board77

As some know, I play West African percussion. Specifically, the drums that I play are called dunun. The dunun are the bass drums of a djembe orchestra from the old Mali empire (more specifically, the drums and and music that I play come mainly from what is now Guinea, West Africa).

There are three drums in the dunun family: the sangban, kenkeni, and dununba. The sangban is the middle drum, both in size and in pitch. It is the heart of the rhythm. All the other drums (both dunun and djembe) follow the sangban, as do the dancers (the purpose of drumming in West Africa is to play for dancers). The kenkeni is the smallest and highest pitched of the three. It provides the spice of the rhythm, and is often played on the up-beat (except for when the sangban is is off-beat, in which case the kenkeni usually is on the time). The dununba is the lowest pitched and largest of the dunun ('ba' actually means big in Malinke, the language of the ethnic group that this music originates from). The dununba provides the power of the rhythm. Each dunun is generally played on its side, with the musician playing the drum with a wooden stick with one hand, and playing a metal bell attached to the side of the drum with a small metal stick with the other hand.

The three dunun together form the foundation of the rhythm. They also, along with the bells and the djembe accompaniment parts form the melody line as well. There are generally two or three djembe accompaniment parts. Then there is the djembe soloist, who plays on top of this foundation. The dununba player also does improvisation, but its important that the dununba and lead djembe speak together. The sangban player may also play improvisations but it is critical that he or she continue to hold the rhythm together, even when playing variations. The kenkeni and djembe accompaniments never vary (although the djembe players can share the soloing duties).

I am the principle dununfola (dunun player) in the ensemble that I play with. I play mostly sangban. On some songs I play dununba. I enjoy the opportunity to cut loose occassionally, but what I love most is being the solid rock which everything else can rely on. Sometimes, when the ensemble is light in personnel, I play both sangban and dununba, standing upright next each other, either with two sticks and no bell, or with one stick and the bell strapped to the side of the sangban. But I much prefer to have the full complement of three dunun.

My partner, Beth, is the musical director of the group, and the principle soloist. It is interesting because she is the only woman in a group of seven, but we all gladly do what she tell us to do. It is an interesting dynamic for sure, particularly for me being in both a personal and musical relationship with her, but that is perhaps a topic for a different thread.

ooooooo i can play the djembe a little... i think...

Voronwë_the_Faithful, drums are amazing instruments! I would love to hear more about your group!

Lali, 'bout time!

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(Man! The things you can get away with at the back of the band room! Plus, I was surrounded by guys--trombones, trumpets, etc. That was a nice perk!)

I hear ya, sister! I loved being surrounded by guys... up until that point the only guy I had ever talked to was my brother!

Where I come from french horn players are rare & we pretty much were allowed to do whatever we wanted to! Loved it!

I too have enjoyed hearing about others musical journeys!

Alatar, your idea of a virtual band is interesting, but wouldn't we all need access to recording equipment?

What genre of music were you thinking of?

Something simple initially. My first idea was something like "Wonderful Tonight" by Clapton. It's a really well known song, simple and easy to harmosise and solo in.

Recording equipment for the purpose of this experiment would simply be a microphone and sound card. We're not looking for studio quality here. There's plenty of Freeware and Shareware audio recording programs out there that we could use.

Alatar

Voronwe--that was fascinating! Our band's percussionist sometimes plays a djembe. Is that the right term, though? From your post, I was a bit unclear whether or not djembe referred to a particular type of drum or a group of drums.

cem, did you know that I homeschool my girls?

Alatar, well, you'd have to walk some of us through it step by step. And I don't know how pennywhistle would sound with an Eric Clapton song. ???



Lali

Lali, yes, a djembe is a particular type of drum, goblet shaped, with a solid wood shell, and a goat skin head.

Alatar wrote:

At one time I considered starting a virtual band here. The idea was that we would pick a music piece and lay down a temp track. Each musician would provided an accompaniment to that temp track and then someone would take on the job of layering them together in a mixing program. Would anyone be interested in the idea?

I don't understand a single word of how that's supposed to work!

But then I don't know that song you proposed either, so that's probably ok.

Voronwe, thanks for your interesting explanation! We have three djembes (is that the right plural?) of differing sizes that we just have fun with occasionally. It's good to hear more about how they are supposed to be played. Wish I could hear it as well!

I mostly play Celtic harp, but also piano/synthesizer. My husband plays fiddle, guitar (acoustic and electric), penny whistle, mandolin, bodhran (Irish drum) and whatever other instruments currently clutter our den. My son also plays guitar, both acoustic and electric, and electric bass.

Wampuscat wrote:

Voronwe, thanks for your interesting explanation! We have three djembes (is that the right plural?) of differing sizes that we just have fun with occasionally. It's good to hear more about how they are supposed to be played. Wish I could hear it as well!

One of these days I'll figure out how to make a sound clip of our group, but here is a short clip of our teacher, Mamady Keita:

http://www.africanrhythmtraders.com/sou ... s/mkm6.mp3

Let's see I've played the flute since I was 10 (or however old I was in 4th grade) and I'm now 24, although I haven't seriously picked up my flute since high school. I was in marching band all four years of high school, and we were damn good (I'm not being arrogant it was just a fact ).

I've played around on the piano and had a boyfriend that taught me a littel electric guitar work, it was just for fun, as was he Although he did introduce me to Joe Satriani who is amazing

I know not very interesting, but I got to travel around somewhat with the MB, and Richard Dryefus was at Nationals the year we won promoting the arts in schools, so it wasn't a complete bust

Musicians rock! There's nothing sweeter than a man (in my case) with musical talent

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Well, I can organise the Temp Track and tell people how to go about recording their own tracks, but I'd really prefer if someone more musical (not looking at anyone in particular DMM) would take on the Multitracking and mixing side of things!

It's a good thing that you were't look at anyone in particular... I don't start my Music Technology studies until next term. Look in my direction again after Christmas.

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cem, did you know that I homeschool my girls?

I do now! I have alot of respect for homeschool moms! Good for you!! You should wander over to my cookie thread cause I'd love to talk more about it... just not here!

WampusCat has amazing talent! I totally swoon for her group!!

Hi to everyone else who has wandered in! Great to see more musicians in here! Give us your story if you haven't already!

TheMary wrote:

I've played around on the piano and had a boyfriend that taught me a littel electric guitar work, it was just for fun, as was he Although he did introduce me to Joe Satriani who is amazing

SATRIANI = GOD!

No, sorry. Clapton is God. That was decided long ago. Satriani is the Messiah. Steve Vai is the Holy Ghost. Rory Gallagher is who God wishes he was.

And Rory Gallagher had more soul in his little finger than the three of them put together. Clapton at least had feel. Satriani and Vai are technicians, just modern day versions of Al DiMeola. Very impressive but ultimately unsatisfying. I can't deny their skill, but they never make you feel, which is what music is all about. Clapton at his best had that. Rory had it in spades.

Clapton doesnt have one origional bone in his body

Page is truly of a higher power

Voronwë_the_Faithful wrote:

Wampuscat wrote:

Voronwe, thanks for your interesting explanation! We have three djembes (is that the right plural?) of differing sizes that we just have fun with occasionally. It's good to hear more about how they are supposed to be played. Wish I could hear it as well!

One of these days I'll figure out how to make a sound clip of our group, but here is a short clip of our teacher, Mamady Keita:

http://www.africanrhythmtraders.com/sou ... s/mkm6.mp3

Thanks! That made me want to dance!

And thanks, cem. I'm willing to link to the two mp3s of my music that are up at the Outer Banks but don't know how. Do you?

And fras, don't let my son hear you diss Clapton. He's likely to hunt you down and whack you with a distortion pedal. He worships the guy.

It's considered cool now to diss Clapton. Those who know better still realise what an immense impact the man had on music. More than any other single person he brought blues into the mainstream. The only group who could be considered to have had as great an impact were the Stones. Led Zepp of course will always have their following, but they were far more derivative than Mayall's Bluesbreakers or Cream ever were. Page is an unfortunate example of a good guitarist who unfortunately got swamped by a narcissitic lead vocalist. I'd love to see what he might have achieved out of Plants shadow.

People who criticise Clapton should go back and listen to his early catalogue. Bluesbreakers, some Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominos. We're not talking about Wonderful Tonight and Lay Down Sally here. We're talking about Got to Hurry, Spoonful, Bernard Jenkins, Hideaway, Crossroads, White Room, Tales of Brave Ulysses, Layla.

Laurel and Hardy or Chaplin may not seem very funny now, but modern comedy would not exist without him. Clapton did that for Rock and Blues.

Wampuscat wrote:

And thanks, cem. I'm willing to link to the two mp3s of my music that are up at the Outer Banks but don't know how. Do you?

Like this:
Wampuscat 1
Wampuscat2

And while we're at it:
Jude sings Schubert
Trio from Jude's opera (warning: 8.5 MB download, over 9 minutes long)

Thanks, Jude! And I'm glad you linked to yours, too. Great stuff!

For the record, both my tunes are from "Ride the Wind" by The Dawn Treaders. I'm on harp and my husband is on fiddle. The first tune is my arrangement of a piece by Turlough O'Carolan, "Sheebeg Sheemore." The second, "Willow John," was composed by my husband.

Speaking of my husband, he wishes to express an opinion on Clapton (he wouldn't follow my suggestion to just register and post for himself ): "I consider myself both a Page and Clapton fan. Personally, I don't think Page ever lived in Plant's shadow, maybe vice versa. However, I've seen Clapton recently, and anyone who's had that opportunity will see not a god or a legend or anyone who set out to change the course of music but a mortal man who is doing what he always loved to do and who continues to be an inspiration to music lovers throughout the world."