congaplace.com

Posted: **Sun Nov 07, 2004 6:25 pm**

Hello guys,

I'm looking for french west indies rhythms. I've already found " gwo Ka" patterns ( patterns from guadeloupe ( a french west indie island) but i look for martinique pattern , I know that it's very difficult to find becausse there is a few books about these patterns. help me please?

In another hand, according to me, there are too many rhythms from cuba in the " conga book", it exists others islands from caraibe and with beautiful rhytms.

Please react

Posted: **Sun Nov 07, 2004 9:25 pm**

Hello pacal,

These are some French West Indies rhythms I know and love, but I can't write music notation well enough to make them understandable...
maybe someone else here is also familiar with these rhythms and can write them out for you, or maybe you can find them written out in other sources on the net...

Cadanse, or the modern faster form known as Zouk - sounds smilar to me to some West African High Life rhythms.

Mazourka - Martinique, Guadeloupe - this one is in 3/4
La Comet - only from Saint Lucia
Kele - also from St. Lucia

Saint Lucia alone is full of local rhythms endemic to that island. There is a CD on the Smithsonian Folkways label... "Musical Traditions of St. Lucia", it has plenty. Maybe they have for other islands as well. Good luck!

I especially love the French Caribbean rhythms, less known but at least as beautiful as the more famous Calypso, soca and reggae of the British colonized islands. Apparently the French were somewhat more permissive and their slaves kept more African culture intact.

Posted: **Mon Nov 08, 2004 10:35 am**

Hi pascal

I am very interrested in the rhythms you found for gwoka.
Please contact me.

See ya

Big B

Posted: **Mon Nov 08, 2004 1:12 pm**

hello akdom,
you can find " gwo ka" patterns on the site :
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/lameca/annuaire/art_et_culture/musique.htm

enjoy them!!

Posted: **Mon Nov 08, 2004 8:44 pm**

Thanks for the info.
I knew this site already.

See ya

B

Posted: **Tue Nov 09, 2004 4:46 pm**

You are absolutely right Yoni,the French were the most open 'colonizadores' in respect to letting the people to keep their cultures(e.g. Lousiana,U.S.).

Posted: **Tue Nov 09, 2004 8:04 pm**

Hello everybody,

About music from Martinique (the most beautiful island), it exist rhythms from the "afro-martiniquais" folklore: these rhythms are played on a " bélè" drum and the drummer plays the base rhythms and also the improvisation.
Example of rhythms are: Bélè, grand Bélè , Bélia, biguine
Very difficult to find the patterns because not always written and not always given!!!

Moreover, It exists also rhythms like mazurka or more recently zouk,

What I want to make, is to mix these rhythms with others ( cuban,..) : Sorry for the purists

So that's why i ask for your help, great "conguero" community[B][U]

Thanks for your help

Posted: **Sat Jul 29, 2006 3:15 am**

Pacal, As for martiniquen rhythms, I only know about "Chouval bwa" style. If you listen to "Dede St prix" or "Marce & Tumpak" you could probably pick up a lot of rhythms from them (althought they mix modern zouk in with it). I'm limited in my knowlege of Guadloupe and Martinique. I know more about Haitian stuff. If that interests you check out the cook feild recording Of "Ti Roro" re rereleased on Smithsonian folkways records. This has some great solo drumming and He goes into all kinds of Vodou, Rara, & Meringue Rhythms for one drum. I'm also big into Konpa (Modern Haitian dance music) I'm propbably telling you stuff you already know, I just wanted to add my two cents. Mespere ou ka jwenn sa ouap chache! Bon chans!

Posted: **Fri Aug 04, 2006 6:04 pm**

One of the more popular French-Caribbean rhythm is the Haitian Merengue or Compa.

Here is the basic rhythm for conga, cowbell and hi-hats:

conga: OOHF SFOF SFOO OOOO | OOHF SFOF SFOF OFOO *
cowbell: X--X X--- X-X- X--- |X--X X--- X-X- X---
hi-hats: C-CC -CO- C-CC -CO- | C-CC -CO- C-CC -CO- **

* O = open tone; H = heel stroke; F = finger stroke; S = slap
** C = closed; O = open

I used to play these with a band. I played the conga part with 2 drums for voicing variations and the cowbel part with a pedal - quite challenging and fun.

I love these styles. Lets do something! Lets post the patterns that we know (as I did) for the benefit of all of us. Lets share our knowledge - that's the porpuse of the forum after all.

BTW, at the bottom of my posts you will find a link to my personal website. There it is a song I recorded with the band I used to play. I also liked to blend-in the rhythm with my influences (salsa, merenge, bomba, plena). It was a one-take recording, so you will get the idea of how I managed to play it live. It is the one that says Blokoto - it is in Spanish, but drums are drums, anyway :;): . Hope you enjoy it.

Edited By dannydrumperc on 1154715614

Posted: **Sat Nov 04, 2006 9:25 am**

here is the homepage of a great gwoka player :
http://www.myspace.com/marcpandolf

there is a video of his solo show on the site (only gwoka)
and other videos with him playing djembés, congas ...

enjoy!

for more infos, please contact me

Posted: **Sat Nov 04, 2006 6:46 pm**

For more commercial Kompa chek out Dadou Pasquat and The Magnum Band from Miami/Haiti..They are the No 1 band from Haiti and have been around for many years. Dadou is a friend of mine a very talented guitarist arranger composor. They have about 15 albums out..."JC" Johnny Conga...

Posted: **Sat Nov 04, 2006 9:40 pm**

I NEED YOUR HELP GENTLEMAN'S AND FELLOW CONGEROS. ANYBODY WHO CAN HELP ME OUT FINDING DIFFERENT RHYTMS PLAY IN THREE CONGAS... ANY SITE , ANY INFO YOU CAN SHARE,POST WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED... ???

THANKS:
GIL.

Edited By verticalgil on 1162676538

congaplace.com

French west indies rhythms