| Abakua |
Midi arrangement of Abakua, a rhythm of a secret men's society in Cuba. According to Robert Farris Thompson in "Flash of the Spirit" it was brought to Cuba during the slave trade from the Calabar region where it was the rhythm of the leopard society of the Negbe people. We list this rhythm at several different tempos since it's character changes when the tempo is changed.
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| Versions of Abakua at different tempos: 120 bpm 180 bpm 220 bpm 260 bpm |
| Different subrhythms of Abakua: Bell part Cowbell part High drum part Low drum part Middle drum part Shekere part |
| Aconcon |
| Rhythm from The Rhythm Catalog contributed by Nigel Jacobs. You can find the notation there. Played at 100 bpm. |
| Versions of Aconcon at different tempos: 100 bpm 140 bpm 160 bpm |
| Different subrhythms of Aconcon: Bell part Djun Djun part High drum part Low drum part |
| Acpala |
| An energetic West African dance rhythm. It's really fun to dance to. In 4/4 time. |
| Different subrhythms of Acpala: Bell part High drum parts 1 and 2 Low drum part Middle drum part |
| Bembe Shango |
A Bembe is an Afro-Cuban rhythm used in Santeria rites to evoke different Orishas of the Yoruban pantheon. Bembe Shango honors Shango, the Yoruban Orisha of Lightning, Thunder, Drums, Dancing and Yams. Musically, this rhythm (like other bembe rhythms) is fascinating, because it can be played at many different tempos and still sound wonderful. Most musical ideas must be played in a narrow range of tempos, usually a 30 or 40 beat range to sound their best. If you play them too slow or too fast, they lose their savor. Bembe Shango sounds great when you play it at 70 beats a minute and equally amazing at 600 bpm, nearly a factor of 10 range of tempos. It changes it's character and sounds like a different rhythm at the different tempos. In usual performance, it seems to be performed at a tempo between 120 and 200 bpm.
To learn more of Shango, see Shango
To learn more about the Bembe ceremony, see Bembe: The Rhythm of the Saints |
| Versions of Bembe Shango at different tempos: 130 bpm 200 bpm 260 bpm 340 bpm 450 bpm 600 bpm |
| Different subrhythms of Bembe Shango: Bell playing three-four-one pattern Cowbell playing Short Bell pattern High drum Low drum Middle drum |
| Bintin |
| A 6/4 rhythm from Ghana's Acon tribe. In each cycle of this rhythm you can feel a cycle of 6 beats and a cycle of 4 beats playing at the same time.
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| Different subrhythms of Bintin: Double Bell High part Low part Medium part 1 Medium part 2 Shekere |
| Bomba |
| A version of the Bomba rhythm from Puerto Rico. |
| Different subrhythms of Bomba: Bell Clave High drum Low drum Middle drum |
| Bricamo |
| Rhythm of a secret women's society from Cuba. Listed at several different tempos so you can hear the different moods induced by the different tempos. |
| Versions of Bricamo at different tempos: 120 bpm 200 bpm 260 bpm 300 bpm |
| Different subrhythms of Bricamo: Bell Drum 1 Drum 2 |
| Comparsa |
| An Afro-Cuban rhythm played at Carnival. It has lots of parts so that anyone who drops in can play along. |
| Different subrhythms of Comparsa: Bell chorus High drum 1 High drum 2 Low drum Middle drum Timbales |
| Cool 200 |
| Very cool sounding rhythm. It is indeed! |
| Different subrhythms of Cool 200: Cymbal High hat and Tom Tom Shekere Timbales |
| Cool 300 |
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| Cumbia |
| This is the rhythm for the popular Colombian dance form called Cumbia.
Cumbia started as the local dance music of the Black community of the Atlantic coast of Colombia. It has become a dominant pop music form in Northern South America.
See All About Cumbia for more info. |
| Different subrhythms of Cumbia: Bell part Clave High Part Low part Middle part |
| Dununha |
| Traditional dance from Guinea. |
| Versions of Dununha at different tempos: 150 bpm 200 bpm 240 bpm 300 bpm 350 bpm |
| Different subrhythms of Dununha: Djembe first part Djembe second part Djembe third part Djun djun part Lead part Shekere part |
| Fanga |
| A Liberian welcome rhythm. When a drummer plays the low part
of this rhythm, he mimes the action of a cook pulling hot
pieces of food from a steaming pot. Dinner will be served! |
| Different subrhythms of Fanga: Bell #1 part Bell #2 part Djun djun part High part Low part Middle part |
| Full Swing |
| Full drumkit swing rhythm at quarter note = 170 bpm. |
| Gahu |
| Rhythm of the Ewe people from Ghana. |
| Versions of Gahu at different tempos: 180 bpm 220 bpm 260 bpm |
| Different subrhythms of Gahu: Bell part High part Low part Middle part Shaker part |
| Half Bell - rhythm part |
| Extracted rhythm from the tune Half Bell. |
| Hi-Hat and Ride |
| Swing pattern with hi-hat and ride cymbal. |
| Hip Wiggle - rhythm part |
| This is the extracted rhythm part for the tune Hip Wiggle. |
| Icct Hedral - alternate rhythm |
| This is the alternate rhythm figure of Icct Hedral, a composition by Richard D. James, the Aphex Twin. This figure, a sixteen beat cycle, is played for contrast when the Icct Hedral timeline is not playing. As with the timeline rhythm, I have orchestrated the rhythm using MIDI rhythm sounds rather than the string sounds used in Icct Hedral. |
| Icct Hedral - timeline |
| This is the main rhythm figure of Icct Hedral, a composition by Richard D. James, the Aphex Twin. The figure in Icct Hedral is orchestrated for strings. Here it's realized using MIDI percussion sounds.
A timeline in African music is usually a repeated pattern that lasts 6, 12 or 24 beats, that spends a little more or less than half of its time visiting the on beats, makes a skip to the off beats, and then skips back to on beats at the end of the cycle.
This is the only pattern I've seen that fits a 16 beat cycle and which skips from onbeat to offbeat in the same matter as the usual African timelines, the long bell and short bell patterns. |
| Jesse Malanga |
| A cool Congolese dance rhythm.
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| Different subrhythms of Jesse Malanga: Bell part First high part Low part Middle part Second high part |
| Kaki Lambe |
Senegalese rhythm popular with American djembe players. Played at 100 beats per minute.
Contributed by Richard Darsie (darsie@cs.ucdavid..edu) to The Rhythm Catalog where you can find the rhythm notated. |
| Versions of Kaki Lambe at different tempos: 100 bpm 120 bpm 140 bpm 160 bpm 180 bpm |
| Different subrhythms of Kaki Lambe: Bell part Djun djun part High part Low part Middle part |
| Kpanlogo |
| The Ga tribe of Ghana uses this rhythm at parties. It's very
tricky to play and lots of fun to dance to. |
| Different subrhythms of Kpanlogo: Bass drum part Bell part Double bell part First middle part High part Low part Second middle part Shaker part |
| Linjen |
| A West African rhythm played frequently by American djembe players. |
| Versions of Linjen at different tempos: 200 bpm 250 bpm 290 bpm |
| Long Bell |
| The long bell pattern is a timeline pattern of seven hits that fits in a six beat cycle. The pattern begins with 4 hits on the beat. It then skips to play 3 hits on the offbeats of beats 4, 5, and 6.
The effect of the rhythm is to visit the onbeats for a little bit more than half of the cycle and then the offbeats for a little less than half of the cycle. Since there are more onbeat hits than offbeat and since it is usually played by a bell, this is called the Long Bell pattern.
Its relative, the Short Bell pattern, visits 3 onbeats followed by 4 off beats. |
| Macuta |
| This is an arrangement of an Afro-Cuban bembe rhythm. |
| Different subrhythms of Macuta: Bell part High part Low part Middle part |
| Mahi |
| This is an arrangement of a 6/8 Haitian drum rhythm. This is a complicated 5 part
pattern whose parts spread out and then converge at one point in the
cycle to pulse like a huge heartbeat. |
| Makanda |
| A great Haitian rhythm. You can feel it! |
| Mandjiani |
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| Mboshi |
| A Congolese rhythm in 6/8 time. |
| Merengue |
| Merengue is the national dance rhythm of the Dominican Republic.
See More about Merengue.... |
| Nokobe |
| Traditional rhythm of the Ewe people of Ghana. |
| Versions of Nokobe at different tempos: 120 bpm 160 bpm 200 bpm 220 bpm 300 bpm 320 bpm |
| Plena |
| This is the rhythm for Plena, the satirical song form from the Puerto Rican lowlands. See About Bomba and Plena" for more info. |
| RealTime - rhythm part |
| Rhythm part extracted rom the tune RealTime 9/15/00. |
| Rumba Guaguanco |
| Rumba Guaguanco is one of the popular dance styles of Cuba. See history of the guaguanco from SalsaRoots.com. |
| Different subrhythms of Rumba Guaguanco: clave part high drum part low drum part medium drum part Stick part |
| Samba - cymbal and snare |
A two part arrangement of samba rhythm for ride cymbal and snare drum. Arranged by Matt Luebbert
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| Shiko |
| Traditional Nigerian rhythm. |
| Shiko - fast version |
| Shiko rhythm played fast. |
| Short Bell |
| The short bell pattern is a timeline pattern of seven hits that fits in a six beat cycle. The pattern begins with 3 hits on the beat. It then skips to play 4 hits on the offbeats of beats 3, 4, 5, and 6.
The effect of the rhythm is to visit the onbeats for a little bit less than half of the cycle and then the offbeats for a little more than half of the cycle. Since there are fewer onbeat hits than offbeat and since it is usually played by a bell, this is called the Short Bell pattern.
Its relative, the Long Bell pattern, visits 4 onbeats followed by 3 off beats. |
| Shuffle #1 |
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| Zepaula |
| A Congolese dance rhythm. |