Bata rhythms for congas - examples

[Berimbau]

No doubt that by now Cuban Lucumi has had its own seperate history apart from the Nigerian well spring, and that translations would have to be rigorously conducted with a sound methodolgiy. Now I'm no linguist either, but I do suspect that even in the ritual context of Afro-Cuban culture, that Lucumi has recieved more than a few loan words from other languages. The remnants of other Kwa languages spoken in 18th and 19th century Cuba may yet survive in Lucumi as well as Fon, Spanish, or Ki-Kongo.
I seriously doubt that any of the African cabildos were free from outside cultural influences. These were not exclusively ethnic institutions but were more or less organized along cultural and religious lines. Certainly the frequency of outmarriage in slave society guaranteed a flow of cultural capital from a variety of African and European sources. Today the cultural profile of many Afro-Cubans may include participation in the Regla, Abakua, the Catholic church, and Palo ceremonies.
Now David I don't think that John Mason is a linguist either, but his scholarship is first rate and I'm certain that he would not be adverse to any creative criticism. Perhaps some bona fide linguists such as your friend Patty Hagan, or mine, Maureen Warner Lewis, would consider a project to analyze the ultimate sources of Lucumi. It would be nice to have that weighty tome on my bookshelf. ####, I'd be happy to get another Ki-Kongo dictionary!



Saludos,




Berimbau

[davidpenalosa]

Hi Berimbau,

I agree that as you say, "Lucumi has received more than a few loan words from other languages". At least, that hypothesis as various people have made it to me, makes sense. I also believe that it has been well established that the original source of Lucumi is Yoruba. Do you agree, or is it far from settled as far as you are concerned?

I’m not all that comfortable criticizing John Mason’s scholarship because his area of expertise is a discipline of which I am not knowledgeable. Yet, I can’t seem to help myself here because I see what I believe to be a glaring deficit in his work.

In his Forward (pg. iii), Mason says:"For over twenty-five years I have followed Orisa and for all of that time I have been intrigued by the fact that Cubans, African-Americans, and Puerto Ricans were moved to dance and sing by hundreds of songs they had memorized but didn’t understand the words to."

You say that Mason’s scholarship is first rate. I assume you know something about him, while I don’t really know much about the man. Without knowing Mason, or knowing much of anything about linguistics, I see a glaring flaw in his book. While the Lucumi-fluent Cubans are surely dying off, it seems to me that Mason deliberately ignored the very people who could have provided the information he sought. At the very least, the Cuban translations should have been compared with the African translations Mason published. Would you not agree?
-David

[Berimbau]

David,
Although I have done some research in the area of comparative linguistics, and am familiar with much of the literature and many of the issues arising from African language extentions Brasil, Cuba, Jamaica, and the US, my own training in that field is limited to a single course taken decades ago. I say this to keep us BOTH out of trouble here!
Lucumi, to my knowledge, does stem from the Yoruba language, but as I stated, with a significant seperate development in Cuba which is marked by a variety of foreign language loan words. Because Lucumi stems mainly from the Kwa family of tonal languages, researchers are presented with some thorny issues in translating and interpreting data collected in the field. This kind of research begs for a partnership with a West African Yoruba speaker, hours of taped interviews WITH the Cuban Lucumi language speakers, much patience and much time. One really needs much more than a Yoruba dictionary to do it!
Why would such a rigorous methodology be required? A few quick examples from an ENGLISH language experience. When the producers of the 1971 Jamaican film starring Jimmy Cliff, "The Harder They Come" released it in the US, they were forced to add English subtitles so that the wider English speaking audience could understand the dialog! It seems that the Jamaican patois spoken in the film was far too thick for the uniniated. Now my wife is from Memphis and I am from Brooklyn. It seemed that we were from two different planets when we met in 1987. We really could have used a trranslator on our initial dates. It took us a while to become fluent in both "Southern" and "Yankee." My point is that even within a single language, accent and style can render it unintelligable. Yoruba is no exception.
Some form of Yoruba is also spoken in Trinidad and Jamaica. A cultural consequence of the "late arrivants." These Yoruba speaking folks were actually indentured African free laborers who came to the Caribbean in the 1860's, right around the time those last slave ships were being unloaded in Cuba. This final layer of African culture, along with the captives taken during the Yoruba wars, impacted the African Diasporan community immensely. With each successive wave of Yoruba speakers, the style and the lexicon of Lucumi was doubtless changing. Again, I feel that the importance of inter-ethnic outmarriage in Cuba cannot be overstated, and that that is what ultimately produced the intensive multi-cultural profile of so many Afro-Cubans.
On to John Mason, who I don't know either. Bob Thompson speaks highly of him, so I assume that the fellow knows what he is doing. However, if he hasn't actually interviewed Cuban Lucumi speakers, then his database would be of VERY limited use.
In this field criticism is what drives us to improve and excell. A critical eye is what will produce the best and most lasting work, although we all should know that each ensuing generation will doubtless eclypse our research with their newer findings. I personally look for the good, even in flawed research, but that doesn't mean I necessarily subscribe to it!!! Respect is very important, even when we disagree. The important thing is that the work gets done and the knowledge is passed on. Just as Lucumi was.


Saludos,




Berimbau

[davidpenalosa]

Berimbau,
I love your post! I agree wholeheartedly. I hope that my critiques of John Mason’s work have been respectful.

Another tidbit about Lucumi.
In Dr. William’s Bascom’s article "The Yoruba in Cuba" (1950) he told of how he traveled between Cuba and Nigeria delivering audio recordings; questions and answers between Cuban and Nigerian babalawos. He found that the Ifa system of divination was nearly identical on both sides of the Atlantic and that the babalawos on both sides understood each other as well. I also remember that he said Lucumi closely resembled the Ijesa (iyesa) dialect of Yoruba.
-David

[davidpenalosa]

This thread began when Tone asked for some good transcriptions of bata rhythms played on congas. Since then, the discussion has veered off into who is a greater authority in the realm of bata and the comparison of Lucumi and Yoruba.

In the interest of satisfying Tone and others curious about playing conga patterns based on bata rhythms, I offer the following contribution.

One helpful way of making sense of the bata’s dense euphony is to identify the melody of the enus (large head) as the primary reference and the chachas (small head) as the secondary. It's almost as if there are two drum batteries being played at once. The melody of the enus is similar to that of the open tones making up the primary melody of a conga drum ensemble. The melody of the chachas on the other hand, sounding somewhere between conga slaps and woodblocks, provide a second strata of melody which adds depth and flavor.

The first task of transcribing bata to a conga drum arrangement, is to play the enu open and muff tones as open and muff tones on three congas. For example, notice the three bata drums making up the rhythm Obaloke and its conga adaptation below.

Obaloke on bata drums

||XoX|ooX|oXo|Xoo|| clave

||Xoo|Xoo|Xoo|Xoo|| okonkolo chacha
||ooo|oXo|ooo|oXo|| okonkolo enu

||oXo|oXo|oXo|oXo|| itotele chacha
||ooo|ooo|Xoo|Xoo|| itotele enu

||ooX|ooX|ooX|ooX|| iya chacha
||Xoo|ooo|ooo|ooo|| iya enu

o = rests
X = strokes

Obaloke adapted to three conga drums

||XoX|ooX|oXo|Xoo|| clave

||Too|oQo|Coo|CQo|| three conga drums


T = tumba
C = conga
Q = quinto

(If you put this in "Courier" font, the pulses will align.)

Here’s a conga arrangement of the bata adaptation of iyesa (sort of an adaptation of an adaptation).

||XooX|oooX|ooXo|Xooo|| clave

||ooXo|ooXo|ooXo|ooXo|| okonkolo chacha
||Xooo|Xooo|Xooo|Xooo|| okonkolo enu

||Xooo|Xooo|Xooo|Xooo|| itotele chacha
||oooo|ooXo|oooo|XoXo|| itotele enu

||oooX|ooXo|oooX|ooXo|| iya chacha
||oXoo|oooo|XoXo|oooo|| iya enu


Bata adaptation of iyesa on three congas:

||XooX|oooX|ooXo|Xooo|| clave

||QToo|QoCo|ToTo|CoCo|| three conga drums


Here’s the same rhythm using a common okonkolo variation:

||XooX|oooX|ooXo|Xooo|| clave

||ooXo|oooo|ooXo|oooo|| okonkolo chacha
||oooo|XooX|oooo|oXoo|| okonkolo enu

||Xooo|Xooo|Xooo|Xooo|| itotele chacha
||oooo|ooXo|oooo|XoXo|| itotele enu

||oooX|ooXo|oooX|ooXo|| iya chacha
||oXoo|oooo|XoXo|oooo|| iya enu

Bata adaptation of iyesa (w/ okonkolo variation ) on three congas:

||XooX|oooX|ooXo|Xooo|| clave

||oToo|QoCQ|ToTo|CQCo| | three conga drums

The above conga arrangements are quite simple because they don’t have any slaps. The next step in developing this arrangement is to use slaps to replicate some of the chacha strokes. It’s not practical to replicate all the chacha strokes (you don’t have six hands!). :p

Bata adaptation of iyesa (w/ okonkolo variation ) on three congas, using a slap on the quinto:

||XooX|oooX|ooXo|Xooo|| clave

||oTSo|QoCQ|ToSo|CQCo| | three conga drums

S = quinto slap

The okonkolo chacha strokes are in the same place as the slaps of the typical conga drum tumbao, so this makes a pretty tasty arrangement. You can further develop these arrangements by experimenting with the adding and subtracting of slaps and tones.

I highly recommend Gary Greenberg’s "Conga Drumming: Afro-Cuban Folkloric Ensemble Rhythms" and his "Bata Oru Seco". They are easy to read and inexpensive. The examples are written in Box Notation (TUBS) as opposed to the more intimidating Standard Notation. The bata transcriptions are easily adaptable to congas for this reason. You can reach Gary at:

garygreeny@hotmail.com

I hope that was some help.

-David



Edited By davidpenalosa on 1139683694

[zaragemca]

I don't know how many times I would have to say that there isn't any African languages called Lucumi,neither a Tribe. Dr. Zaragemca ???

[davidpenalosa]

Zaragemca, I think you are confused. As far as I can tell, no one has stated that there is either an African "tribe" or language called Lucumi. What are you referring to?
-David

[Berimbau]

Well for clarity's sake, I also don't know of ANY AFRICAN ethnic group or language called Lucumi. I believe that the term Lucumi was derived from the Iyesa Yoruba word for "friend," or "friends of mine," something akin to the Italian word paisano, or to the African-American vernacular word, "homeboy."
In Cuba the semantic field of the term was increased to include its use as a descriptor for Yoruba people, the Yoruba language, and, I think at times, to the Regla as well. In these posts David and I are employing it to describe the Yoruba dialect spoken in Cuba, and Cuba alone.




Saludos,




Berimbau

[davidpenalosa]

I've heard the term "Lucumi" used to identify the descendants of the Yoruba in Cuba, the Yoruba dialect (or language, depending on your politics) used in Cuba, the Yoruba religion as it's practiced in Cuba and Yoruba-based music, instruments and dance in Cuba.

The term "Arara" is used in much the same way to identify the surviving elements of Fon culture in Cuba.

-David

[niallgregory]

about masons coment about people not understanding the words to lucumi songs in cuba .There are definetly people who understand the words.I would imagine some things have been lost.While studying these songs we where given explanations as to the meanings of the words and the songs.Its strikes me as strange to assume that they dont understand any of what they are singing Our teachers also refered to the language as "Lucumi ".

[Berimbau]

Dear Nail,
I find myself in the odd position of defending John Mason here. Now I know him ONLY by reputation, but think that what he meant by saying that many people didn't understand the Lucumi songs they had memorized, was that they were NOT themselves Yoruba speakers. I happen to know a few of the Lucumi songs myself as well as their intended meanings. Despite this, I DO NOT know the exact meanings of ALL the words and would therefore fall into Mason's category of one who doesn't understand the songs he sings. I can confirm similar situations from my own field work in Bahian candombles.
At this point it would be nice if Mr. Mason would join us here to discuss his work. Far preferable to any more quess work regarding his field work and methodology, which I also have NO knowledge of. Does anyone know how to contact him?



Saludos,




Berimbau

[davidpenalosa]

Berimbau & Nail,
I have read and heard about Lucumi speakers; elders who spoke and understood the language, not just memorized the words like I have. Surely this small circle of knowledgable ones is gradually dying out. I don't know if the late Lazaro Ros or any of the other famous akpwons were Lucumi speakers.
-David

[davidpenalosa]

John Mason
Contact information:
Yoruba Theological Archministry
488 Putnam Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 1121
Telephone: 718 453-5550

[niallgregory]

Hi guys,
I am not in a position to criticise John Mason or anybody else on this topic.It is a general opinion that no one in cuba knows the meanings of the songs or can speak yoruba or lucumi.There are definetly elders in cuba who know the meanings behind the songs and who can converse in the language.I have also heard of elders in Salvador de bahia who can still speak yoruba ? who knows

[Berimbau]

Some folks in Salvador DO speak Yoruba. However, I doubt if much of their lexicon was culled from the oral tradition. Many of the Brasilians I met are VERY conscious of their African heritage and actually study Yoruba formally with expatriate Nigerians, or even travel to Nigeria to do so.
Afro-Brasilians have been traveling back to "the Motherland" for well over 100 years, for both commercial and spiritual reasons, and no doubt will continue to do so. The Bahian market for products from Africa is still a very large one. Now if a similar situation exists in Cuba, I simply don't know. Does David?


Saludos,



Berimbau