congaplace.com

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2008 2:59 pm**

New method to learn soloing on djembe. Very simple .
Learn to built your own solo and learn many solo phrases.

www.djembe-solo.ca

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Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2008 6:56 pm**

This is not a NEW method, people have been doing this on jimbe for a 1,ooo years....Johnny Conga.....

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:04 pm**

Wow Johnny, you really HAVE been around a long time!

Posted: **Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:08 pm**

What is new i this method is the way that i teach. You learn vocabulary and after you can build your own solo.

Edited By mat277 on 1204201345

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... _mo111.JPG

Posted: **Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:46 pm**

I'm sorry, I wish I spoke and read French. It is hard for me to give an opinion on something I can't actually read so I apologize if this comment is completely out of left field.

Basically from what I've learned and been taught, a lot of djembe soloing comes from the dance that the rhythm is played for. I've learned some of Mamady's solos and listened and witnessed countless other amazing solos. I know that in some cases there aren't always drummers, and in those situations the solo seems structured around the dun-dun or some other choreography. In a lot of ways I think of djembe soloing more like soloing in a jazz context. There are phrases that are built on, call and response, and breaks the same way in jazz. This is just one dimension of what I think when I think about soloing on djembe.

If you listen, its not always about shredding speed and incomprehensible facility (though that comes almost effortlessly as well) but a lot more structure and discipline and that magic word S P A C E...

Hopefully these thoughts are not too far off topic. I do wish there was an english version (or that I knew french).

Posted: **Tue Feb 12, 2008 4:58 pm**

Your are absolutly rigth about soloing in african percussion.

But, before to think about communicating whit dundun or dancer in your solo, you have to know some vocabulary.

You have to learn some words and phrases. If you dont know those word and phrases, you will only make noise, like Mamady Keita like to say.

That is what the method do, it is teaching vocabulary and phrases.

Sorry for my english.

I am presently working on the traduction of my method.

Mathieu
www.djembe-solo.ca

Posted: **Tue Feb 12, 2008 7:09 pm**

Cool... I usually just cop phrases from Mamady's solos and set them up as themes then improvise as best I can between them, unless of course I am actually soloing with dancers. Then I usually only play accompaniment. I have a hard time placing the breaks correctly for some dances. It is a hard thing to do well.

Edited By Garvin on 1202845481

Posted: **Tue Feb 12, 2008 8:52 pm**

Look the best way to learn is "hands on" with a African jimbe drum ensamble....books are ok but 'practical application" is what's gonna get u there...and just remember cause one can play doesn't mean he can teach....all drumming is built around the "tonality/language"' of it's people...we have a language to play Rumba as well...so its not an uncommon thng to learn the "language" of a particular type drum....Johnny Conga...

Posted: **Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:49 pm**

You are right, you have to play whit african djembe drum ensemble.

But there is a lot of work you can do on your own, and often the people does'nt know where to begin.

That is where a book can be very usefull.

Posted: **Fri Feb 15, 2008 3:42 pm**

New exemples in the démo section of the web site:www.djembe-solo.ca

Edited By mat277 on 1203182584

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... demo33.JPG

Posted: **Fri Feb 15, 2008 10:23 pm**

Hey guys.. don't be rude

This guy is at least trying to put something together. You are all right about soloing the African way. But I think this is a very interesting approach of understanding prhases.

I guess everyone can at least pick something out of that.

And it is some serious work to do such a project. Respect.

And I write my music the same way, lol.

En tout cas, bravo pour ton boulot. Ca n'a rien de facile et je sais de quoi je parle.. je bosse depuis des annees sur un site de percussion... on n'a jamais fini.

B

Posted: **Sat Feb 23, 2008 8:29 pm**

Le me put it this way,I learn the root from the people which brought the root from Africa and I have played or teach africans from Senegal,Guinea,Ghana,Nigeria,South Africa and Ethiopians...the articulation change with the languages of the Tribes and other than to make a show, few of them know the meaning of anything,they are capitalizing in the fact that people do not know anything about those roots and making money..I really did to upgrade the articulation of Djembe playing,(which is the reason that I got african percussionists students),...but always based on the Araras root....If there is not foundation there is nothing in which to build something solid...Dr. Zaragemca

Posted: **Sat Feb 23, 2008 8:44 pm**

So you learn it from Africans and then teach it back to them?

What do you mean when you say articulation? You use that word a lot and I don't really know what you mean.

Posted: **Sat Feb 23, 2008 9:02 pm**

The website says "available in English soon". I like the Western/pulse notation hybrid. Mamady Keita used the same method in his book. However, the count (1+2+3+4+) is wrong in this new book. The grouping of pulses is correct; you will notice that every four pulses are grouped (beamed) together. The pulse grouping defines the main beats. In other words, each pulse grouping represents one main beat. The count should be: 1e+a2e+a, etc.
-David

Posted: **Sat Feb 23, 2008 9:56 pm**

Hi David, thanks for tha interest and the energy you put in this subject.

If the notation is wrong in my book, does that mean that Mamady Keita (who is the referance in african percussion) is wrong in is book to, because it is the same.

I did learn from Mamady Keita and other african masters in Guinea. I am playing every week whit several africans guys from Guinée and Senegal.

Edited By mat277 on 1203803912