These two rhythms are generally played one after the other, as a dance of seduction. Traditionally, the girls would dance in a line facing a line of boys, checking each other out for the duration of the slow rhythm of Yankadi. Then at the sudden signal to Makru, they would pair off and dance as couples to the fast and furious 4/4 rhythm. Sometimes it is played returning to Yankadi again (and the dancers going back to separate lines), although we don't do this.
This arrangement is an amalgam of how Ade Wallace originally taught it to us, with some extra parts and the waving break that Justine taught - there are some differences, most notably Yankadi's djembe part 1 which she teaches completely differently. The excellent Djansa website has a completely different version that I just can't get into, not that I'm biased... ;)
This rhythm is best remembered as the one starting with the Heartbeat (Yan-cardiac :-)
110bpm 12/8 1--2--3--4--1--2--3--4--
Shekere X..X..X..X..X..X..X..X..
Djembe 1 B....BB....BB....BB....B =INTRO (Heartbeat starts)
Djembe 1 B.OO.BB....BB.OO.BB....B (+ then add 2 tones)
Djembe 1 B.OO.BB..S.BB.OO.BBOOO.B =MAIN RHYTHM (+ then add 1 slap + 3 tones)
Djembe 2 O.....S..S.S.......OOO.O =MAIN RHYTHM (linked by the 3 tones)
Bell 1 X.XX.XX.XX.XX.XX.XX.XX.X
+Kenkeni 1 ...............K.K...... \
+Sangban 1 ........GG..........GG.. ("Dun Duns for Yankadi; for Yankadi")
+Dununba 1 D.DD.D.................. /
Bell 2 X..X.X..XX.XX..X.X..XX.X ("...want some apricots, I...")
+Kenkeni 2 ........KK..........KK..
+Dununba 2 D..D.D......D...........
Bell 3 X.xX.xX.xX.xX.xX.xX.xX.x
+Sangban 2 g....G..G...g..G..G..... ("closed, off-beat; closed, on-beat.")
If there are only two dun dun players, just play parts 2 and 3 (or 1 and 3).
If there is only one dun dun player, just play part 1, and RECRUIT MORE!
We often play Sangban 2 on a low-pitched Kenkeni.
Bell 1 can play Bell 2's part if 1 is too difficult.
An apt phrase to remember the full version of Djembe 1 is:
"Tonight we play the drums and
tonight we dance the dance - How are you?"
Djembe 2 can be thought of like this (expanded to fit the words in):
3 4 |1 2 3 4 1 2
How are you to- |day? I'm o- kay
. O O O . O |O . . . . . S . . S . S . . . . . .
|
Note the bar line ^ comes here in the middle of the phrase,
and be sure to take the tiny initial rest on beat 4.
It could be rewritten starting from beat 1 like this:
|1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 |
|day? I'm o- kay How are you to- |
|O . . . . . S . . S . S . . . . . . . O O O . O |
The above is Ade's version (not sure who taught the duns). Below is how Justine teaches the djembe parts, which she learned from "Ayo" Ayodele Scott from Sierra Leone (last known whereabouts: Devon) in his Camden classes in the 1990's. Part 4 is from Seneke via Lesley; it's a lovely lazy part where you keep the heel of your other hand muting the M tones, just lifting up the fingers whenever needed and then lowering the palm flat again to trap the slaps. Having all four parts going (with either version of part 1) alongside the dun duns sounds wonderful :-)
110bpm 12/8 1--2--3--4--1--2--3--4--
Djembe 1.0 B....BB....BB....BB....B =INTRO (Heartbeat starts)
Djembe 1 B....BB.OO.BB....BB.OO.B =BASIC RHYTHM (+ then add 2 tones)
Djembe 1.1 B..Z.BB.OO.BB..Z.BB.OO.B =1st VAR (+ then add a trapped slap)
Djembe 1.2 Z..Z.BB.OO.BB..Z.BB.OO.B =2nd VAR (+ another trapped slap at the start)
Djembe 1.3 SSSS.BB.OO.BB..Z.BB.OO.B =2nd VAR (+ 4 slaps at the start)
Djembe 2 O.....S..S.S.......OOO.O ("...K! How are you today? I'm OK!")
Djembe 3 S..O.S.....OO.OO.OO..... + ("There's the train: it's going down the lane.")
S..0.S......OOOO..OOOO.. ("It comes back, over the tracks, over the tracks.")
Djembe 4 Z..M.M..Z...Z..M..Z..OOO +
O..O.O..OO..Z..M..Z.....
Notice the different place of the tones:
Djembe 1 B.OO.BB....BB.OO.BB....B [Ade's version]
Djembe 1 B....BB.OO.BB....BB.OO.B [Ayo's version]
Mamady Keita's traditional dun duns:
Bell 1 x.xx.xx.xx.xx.xx.xx.xx.x
+Dununba D....DD....DD....DD....D
Bell 2 x.xx.xx.xx.xx.xx.xx.xx.x
+Sangban ...G.G.........G..G.....
Bell 3 x.xx.xx.xx.xx.xx.xx.xx.x
+Kenkeni ........KK..........KK..
If there are only two dun dun players, combine Dununba+Kenkeni or Sangban+Kenkeni.
Notice how D+K = Djembe 1. This way is OK, but we love the other dun dun tune.
Nowadays we start off with the combined Dununba+Sangban+Kenkeni and Sangban 2
(ignore Kenkeni2+Dununba2), until the dancers begin after the Waving Break,
then switch "effortlessly" to the separate dun duns which give the soloist
more space to accompany the dancing.
The Signal for Ayo's cool Waving Break that Justine taught is played at
half its usual speed:
1 2 3 4 | 1
Now are you rea- dy to take a break? | YES!
s . . O . O . . O . . O O . . S . S S . . . . . | S
Everyone answers with the "YES!" on the first slap of the Waving Break:
110bpm 12/8 1--2--3--4--1--2--3--4--
Break: S....BOOOS.BB...........
S....BOOOS.BB..........B
OOOS.BOOOS.BOOOS..W..W.. [W = slap + wave]
S....BOOOS.BB...........
The entire break is played four times in a row.
The two slaps marked W on the third line have special directions:
1. The W's are first played with the right hand while the left is raised in a wave :-)
2. The W's are next played with the left hand while the right is raised in a wave;
the third slap on the downbeat is with the right hand as usual.
3. The W's are then played with alternating right and left hands,
while waving with the left and right; the third slap is with the right hand.
4. The W's are finally played as damped slaps with firstly the left elbow
then with the left hand, no waving; the third slap is with the right hand.
After the four repeats of the whole break, it ends on an upbeat Bass note which returns
us to the original heartbeat pattern.
Here it is again, with hands marked for each of the four repeats:
110bpm 12/8 1--2--3--4--1--2--3--4--
1st Break: S....BOOOS.BB...........
r lrlrl rl
S....BOOOS.BB..........B
r lrlrl rl l
OOOS.BOOOS.BOOOS..W..W.. [wave left hand]
rlrl lrlrl lrlrl r r
S....BOOOS.BB...........
r lrlrl rl
2nd Break: S....BOOOS.BB...........
r lrlrl rl
S....BOOOS.BB..........B
r lrlrl rl l
OOOS.BOOOS.BOOOS..W..W.. [wave right hand]
rlrl lrlrl lrlrl l l
S....BOOOS.BB...........
r lrlrl rl
3rd Break: S....BOOOS.BB...........
r lrlrl rl
S....BOOOS.BB..........B
r lrlrl rl l
OOOS.BOOOS.BOOOS..W..W.. [wave left, right hands]
rlrl lrlrl lrlrl r l
S....BOOOS.BB...........
r lrlrl rl
4th Break: S....BOOOS.BB...........
r lrlrl rl
S....BOOOS.BB..........B
r lrlrl rl l
OOOS.BOOOS.BOOOS..S..S.. [trap with elbow, left hand]
rlrl lrlrl lrlrl r r
S....BOOOS.BB...........
r lrlrl rl
The duns and shekere continue throughout the Waving Break, along with
any Djembes not able to play it staying with Djembe 1. After the waving
break and dance, then everyone regroups and speeds up with this pattern:
110bpm 12/8 1--2--3--4--1--2--3--4-- accelerating to 130bpm
Djembe 1 B.OO.BB.SS.BB.OO.BB.SS.B =GET READY for change to Makru
Then the caller plays the Signal changing everything from 12/8 to 4/4:
130bpm 4/4 1-&-2-&-3-&-4-&-
Signal SSSSS.S.S.S.S...
Ade taught the Signal differently, but this is a better way to change by
squeezing the Signal from Makru into 4/4 over the top of the end of the
12/8 pattern (here written spaced out to align the notes properly) :
130bpm 4/4 1 - & - 2 - & - 3 - & - 4 - & - |
Signal: S S S S S . S . S . S . S . . . | ---> Makru in 4/4
|
110bpm 12/8 3 - - & - - 4 - - & - - |
1 - - 2 - - 3 - - 4 - - |
Shekere X . . X . . X . . X . . |
Djembe 1 B . O O . B B O O O . B | =MAIN RHYTHM
Djembe 2 . . . . . . . O O O . O | =MAIN RHYTHM (linked by the 3 tones)
Bell 1 X . . X . X . . X X . X |
+Kenkeni 1 . . . K . K . . . . . . | \
+Sangban 1 . . . . . . . . G G . . | ("...; for Yankadi")
+Dununba 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . | /
Bell 2 X . . X . X . . X X . X | ("...want some apricots, I want...")
+Kenkeni 2 . . . . . . . . K K . . |
+Dununba 2 D . . . . . . . . . . . |
Bell 3 X . x X . x X . x X . x |
+Sangban 2 g . . G . . G . . . . . |
130bpm 4/4 1-&-2-&-3-&-4-&-1-&-2-&-3-&-4-&- =UPTEMPO!!!
$ =START HERE
Shekere x.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xx
Shekere X...X...X...X...X...X...X...X... Choose/alternate shekere parts
Shekere ..X...X...X...X...X...X...X...X.
Djembe 1 B.O.B.O.B.OO..O.B.O.B...OOOOO.O.
Djembe 2 BO.OB.S.B.O.B.S.BO.OB.S.B.O.B.S. ("Who wants to play this funky music?")
Djembe 3 B.OOB.SSB.OOB.SSB.OOB.SSB.OOB.SS ("Woodpecker, woodpecker")
$
Bell 1 ..X...X...X...X...X...X...X...X. = hehe, I love this (my idea!)
+Kenkeni 1 ................................
+Sangban 1 ......G.......G.......G.......G.
+Dununba DD.DD...D.D.D...DD.DD...D.D.D... = same as Djembe 2
Bell 2 X...X...X...X...X...X...X...X...
+Kenkeni 2 ..KK..KK..KK..KK..KK..KK..KK..KK = same as Djembe 3
Bell 3 ..X...X...X...X...X...X...X...X.
+Sangban 2 ......G.......G.......G.......G.
$
Bell 1 and 2 alternate, but if too difficult, all play Bell 2.
If there are three dun players, Sangban 2 can relieve Dununba.
The Dundunba part might need to be simplified when playing fast:
Bell 1 XX.XX.X.X.X.X.X.XX.XX.X.X.X.X.X. or:
Bell 1 X...X...X...X...X...X...X...X...
Bell 1 ..X...X...X...X...X...X...X...X.
+Sangban 1 ......G.......G.......G.......G.
+Dununba D..D....D.D.D...D..D....D.D.D...
- - - - leave out these double notes
At the end, double Bell 1 speed if you can (tricky!):
Bell 1 X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.
+Sangban 1 ......G.......G.......G.......G.
+Dununba D..D....D.D.D...D..D....D.D.D...
For the Break, everyone except Shekere stops on the flammed slap and counts
to 4 before coming back in (Djembe 1 comes in early on the Open Tone upbeat).
130bpm 4/4 1-&-2-&-3-&-4-&-1-&-2-&-3-&-4-&-
Signal SSSSS.S.S.S.S...s.......SSSSS...
Break [Main Rhythms] s...............
Shekere x.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xx
After the second break, everyone comes back in *quietly*.
After the third break, we come in _very_loud_.
The piece ends with an echeuffement (long roll) and a final signal
telling everyone to end on a flammed slap instead of counting to 4.
If the leader doesn't play those final five slaps at the end, so
that should be a clue for Djembe players not to come back in.
(c)
Traditional rhythm as
taught by
Ade Wallace,
master
drummer from Sierra Leone, except the Makru Djembe 2 pattern, dun dun
patterns and Waving Break which were all from Ayodele Scott and
Mamady Keita
as taught by
Justine at
Vitae Drum Circle.
(notated by
Malcolm Smith
on 2005-06-15 / 2008-03-22 / 2010-05-12)