Bata rhythms for congas - examples

[Berimbau]

I no longer have this most worthy article due to Katrina contretempts, but I HIGHLY recommend anyone with an interest in the distribution of iron bells in Africa and their socio-political context to read the following, ‘The Bells of Kings’, by Jan Vansina in the Journal of African History 1969 vol. 10 # 2 pages:187-191.
Sorry Dr. Z, but I'm relatively certain that the widespread and ancient distribution of single and double iron bells in West and Central Africa cannot be attributed to the Yoruba. Archaeological evidence suggests theat they even pre-date Nok.
As to the antiquity of their associated asymetrical time line patterns, I suggest reading Kubik's old 1970's articles in the Review of Ethnology, or better still, his more recent summnation in "Africa and the Blues," University of Mississippi Press 1999.


Saludos,



Berimbau

[pcastag]

Speaking of bells, as far as I know the standard 6/8 bell pattern of bembe and guiro is fairly simple compared to the arara bell. It seems to me that these other groups must have had their own systems of iron based ryhthms, because the arara bell seems totally unrelated to the yoruba bell.
PC

[davidpenalosa]

PC,
It's not really correct to call the standard pattern "THE Yoruba Bell". It's a Yoruba bell pattern, but it's probably the most common bell pattern in Africa as well; many different ethnic groups throughout sub-Saharan Africa use it. It is the most archetypal pattern I'm aware of, hense the name "standard pattern". In this case, "standard" means "basic". I learned the bell part from Ewe master drummer Kwaku Ladzekpo from Ghana, who called it "basic Ewe". The standard pattern is a pretty straight-forward representation of the African rhythmic principle, or to put it in Cuban terms: the clave priniciple. In her "Salsa Guidebook" Rebeca Mauleon called this seven-stroke pattern "6/8 clave".
Surely bell parts, like drum parts vary from group to group, but in most cases that I've encountered, the same fundamentals are found in each music. All bell parts are related to the standard pattern in some way. You can understand many complex bell patterns by superimposing the standard pattern over them. Which particular Arara bell pattern are you referring to? I think an interesting place to start would be to compare that bell part with the standard pattern.
-David

[Tone]

Hi Guys,


sorry to intrude in my own post! Has it been hijacked or what!!!???
We are setting a record on the conga board, 10 pages and counting.

Anyway I am pleased and very interested in your discussions which are way above my competence.
As a tiny contribution to the discussion I would say that I attended a lot of Santeria in Cuba and Candomble in Brazil and found the comparison fascinating. In particular the 6/8 bell is of course used in both, and the songs seem very similar as well as the names of the Santos. The big difference that concerns us is the drumming which sounds and more importantly feels so completely different. Why is that?

But back to my original concern if you don't mind for a minute.

I finally discovered well hidden deep in those threads a post by davidpenalosa actually answering my question. David I must thank you for that brave move.

I was wondering if you could help me as to how to approach your transcriptions. Should I play all slaps in between the open tones or should there be some tips or baquateo also in between to have a better and truer dynamic contour? How do I figure this out?

thanks David


Tone

[ralph]

Ralph,
I'm not too sure what you mean when you suggest that any aspect of Afro-Cuban culture might be considered any "purer" than another, or that we necessarily must associate ONLY Yoruba culture when Nigeria is invoked. The only purely African culture is African culture itself, and Afro-Cuban culture, although exhibiting massive influences from a variety of African sources, is a unique entity all in to itself.

Berimbau,
What i meant to say is that (i have read), Abakua itself is one of the remnants of Afro Cuban culture/music which come straight from Africa which has not been as diluted as other music which has come from the motherland...as opposed to being mixed with other Native or European influences...
What i said about Nigerian music being associated with Yoruba, i was basically asking that if Dr. Z associated all things Nigerian also Yoruban, than i would see where he may see that even Abakua culture and music were an offshoot of Yoruban music/culture since the Yoruba culture springs from more of less the same area...Your other assertion in which the recording where Julito plays shekere and sings is well made and evident, the general make up of Afro Blue allows itself to be interpreted in various forms, i'm sure (obviously not knowing on whether its been done recorded or live) that Afro Blue can be played as a guiro, palo, columbia, bembe, or even bata rhythms if wanted...but the actual topic of the original Afro Blue and what was Mongo using as a rhythmic framework i think that is the main topic here, and in that detail i think where the argument lies....

Ralph D.



Edited By ralph on 1139660807

[Berimbau]

Well Ralph it does seem that we are on the same page! My own interpretation of the ultimate African sources of Afro-Cuban music is that they are pan-African, and certainly NOT Yoruba-centric!! The strongest and longest ongoing African- derived influences in Cuba stem from the Kongo/Angolan area, and researchers, if they could curb their enthusiasm for all things Yoruba, might learn a few new things about the history of Afro-Cuban culture. Let's save that for another day.
Long before the Europeans invaded West Africa and well before there was a modern polity known as Nigeria, seperate and intensive social developments were ongoing in both the Cross River regions and what would become Abeokuta. Using modern geo-political designations to describe and understand ancient African cultures is quite absurd. Although Cuba has proven to be the ulimate African cultural melting pot, I think that it is safe to say that Abakua music was already well formulated before any possible Yoruba influence took place in Cuba. In any event, a better argument could be forwarded for cultural reinforcement in Cuba for the case of Yoruba vs. Abakua bell patterns,
David, I have often heard this twelve pulse seven stroke time line called the "standard" bell pattern. I believe that A.M.Jones coined the term, and I wonder if it means that radial tires and a cd changer are optional on this model? Using the underlining mnemonics as a learning tool, the Yoruba call it Konkolo;
X . X . X X . X . X . X
-lo kon kolo kon kon ko-

This bell pattern is quite widespread in both West Africa and the Diaspora, and according to Kubik, the antiquity of these time line patterns may have even "coincided with the early stages of formation of the Kwa and Benue-Congo families of African languages." Thus I find the argument that the Abakua "borrowing" the bell pattern from the Yoruba equally absurd.
Now as long as the basic asymetrical mathematical structure remains intact, musicians may interpret these patterns in a number of ways. The pattern can really begin on ANY beat, and the accents may fall on different pulses, as long as each are rendered with the correct time unit. This allows for many permutations of the "standard" pattern. I'm not surprised if you learned it from an Ewe drummer, heard it in Candomble, or even danced to it as rendered on a drum machine in some modern musica electronico played in a Madrid disco.




Saludos,




Berimbau

[pcastag]

PC,
It's not really correct to call the standard pattern "THE Yoruba Bell". Which particular Arara bell pattern are you referring to? I think an interesting place to start would be to compare that bell part with the standard pattern.
-David

Right, standard 6/8 bell would be much more correct way to put it. I was referring to the Dr.'s suggetion that this came directly from the Yoruba, and the other afro-cuban cultures had borrowed it. I will attempt to write the arara bell pattern, there are three different modulations that I learned from Spiro, I'll just write the most complex one.

|xx*|xx*|x*x|x*x|x*x|*xx|*xx|*x*|
|x*x|**x|*x*|x**|

If you look at the clave super-imposed over the bell pattern, there seems to be no relation.However, if you translate the pattern into 4/4 ( just for our western sensibilities) you can see a very similar pattern that we find in many musics.

xx*x|x*x*, or if you change the one you have

x*xx|*xx* the same bell or palitos found in makuta , bomba, some folkloric brazillian music etc. This would often happen to me when we were playing, I would hear the bell in four four with the downbeat misplaced. I think the abakwa bell and the above arara bell seem to make sense as 4/4 patterns transposed to 6/8, at least as far as my western sensibilities are concerned. I understand that in many african musics there is no distinction made, something I found very clear when learning bata with Alberto in Havana, transitioning from the first part of Lazaro (oyokota) to the second part. Particularly difficult on the itotole, the cha cha kept throwing me off.
PC

[davidpenalosa]

I was wondering if you could help me as to how to approach your transcriptions. Should I play all slaps in between the open tones or should there be some tips or baquateo also in between to have a better and truer dynamic contour? How do I figure this out?

Hi Tone,
I presented a flexible formula for arranging bata rhythms on three congas. The basic premise involves playing the bata enus as open tones on the congas. What slaps and heel-tip strokes you add is up to you. The poly-melody of bata is not completely transferable to, nor necessarily desirable for congas. Therefore, when congueros play bata adaptations, as in timba, they typically pick and choose which bata strokes they use and don't use. In other words, they selectively quote elements from the bata rhythm.

I know that doesn’t exactly answer your question, so here's a development of the last arrangement I showed.

First, the bata adaptation of iyesa, played on congas. The okonkolo chachas are played as slaps on the quinto:

||XooX|oooX|ooXo|Xooo|| clave
||oTSo|QoCQ|ToSo|CQCo|| three conga drums

That sounds pretty familiar to the bata rhythm. What follows are developments that play the melody more like a band marcha by omitting some tones.

variation 1:

||XooX|oooX|ooXo|Xooo|| clave
||htSt|QttQ|ThSt|CQCo|| three conga drums
||LLRL|RLRL|RLRL|RLRo|| hands

variation 2:

||XooX|oooX|ooXo|Xooo|| clave
||hTht|QtCQ|ThSt|hQht|| three conga drums
||LRLL|RLRL|RLRL|LRLL|| hands


o = rest

T = tumba
C = conga
Q = quinto
S = quinto slap
H = heel
T = tip

R = right hand
L = left hand

(If you put this in size 12"Courier" font, the pulses will align.)

Hope that helps.
-David

[davidpenalosa]

Berimbau, PC, Ralph and all,
This discussion of the standard pattern and related patterns is a large can of worms which we just opened.

What say we start a new thread under the title "standard pattern"? I'll continue this discussion under that title. See you there I hope.
-David

[davidpenalosa]

I think the abakwa bell and the above arara bell seem to make sense as 4/4 patterns transposed to 6/8, at least as far as my western sensibilities are concerned. I understand that in many african musics there is no distinction made, something I found very clear when learning bata with Alberto in Havana, transitioning from the first part of Lazaro (oyokota) to the second part. Particularly difficult on the itotole, the cha cha kept throwing me off.
PC

African music is an aural tradition, with no notational system or technical terminology. Traditionally, the African musicians do not objectify rhythm in the same way that European musicians do. They don't think in terms of meters (4/4, 6/8, etc). It’s a cliché, but true nonetheless, that many sub-Saharan ethnic groups don’t even have a name for rhythm. The fabric of African culture is represented by cross-rhythm and clave-based music is a metaphor for life itself. I recommend checking out C.K. Ladzekpo's webiste:
http://www.cnmat.berkeley.edu/~ladzekpo ... lesFr.html

He explains the African rhythmic sensibility in European terms with European notation. It's priceless.

If I understand you correctly, the itotele part shifts from its chacha on the 4/4 "and" to the 6/8 "and". That's how I've always seen it played.

|ooXo|ooXo|ooXo|ooXo| 4/4 "and" pulse
|1e+a|2e+a|3e+a|4e+a| main beats w/ duple pulses

|oXo|oXo|oXo|oXo| 6/8 "and" pulse
|1+a|2+a|3+a|4+a| main beats with triple pulses

I recommend practicing tapping your foot to the main beats while you shift from playing the chacha in 4/4 to 6/8 and back. I hope that helps.
-David

[pcastag]

Yeah I finally got it, the strange thing was is that everybody in the room kept telling me it didn't change, to them it doesnt! To me it did, but of course I don't play with the same "swing" that they do.
PC

[davidpenalosa]

Yeah I finally got it, the strange thing was is that everybody in the room kept telling me it didn't change, to them it doesnt! To me it did, but of course I don't play with the same "swing" that they do.
PC

The "it" that didn't change was the beat, where you tapped your foot. Your chacha plays a displaced four-beat cycle of off-beats. Your chacha DOES change from steady duple off-beats to steady triple off-beats. That is a challenging task, but it's no more mystical than that. Is that how you percieve it, or did you try a less-technical approach, striving to match a feel?
-David

[pcastag]

The pulse doesn't change. Again I think it's one of those misconception things, playing the part for oyokota in a "strict' 4/4 and trying to change to a strict 6/8 just wasn't going to work, to all the cats in the room there WAS no change in the "feel". I had to really loosen up my feel to catch it. listening to the bolanos oru seco, I noticed his group keeps much more to a 4/4 feel than a 6/8 feel in the second part of san lazaro than I was hearing, thus again I really think its a matter of breaking the western mode and just going with the flow. I eventually got it right, but when I play with some of my American friends I immediately the difference, the strict adherence to 4/4 and 6/8 rather than playing in the cracks. kind of like listening to early chuck berry where the bass player plays straight but the drummer is really swinging. I also noticed some differences in the way I heard things like the okonokolo part in ochosi, I would play the enu head like this

XXXO|XXXO

and the cha cha on the ands OXOX|OXOX

kind of flammed. When alberto's son first played it with out the other drums, he swung it like this

XXO|XOO (enu) OXO|OXO (chacha) but not exactly, somewhere between the two feels in lae lae land.
Trippy.
PC

[Tone]

thanks David, most helpful!!

tone

[davidpenalosa]

You are very welcome Tone. Check out the three Tomas Cruz books. They show several band adaptaions of folkloric rhythms including bata.

PC, I think I originally misunderstood you. I thought you were dealing with more basic issues. I like to use the Term "feel" for the most subjective aspects of rhythm, such as you are doing here with the slight displacement of pulses; that in-between duple and triple pulse swing. It is a very tough feel indeed.
-David