Africa

A bell timeline is the short pattern every other part of a West African ensemble hears against. The Standard bell pattern puts seven strokes on twelve pulses, on 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10 and 12, felt as four groups of three. The hollow boxes are gaps to let pass while the pulse goes on, and the bell rows carry no letters because the sounded boxes are the pattern. The accent on the first pulse locates the cycle; it does not make that stroke the only important one.

Tap all twelve pulses evenly on a knee, play the Standard bell pattern and say “bell” only where it strikes, then stop tapping and check that the pattern still turns round in the right place. The Five-stroke 12/8 bell drops two of those strokes, and the spaces between grow. The East-of-the-Niger 12/8 bell is another seven-stroke arrangement; compare where each one waits, not only how often it strikes.

Gahu bell stretches the grid to sixteen sixteenths, and its phase can vary. Kpanlogo bell carries the son clave timeline, a useful link but not a claim that every ensemble plays one transferable part. Highlife / sikyi bell, Shiko and the rows for Agbekor, Adowa and Fume fume add more timelines. The bells chosen for Highlife / sikyi bell, Adowa and Fume fume borrow from the standard pattern, practice frames where fuller, sourced transcriptions would say more.

The strip trains the ear to expect a stroke after a gap; the drums and the dance around the bell are not in it. Play the Standard bell pattern slowly with one hand on every pulse and the other on the strokes, then leave out the pulse hand for one cycle and bring it back.

The djembe rows of Guinea and Mali are places to hold a pulse while learning the repertoire, not recordings of an ensemble, and the Guinean rhythms differ between lineages. Kuku is a fast binary four accented on 1 and 3. Soli and Dundunba run twelve pulses in four groups of three, each group start marked, and that one grouping carries quite different dances and parts.

Kuku is associated with women returning from fishing in Guinea’s forest region. Soli is an initiation rhythm. Dundunba names a family from Hamana, not one fixed solo exercise. Kassa belongs to farmers’ work, Madan to festival music, and Djolé to a mask dance of Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Yankadi and Makru make a pair, Yankadi a slow twelve in four groups of three and Makru, its fast second half, a binary four. Speak the group starts aloud and keep a light tap through the counts between. Lamba and Tiriba are shown in particular ternary teaching versions, not as the only forms musicians play, and no grid of equal counts can give Sorsonet its heavy swing.

Start with Kuku and tap four steady counts. Then take Soli slowly, saying “one two three” four times while the other hand marks each new group, and move to Dundunba once the first count comes back without a look at the screen. The hard part is not a fast name such as Mendiani or Tiriba but hearing one ensemble part against the shared cycle, rather than turning every part into a click track.

Fanga, the one Liberian-derived row, is a four-count practice frame, with the first and third counts marked. Tap all four quietly and clap on 1 and 3. No drum syllables sit under the boxes, so the metronome keeps a place in the cycle rather than playing a complete arrangement.

Fanga is the Liberian welcome dance as an African American stage tradition arranged it, and the row is not an untouched transcription of one village ensemble.

Count aloud for four cycles while the hands mark the two stronger beats. On the fifth, stop speaking and keep the hand pattern, then bring the spoken “one” back when the cycle returns.

Chaabi (Moroccan) is a popular six in two groups of three, driven by the bendir. Count “one two three, one two three” and feel the lift at the start of each half. Raï is a four accented on 1 and 3. Gnawa runs twelve pulses in four groups of three, with the iron krakebs playing three against two across them.

The boxes mark the group openings and accents. They do not print the bendir’s strokes, and one line of clicks cannot play the iron parts of a Gnawa performance. Start with Chaabi (Moroccan), tapping every small unit while your foot marks the two larger pulses. Then play Gnawa and hear four groups of three fill a longer cycle.

Count Gnawa’s four groups aloud and clap only on their starts, your foot moving through the counts between. If foot and clap start to argue, slow the metronome until they agree. After that, hold one way of feeling the twelve pulses while hearing the other against it, rather than raising the tempo.

Afrobeat, Afrobeats and Jùjú each get four counts here, with 1 and 3 marked. That is a floor to practise on, not a claim that three kinds of music share one beat. Afrobeat has sixteenths in the guitars and a bell keeping a clave. Afrobeats puts a 3+2 pull in the kick. Jùjú sets talking drums beside its guitar bands. None of those layers is in the click, and no stroke letters sit under the boxes.

Count “one two three four”, tap 1 and 3, and listen for another part moving around that frame. Equal boxes also miss the small timing shifts and ghost notes that let a played groove breathe, and a faster tempo does not put them back.

Start Afrobeat at a comfortable pace, the marked counts in your foot and even sixteenths tapped softly with your fingers for two cycles. Drop the fingers for two more and keep the foot. In Afrobeats and Jùjú, keep the same quiet pulse and let the music tell you which other part to follow.

This section spans many places and instruments, so first learn what a row gives you. Soukous, Makossa and Benga each give a four-count pulse with 1 and 3 marked, though their guitar parts, tempos and settings differ. Bikutsi and Chikchika (eskista) are sixes grouped 3+3. Mbira (Shona) is twelve in four groups of three, a twelve heard in both threes and twos, and one accent pattern cannot sound both hearings at once.

Kwaito marks every count of a slower four. Amapiano shows a four under its log drum and shakers. Gqom draws eight small units as 3+3+2, useful for practising its kick pull but a reduction, not the whole groove; the other tresillo outlines in this catalogue are reduced the same way.

No stroke marks sit under these boxes. The accents find a first count or the start of a group, and the instruments supply the rest. Start with Bikutsi, tapping two groups of three, then play Mbira (Shona) and hold its longer twelve by ear. Next, alternate hearing those twelve pulses in threes and in twos without moving the first pulse. For Gqom, keep the eight small units steady before you place the three group attacks.

Mbalax (sabar) is written as a four-count pulse with 1 and 3 accented, the syncopated four of the Wolof sabar drums of Senegal. No drum syllables sit under the boxes, and the strip cannot sound the several sabar parts at once; it keeps your count while you listen.

Count all four beats aloud and tap each one lightly. After a few cycles, clap on the two accented counts while your foot keeps the four. Then listen for a real sabar part landing away from your claps, and hold your count without asking the part to follow it. Start slowly enough to hear the spaces.

Maloya, Salegy and Sega, the sixes of three Indian Ocean islands, are each written as a six grouped 3+3, accented at the start of both groups. Maloya is Réunion’s six under the roulèr and kayamb, Salegy is Madagascar’s fast six, and Sega is the six of the ravanne in Mauritius. The same group marks do not mean the instruments play the same patterns; no strokes are written under the rows, and one click lane could not supply three ensembles’ parts.

Start with Maloya at a comfortable pace, tapping six light units and clapping on 1 and 4. Move to Sega without changing how you count the two larger lifts. Salegy is the fastest; raise its tempo only when the six stays relaxed. To check, speak two groups of three for one cycle, rest your voice for the next while your hands go on, and come back on the first count without looking at the strip.