by davidpenalosa » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:35 am
Thomas: >>But David - the Ewe bell is based on the 3:2 relation, but it goes beyond that; I don’t think it’s just an accident that it consists of two bars with the second triplet displaced! Why not look at the whole figure that it represents?<<
me:
I am. No, it’s not an accident. The two-cell ("two bar") structure is significantly more complex than the single cell of 3:2. The bell is a cell of 3:2 answered by its diametric opposite, the offbeat 3:2.
>>…these are possible positions for what you call "displacements". (The term suggests irregularity.)<<
I don't mean to suggest irregularity. I meant to convey that patterns generally have a prime position and positions displaced from that prime position. For example, the prime position of four beats is:
1..2..3..4..5..
A displaced position of four beats is the 12/8 "and" pulse (what you play on the itotele chacha for rhythms like Eleggua, Obaloki and ñongo):
.X..X..X..X.
By the way, technically speaking, the three 12/8 patterns and the three 4/4 patterns mentioned here are all in duple meter. They consist of two cells, divided into two main beats each. All the patterns have four main beats. It’s their pulses (subdivisions) that are either triple or duple (quadruple).
>> All this explains musical and rhythmic/metric 3:2 relations in its various forms. But the clave is more than just 3 against 2, and the Ewe bell goes far beyond it.<<
Structurally speaking, it is exactly as I described above, no more no less. If you are referring to the EFFECT of the clave or bell, their significance in the music, or all the things they intimate by the very nature of their archetypal structures, then of course, I agree that they go far beyond that. Their structures have cognates in harmony, architecture, nature and metaphysical concepts.
>>>Patterns appear in prime positions and in displaced positions. The first half of the bembe bell is 3:2 (prime position) and the second half is a displaced 3:2.<<<
>>Sorry, David; this is a sound description of the phenomenon, but it is somehow not enough to satisfy the "Why" in my brain, my strife for a deeper understanding. Do you really think this is all that can be said?<<
As far as the "why" goes, I think it’s an elegant summary. The relationship of the three to the two is profound. I don’t see it as limiting. I mean, Pythagoras was both a philosopher as well as a mathematician and wasn’t there a whole religion established upon his teachings? Joseph Campbell said that the three is the universal number of transcendence and "whenever one moves out of the transcendent one comes into a field of opposites [two]".
I don’t mean to minimize the significance of this music by breaking it down to its fundamental ratios. I can break harmony down to its fundamental ratios too: 3:2 is the perfect fifth and 4:3 is the perfect forth, but is Mozart’s art really just a matter of math? I’m just talking rhythmic ratios here because the topic of this thread is "6/8 Clave Permutations". Permutations of what rhythmic principles?
>> The five-stroke Son clave and Rumba clave never promised as much meaning to me as our 6/8 bell pattern. These binary clave forms are just stripped bell patterns, saving five of seven strokes.<<
The seven–stroke pattern and the two five stroke (clave) patterns are all manifestations of the same rhythmic principle. Some key patterns express it in a more straight forward manner than others. The offbeat 12 bell:
X.X.XX.X.X.X
And the 12 son clave:
X.X.X..X.X..
- are two of the most straight forward expressions of the principle.
I’m not sure if you are saying that the seven-stroke pattern is older than the five-stroke pattern. In his article "The Standard Pattern in Yoruba Music" (1960), Anthony King called the 12/8 son clave pattern the standard and the seven-stroke pattern an embellished variant. In his article "The Clave: Cornerstone of Cuban Music" (1983), John Santos stated the opposite view that the seven-stroke pattern was the original and the five-stroke pattern is a simplified variant. Neither King nor Santos offered any evidence supporting the idea that one pattern was historically older than the other was. I’m not aware of any evidence for either argument.
The seven-stroke bell pattern does have the dynamic configuration of continuous beats with no more than a single pulse rest between strokes.
X.X.XX.X.X.X
The first three strokes are on the six-beat cycle:
X.X.Xx.x.x.x
and the next four are on the off-beat six cycle.
x.x.xX.X.X.X
The interior "double" strokes are where the pattern shifts from the on-six to the off-six. On the pickup before beat 1 of the next cycle (the other "double" strokes), the pattern shifts from the offbeat-six, back to the on-beat six for beat 1.
The 12/8 seven-stroke bell pattern contains both 12/8 son clave and rumba clave patterns.
In her book "Songs from the Dark Continent" (1920), Natalie Curtis was the first person to notate the 12/8 son clave pattern. It was a hand-clap pattern accompanying one of the songs in her book. She learned the pattern from Ndua (Mozambican Bantu) informants visiting the United States.
In his article "African Music" in African Affairs #48 (1949), and his two volume "Studies in African Music" (1959). A.M. Jones documented 12/8 son clave’s widespread use in Africa. In his book "African Musical Symbolism in Contemporary Perspective"(2004) John Collins identifies both the 12/8 son and rumba clave patterns as common Ghanaian children hand-clap patterns.
The 4/4 version of the seven-stroke bell pattern:
X..X..XX..X.X..X
contains both the 4/4 son clave and rumba clave.
You can hear the 4/4 seven-stroke pattern played on a bata drumhead on "Ogogo", from the CD "Yoruba Drums from Benin, West Africa".
I have recordings of a variant used in Brazilian Candomble (Exú):
X..X..XX..X.X...
- which is a combination of the 4/4 son and rumba clave patterns.
That’s also a bell pattern used in an arrangement of Cuban conga de comparsa (sorry, I don’t remember the Cuban city, but it’s on a Boogalu DVD).
>>...regarding your theory that binary clave forms existed in Africa before the Cuban Son clave, is: Which other African rhythms do you know that incorporate these patterns?<<
Are you referring to this statement made by me in an earlier posting?:
"A common misconception is that clave was created in Cuba. In fact, the five-stroke pattern is a timeline that’s found in various regions of Africa. So, the short answer to your question is that clave came directly from Africa"
I was referring to the use of the 1/28 versions of son clave and rumba clave in Africa. There’s also documentation of the 4/4 seven–stroke pattern (which contains both clave patterns) in Africa.
>>the only instances where I found binary clave patterns like the Cuban Son clave are modern creations like Kpanlogo that post-date Cuban Son.<<
I don’t have much documentation of the 4/4 clave patterns outside of Cuba. There’s Kpanlogo, as you mentioned and I also have a recording of the 4/4 son clave in Candomble:
"Afro-Brazileiros" by Luciano Perrone from the CD "Batucada Fantastica" (late 70's). It's a medley of traditional Candomble rhythms using atabaque drums and an agogo bell. You can download it from itunes fro 99 cents.
There’s also an interesting version of son clave that has the first three strokes in triple pulse and the last two in duple pulse. At least, that’s what it sounds like to me. There may be some subtle stroke displacement, like what goes on in some interpretations of rumba clave. You can hear this triple/duple son clave on "Vodú" (Cuban) from the CD "Drum, Jam" and on "Opanije - Rhythms For Omolú" (Brazil), from the CD "Orishas Across The Ocean".
I need to ask C.K. about 4/4 son clave in Kpanlogo and African music in general. I’ve heard the 4/4 son clave in African drum melodies, but other than Kpanlogo, not as a guide-pattern played on a bell.
-David
Edited By davidpenalosa on 1203129238