Fume Fume Notation? (Ghana)

[ikpema]

hi!

I'm looking for a notation of the FUME FUME - rhythm. (masterpart and support). It's from Ghana, played on kpanlogo drums (from Mustapha Teddy Addy?)

I would really appreciate, if somebody knows this rhythm! For exchange I could also bring another one for you- I've got some from africa (guinea ...) and some afro-brazilian...

greetings! ikpema

[captainquinto]

Willkommen meinen Freund ikpema!
(please correct this if it's wrong)



I found this notation:

Fume Fume

additive 3-3-3-3: 12 pulses hand-to-hand
12/8 |: . . * . . * . . * . .

Bell x . x . x . . x . x . .
Shekere X . . . . . X . . . . .
_ _ _ _ _ _
Djembe B . O . S . B O O . S .

Hi kpanl. B . B . O O B . B . O O

Lo kpanl. B . . O O . B . . O O .

That doesn't line up real well but it's from a site here:
http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~tosek/riddims/rythmlist.htm

. . . a veritable cornucopia of rhythms!!

Peace,
Cap'nQ :laugh:



Edited By captainquinto on 1137222662

[ikpema]

hallo captainquinto! "Willkommen mein Freund!" :;):

danke für deinen willkommensgruß!
wie gehts dir?
kannst du noch mehr deutsch?
wo hast du es gelernt?
warst du schon in deutschland?

und - danke für die schnelle antwort und den link! super!

...............

thank you for your welcome!
how are you?
do you know more german?
where did you learn it?
you've already been to germany?

and - thanx for your quick reply and the link! super!

.............


so now its getting a little clearer for me. i’m just back from ghana where i learnt the fume fume rhythm.

for me at first it was really difficult to understand! our drumming teacher just gave us one bell and then we started the master-part. as i heart the bell as a usual afro-clave i first was completely confused!! later i already got the idea that the bell must be something else: it’s the 5er-bell of a 12-pulse-rhythm (which is really almost similar to the afro-clave if you don’t get the background). i’m still a little confused. the way of our drumming was different and more complicated than the notated one in this link. and we didn’t start on one, but on an off-beat after the 3. bell-beat. typical african! they really know how to confuse us stupid germans. ??? the drumming teacher was laughing at us because we had such difficulties to get the beat…

so i have to go back one day to learn and understand more about african riddims…

.......

here is another one from ghana for you which i like very much:


KPACHA

Quinto
..** ..** ..** ..**

Conga
oo.. xx.. oo.. xx..

Tumba
b.b. ..#. b.b. ..#.

Conga 2
xx.. xx.. o..x .x.. o.o. oo.. o..x .x..

Bell
x.x. x.x. x..x .x..

Chekere
x... x... x... ....


(o = open, x = slap, b = bass, . = tip)
(* = stick on the drum-skin, # = stick on the drum-side)


ob’owa- greetings!
(in edo, a nigerian language)

ikpema



Edited By ikpema on 1137238578

[captainquinto]

Guten Tag ikpema!

Entschuldigung ... Ich spreche nur ein bisschen Deutsch.
This forum has been an endless source for learning many new cultural phrases and customs.

I have been to Germany, but only for a few weeks. My great-grandparents are from the Hamburg area.

It's great that you had the opportuninty to travel to the "motherland". Must have been an amazing experience!

Thanks for the Kpacha riddim ... fett!

Since I started with djembe, many of the patterns learned were like these ...
kawa, menjani, didadi, kasa, sunu, sogolon ...

Now I can add kpacha, too! :laugh:

Again .. welcome to the forum.

Prost!
Cap'n Q

[ikpema]

thanx for your reply!

you've already learnt the main german phrases!!



ob'owa und prost!! :;):


ikpema

[La Conguera]

Hi Ikpema!

I´m new to this board, and when I read trough some of the postings I found your question about the Fume Fume from Ghana.
Yes, Mustapha Tettey Addy played it, as well as Aja Addy, also a famous Master Drummer and a close relative of Mustapha. (Unfortunately, Aja died some years ago on a concert tour in Japan.)
Both of them were my teachers, but - as far as I know - none of them ever played Fume Fume on a Djembe!

It´s not easy to play Fume Fume; the patterns look simple, but it´s rather difficult to put them together in the right feeling. You could think of it as 6/8, though no african musician will care about the way we think of it.

The bell and the low support drum are the same I learnt, but the high support is different:

1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
O o V O o V V= open slap (right hand), muffled with the left hand on the skin
This pattern starts on "one".

The Pattern you mentioned (starting after the third stroke of the bell) is the starting pattern of the master drum:

1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
b B x X x x = closed slap,
B x X b B x X x
Bo . . . Bo = flam (right bass / left open)

Hope this will help and not increase the confusion!

I also like the Kpacha, it´s easy for people to dance to this rhythm. I took Kpacha (recorded during a lesson with my middle class students) as a background music for the site "Über mich" on my homepage.

[URL=http://www.trommeln-in-duesseldorf.de]

[ABAKUA]

Welcome to the boards Claudia.

Here is your link fixed. http://www.trommeln-in-duesseldorf.de/index.html

[La Conguera]

Hello ABAKUA!

Thank you so much for your welcome and for fixing the link!

I don´t belong to the generation who grew up with a computer amongst their toys... So thanks for your help!

It´s a great feeling to send a posting from Germany to a board in the USA and getting help from Australia - a real world wide drummers network!

[pavloconga]

Hello Claudia - and welcome to Congaboard! And hi to Ikpema,
I would like to comment on this rhythm. In years past, the supporting parts and the master drum of this Ghanaian rhythm (the Fumé Fumé) were usually played only on Kpanlogo drums. Around 10 to 15 years ago, one of the developments/innovations that took place in Ghana was many of the soloists started playing the master parts on a djembe or bucarabou (which is something like a djembe but is different in shape and sound).

I was in Ghana in 1998 during this transition period and saw it played both ways. I was also there in 2001 and 2003 - every performance I was at, the master parts were always played on a djembe with the supporting melodic parts on kpanlogo drums.

For a beautiful rendition of this rhythm (and accompanying dance) played at typical speed (i.e. very fast!) go to the address below, choose the "July 29, 2003" performance and fast forward to the 43min:20sec mark:

http://www.kennedy-center.org/program....NENSEM#

That's the way it should sound!

This group on the link above (@Kennedy Center, Washington D.C.) and in the pic below (@ Nungua village) are called the Kusun Ensemble from Ghana (some of the guys I studied with in Africa). In the pic below they are actually playing Fumé Fumé which I also recorded aat the same time on MDisc.

cheers
Pavlo

ps Claudia, I was in Germany for a month or so, towards the end of 2003 and had a great time!



Edited By pavloconga on 1144623687

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... usun01.jpg

[La Conguera]

Hello Pavlo,

thank you for welcoming me to the board and also for your comment and the very interesting link! (Didn´t know it existed, so thanks for sharing your knowledge!)

There´s no doubt the Kusun Ensemble knows how to play Fume Fume, and you are quite right: it has to be played rather fast (otherwise the song - they sing the same one I heard from Mustapha and Ajy Addy - would sound boring and the dancing would look like "slow motion"...).

I know times are changing, and maybe (at the age of 51) I am developing an old-fashioned taste, and of course I´m influenced by my teachers and their tradition (as you pointed out right, the djembe is not a traditional drum for music from Ghana). So I still don´t like the master drum patterns being played on a djembe while the supports are played on Kpanlogo drums or obrentes. What I feel is that the sound of the djembe dominates the other instruments too much.

But - as it is said in Latin - "De gustibus non est disputandum" (you can´t argue about taste)!

I´d like to thank you for your informations and send my love to Australia! Good to hear you had a nice time in Germany!

[pavloconga]

Hi Claudia,
Thanks for your reply. It's true, "there is no accounting for taste" as the english version of the saying goes.

I have heard Fumé Fumé played quite slow (with singing) and it is quite beautiful. The melody between the drums can be more clearly heard. Kusun often used to play an arrangement of the rhythm where they would start very slowly (without the dance) then quite suddenly they would take it up to a very fast tempo and the dancers would enter, making for a very dynamic performance.

What I believe (and have observed over the last 8 years or so) is that this music is in a continual state of change and development. I think the djembe is there to stay in Ghana and future new and young musicians will inevitably incorporate their own ideas and innovations into the music.

I have many recordings made on mini disc in the field in Ghana (and can download the music to my computer). But I need to know how to make them available on the web.

Perhaps someone on this forum can offer some advice on how to do this? If so, I could put up some recordings.

best regards
Pavlo



Edited By pavloconga on 1144148511

[Smejmoon]

Perhaps someone on this forum can offer some advice on how to do this? If so, I could put up some recordings.

I would try Google Video.
https://upload.video.google.com/