Jenbe Music in Bamako
Abstract:
"Playing with microtiming is a remarkable feature of musical rhythm in the Western Sudan. Both African and Western musicians and musicologists have time and again wondered at the capability of Malian, Senegambian or Guinean drummers to excitingly place notes on, next to, apart from, or in between expected points of time. This musical practice results from a complex interaction of different factors. This concept holds that the equal pulse base underlying African and other dance-oriented music is often inflected according to regular and constant patterns. Jenbe drummers, in particular, make extensive use of a limited number of sophisticated inflection patterns to enrich their playing in a specific manner. This paper addresses the drummers' microtiming both as a system and as a practice in the context of professional festival music in Bamako." (full text) by Rainer Polak
