reefwalker's Favorite tracks on alonetone

by Reefwalker

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3:31

A Little Sugar with Coffee

Uploaded May 31, 2010 4:09pm.

177

Abakua refers to a secret, Afro-Cuban, male society of percussionists - as I understand it, one had to be initiated into this society before they would be taught how to play percussion in their style. One of their hallmarks is to impose what I call a “cross-over” pattern to songs in 6: a technique in which a pattern with 4 beats/measure is played against a pattern with 6 beats/measure. A Western ear may tend to hear this in 4/4. But no. This is actually a tricky pattern in 6, in 3/16 meter, counted like this: 123456123456 (the bold numbers are the pulses - as you can see the pattern in 4 goes through 3 cycles before hitting on “the 1” of the pattern in 6, so the downbeats are shuffled around a bit). While I realize that imposing the Western concept of “opposing meters” upon an Afro-Cuban rhythm would strike my Abakuan heroes as rather silly, it helps me to understand how these patterns work. To witness this Abakua effect in this example, the clave is the key to finding the cycled downbeat, as usual.

More info on Abakua: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abaku%C3%A1

“La clave es la llave, la llave es la clave” - The clave is the key, the key is the clave.

“Abrecuto y guiri mambo” - Open your eyes and listen.

180bpm.

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Guest said October 5, 2010 8:26pm

I'm using less sugar with my coffee but still hyper as hell...great digs. Your Jams are cool! ...I'm looking to get my hang Drum back cause i really miss it..

Norm said June 21, 2010 11:01pm

@MTC: Please! Feel free to add something to my coffee. That's why I post this stuff.

Movement To Contact said June 21, 2010 10:34pm

This one's pretty sweet! Would it be alright to try a few things with it?

da gubbamint said June 16, 2010 4:47am

dem is sum ill beats dog.

Guest said June 7, 2010 7:20am

How on earth do you make your drums sing like that? Understated, melodic, compulsive. I think you are brilliant!

Wildgeas Music said June 5, 2010 5:58pm

Damn that's a tough count. Super job man. Super.

Wildgeas Music said June 5, 2010 5:56pm

This is fantastic Norm. Keep bringing me the lessons. I love it. Gotta go try this one now!!!!

Dave Berry said June 5, 2010 4:59pm

This is fantastic, seriously.

Reefwalker said June 5, 2010 2:56pm

complex pattern and really good timing. Great percussion track S to F

Guest said June 4, 2010 3:17am

Hey..call me at st. john Lutheran. we need to talk! I love this sound!

Alister Flint said June 1, 2010 9:31am

that's sooooo voodoo! technique's great yes, but the vibe is simply excellent! and your timing is just getting better and better O_o

Norm said June 1, 2010 1:15am

Good point, Gumbo! That is the nature of "cross-over" patterns: they involve 2 rhythms with *different meters* which are played at the same *tempo*. So, regardless of listening to this pattern through the lens of 4/4 (8 beats/bar) or 3/16 (12 beats/bar), both patterns are played at the same tempo, i.e. 180bpm in this case. These patterns have measures that start at the same point, but do not end at the same point until cycling through 24 beats each - at which point they "cross-over"; a point that is illustrated by the clave in this example.

Cave Street said May 31, 2010 8:00pm

LOVE IT!

vaisvil said May 31, 2010 6:57pm

Excellent!!

Guest said May 31, 2010 5:40pm

Crazy great.

Guest said May 31, 2010 5:39pm

Oh my, sublime, El Norm! Would you be terribly offended if I had a play around with this?

Gumbo said May 31, 2010 4:49pm

thanks for explaining the count btw - that helps a lot

Gumbo said May 31, 2010 4:47pm

lovely - my only connection to this kind of polyrhythm is thru the Grateful Dead whose two drummers used to explore and experiment thusly. I like that you can say it has 4 beats AND 6 beats to the measure and then say that it has 180 bpm ;-)

launched said May 31, 2010 4:41pm

I don't know how you keep time like this, but it's incredible!

launched said May 31, 2010 4:40pm

My western ear loves this!!

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