my hypothesis, and I intend to go in greater depth in this direction.
(Gnawa music is only the starting point, because as far I know they don't play clave patterns)
(To be continued)
Vincent.
I'm back with a new specific subject. In june 2015, I proposed my idea of clave-expanding, in order to try and explain the origin of clave-patterns that are often underlying west-african music. The idea was to consider a rhythm made of an odd number of strokes (typically 3 or 5), played twice alternating hands, and keeping only the pattern of the "strong" hand. My hypothesis was that some musicians would play with a stick in the strong hand, the other hand remaining bare, and so the rhythm of the strong hand would emerge.
Later, I decided to go further in my study of Gnawa music, that I had begun fortuitously in the late 80's. My aim was, among others, to study LSM swing in this music (I'll go back on this a bit later).
During my investigations, I stumbled upon videos of "desert Gnawas" (Khamlia, Morocco) who played ganga drums (it's the name of the tbel drum they use) exactly the way I had supposed.
Here are two videos to show this : this one and this one.
While qraqebs play an ostinato (approximately q . q q q . q q q . q q etc.), the "little" drum plays the same rhythm : o . o * o . o * o . o * etc., where "o" is an open stroke on the head of the drum with a bent stick, and " * " a slight stroke of the bare hand at the periphery. The big drum plays the same rhythm, but alternating hands : c . * o * . c * c . * o * . c *, where c is a closed (muffled) stroke in the center of the skin.
To summarize, you obtain :
1 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . 2 . . .
o . o * o . o * o . o * o . o *
c . * o * . c * c . * o * . c *
Gnawas often play between quaternary and ternary, so it approaches the following :
1 . . 2 . . 1 . . 2 . .
o o * o o * o o * o o *
c * o * c * c * o * c *
So I consider this validates my hypothesis, and I intend to go in greater depth in this direction.
(Gnawa music is only the starting point, because as far I know they don't play clave patterns)
(To be continued)
Vincent.
Last edited by ternarizator on Fri Jun 23, 2017 3:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I may be wrong and you may be right, and by an effort, we may get nearer to the truth. (Popper)