Kenya

Mamady dedicated this rhythm to women. It accompanies a song named after a beautiful lady called Saran who lived in a Malinke village. All the other girls were jealous of her beauty. She had one friend who helped her overcome people's hostility. So Mamady named the rhythm Kenya ('beauty').

>120bpm 4/4 || 1 & 2 &  | 3 & 4 &  | 5 & 6 &  | 7 & 8 &  ||
               r rl lrl   r  lr  l   r rl lrl   r  lrlrl
Djembe 1    || S.OS.SOO | S..BS..B | S.OS.SOO | S..BSSSS ||
               r..lr.rl   r..lr.rl
Djembe 2    || S..SS.OO | S..SS.OO ||
Bell 1      || x.xx.xx. | x.xx.xx. ||
+Kenkeni    || K....... | K....... ||
Bell 2      || x.x.x.x. | x.x.x.x. | xx.x.x.x | x.x.x.x. ||
+Sangban    || g...g... | g.G.G... | .G.G.G.G | ..G.G... ||
Bell 3      || x.xx.xx. | x.x.x.x. | xx.x.x.x | .xx.x.x. ||
+Dununba    || ........ | ......D. | .....D.D | ......D. ||


Djembe 2 is a widely-used traditional accompaniment that Mamady described
as 'rhythm populaire', and dates from the 13th Century.

We use phrases mentioning beauty to remember the parts:
Bell 1 = "SHE's so beautiful! REAlly beautiful!"
Bell 2 = "1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, beauTIFUL IS SAran, MY LAdy."
Bell 3 = "She's so beautiful! - 1, 2, 3, 4, beautiful IS SHE, and a laDY."

The rhymes for Dun Dun parts are CAPITALISED where you hit the drum.


Song:

Like Keiko, this beautiful song is sung by young girls teasing each other.
The words mean:
"Let's go beautiful Saran,
 beauty cannot be loaned."   (you can't borrow beauty)

  Nye wa lela Saran Kenyi,
  kenya te sorona sinkado.

"Saran Kenyi" sounds like "Saran Ken", and
"sinkado" sounds like "sinkada" or "sinkala".
So this is more how it sounds:

  Nye wa lela Saran Ken,
  kenya te sorona sinkada.

On the fourth time, sing this extra bit:

  Allah la nye wa lela Saran Ken,
  kenya te sorona sinkada.

The song returns once the drums are playing, alternating the two lines
in Call and Response between lead vocal and other singers.

Introduction melody:
                 || 1 & 2 &  | 3 & 4 &  | 5 & 6 &  | 7 & 8 &  ||
Kora             || AC-ba--- | gg-e---- | AC-ba-g- | A-A-A--- ||

Without any temporal frame of reference, it's hard to ascertain where
the downbeat is. The way the kora plays the melody, it feels like it
starts on the downbeat, but later the singers sound like they start on
beat four:

Song melody: (Call and Response with Balafon)
Voices      AC-b || a----gg- | e---AC-b | a-g-A-A- | A------- ||
Balafon     AC-b || a----gg- | e---AC-b | a-g-A-A- | A-...... ||
Voices      AC-b || a----gg- | e---AC-b | a-g-A-A- | A------- ||
Balafon     AC-b || a----gg- | e---AC-b | a-g-A-A- | A-...... ||
Voices      AC-b || a----gg- | e---AC-b | a-g-A-A- | A------- ||
Balafon     AC-b || a----gg- | e---AC-b | a-g-A-A- | A-...... ||
Voices  DDD.Ec-b || a----gg- | e---AC-b | a-g-A-A- | A------- ||
Balafon     AC-b || a----gg- | e---AC-b | a-g-A-A- | A-...... ||

Confusingly, when they later sing along with the drums, it's in a
different place in the bar in relation to the dun dun parts. Perhaps
the singers are not dun dun players, and don't know the structure :-/

So I'm leaving this notation inconclusive until I can get better info.


Break:
            1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8 & 
All drums   XXXX.XXXX.XXXX.XXXX.XXX.X.X.X...

I can't make sense of where this drum Break comes in the bar.
Perhaps there is a change of time signature, although the Break
does add up to two bars of 4/4; it just comes in a strange place.

So again, I'm leaving this notation inconclusive until I know better.


Key to notation

(c) New rhythm composed (in neo-traditional Guinean style) in 2007 by Mamady Keita as part of his "Evolution Of The Djembe", taught at his beginners' djembe workshop in High Wycombe, England on Saturday 2008-05-24, and featured on his CD "Mandeng Djara".
(notated by Malcolm Smith with additional rhymes by Lin; song melody added on 2008-11-01 from Mamady's CD)