What does Africa have to offer the world, musically?

A first time visitor to Nigeria might be surprised to hear more western pop than Nigerian music on the radio. Indeed, the same situation exists in many other African cities. You turn on the radio and you are likely to hear the same sounds that are rocking America at that point in time. Of course if you searched deeper you would always find authentic Africa, on the streets as well as on some radio stations. Though the congregation is diminishing, the gospel according to Africa is still being spread by some faithfuls. It is possible to pretend to ignore the influence of the West. But I am not one of the advocates of cultural isolation. Instead I believe in cultural assimilation. Learn from the best of whatever from wherever. One of the beautiful things about creation is the diversity.

Although our culture has been debilitated by the all pervading influence of western culture; a cultural colonisation, deliberate or otherwise, perpetuated by their economic power and the global reach of their mass media; it is still our responsibility, in spite of all odds, to ensure the survival of our rich cultural heritage and showcase it for the world at large. Ignorant cynics, some Africans inclusive, might wonder, “But what does Africa have to offer the world?” Those who have experienced true Africa know the unequivocal answer to that rhetoric.
From Bahia to Berlin, New York to Newcastle, I have come across audiences and musicians who are eager to learn about other cultures. Whenever, wherever we have the opportunity of conducting workshops about our music, the response is so enthusiastic that most times the workshops turn into full cultural exchanges. Oftentimes they are more enriching than even the concerts as we are able to provide answers to pertinent questions. Gradually it became clear that most of the time the subject ends up being the drums and rhythms of Africa. These experiences, over time, have reinforced my convictions about the power of African drums. The grooves are compelling. Yet we are ignorantly throwing these away at the expense of modern drum machines. Even in the countryside and hinterlands where, erstwhile, our culture reigned supreme, one began to hear traces of western influences as musicians claimed to “modernise”. But the power of the grooves is undeniable, for wherever we perform, the mood becomes more boisterious as soon as we launch into African grooves.

I need to point out here that I use the term African more geographically than generically, because in pure terms it is almost meaningless to refer to “African” music or drums or grooves. There are too many diverse forms and genres in Africa. In Nigeria alone there are many more traditional styles and forms than there are ethnic groups and languages. Literally hundreds of styles. In fact one could spend his entire career on Yoruba music, for instance, and yet end up scratching only the surface. I simplify matters by using the term “African/Africano” in referring to all these genres of music/drums/grooves in Africa.

Africano from Yorubano

My initial contact with groove was from Yoruba rhythms. I grew up with Yoruba music all around me. Naturally this formed the core of my first interest in drums and grooves. But having since discovered that much of what applies to Yoruba music can also be found in other Nigerian and indeed African languages and cultures I have taken the liberty to be inclusive and base my concept on Africa. Yoruba is also a natural launch pad for me because it comes naturally as it is also my first language. My mother tongue. However, my love for African music and an understanding of the traits that bind them together propel my interest in exploring beyond my Yoruba roots.
Beyond West Africa, this powerful culture, Yoruba, surmounted all odds to survive several hundred years of brutal suppression across the oceans. The language is still spoken and the culture practiced today in Brazil, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago amongst others. In West Africa, Nigeria and Benin Republic are the two major homes of the Yoruba culture.
Specifically, in Nigeria, the Yoruba culture has produced many varied contemporary forms and great musicians. Indeed several contemporary music styles, some of which have become world renowned, owe their roots to traditional Yoruba music. Afrobeat pioneered by Fela Anikulapo Kuti; Juju exempified by Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey and I.K. Dairo; Afrojuju pioneered by Shina Peters; Fuji by Ayinde Barrister, Kollington Ayinla, Wasiu Ayinde, Abass Akande, Adewale Ayuba, Wasiu Alabi amongst others; Waka championed by Salawa Abeni and Batile Alake; Apala spearheaded by Haruna Ishola and Ayinla Omowura; Sakara exemplified by Yusuf Olatunji; Highlife which is reputed to have emanated from Ghana took a peculiar tinge in the hands of Ambrose Campbell, Bobby Benson, Victor Olaiya, Chris Ajilo, Roy Chicago, Herbert Ogunde and Adeolu Akinsanya amongst others;
All these great musicians and their musical forms had their roots in Yoruba traditional music. The musicians went in different directions at different times but the results still had enough of the traditional grooves of the Yorubas.

Apala, sakara and fuji were originally performed with voice and traditional percussions only. Totally acoustic, they were completely devoid of western instruments. These styles were dominated by drums of different types and sounds. Over time exponents of fuji, the youngest and currently most popular of the three, have introduced western pop instruments like the drum kit, keyboards, guitar, bass, saxophone etc.

Juju musicians have always used western instruments. Guitars were most prominent, but the groove was still undeniably Yoruba. An introduction of the drum kit into juju polarised the groove at some point when it took over as the groove dictator. But when the trap drum was introduced into fuji it was initially played as just another drum. It was not the groove maker. It sort of blended with all the "senior drums" it met. It coloured the sound and added some spice but the total groove of the fuji musician was still forthrightly Yoruba. Anyhow, when the juju masters had their drum breaks the western drum kit took a back seat. The talking drums once again became the undisputed masters.

Other great Yoruba musicians like Tunji Oyelana, Segun Bucknor, Johnny Haastrup, Orlando Julius, Hakeeb Kareem, Jimi Solanke and Peter King produced other unique hybrids. Steve Rhodes transcended his roots to create different formats including choral and big band. Scholars like Akin Euba and Ayo Bankole have applied Western classical knowledge to create yet other Yoruba rooted music. And there is the organ music of Fela Sowande from a much earlier era. And it goes without saying that Babatunde Olatunji’s drums first awakened the ears of America to our drum heritage.
It is this same rich Yoruba roots that is the major influence on my music. Apart from continually learning a lot of different things from these great masters, I have also chosen to return to the traditional roots where the wealth of knowledge is inexaustible. I grew up with traditional Yoruba music and this is where the inspiration for Africano, came from.

The Drum

Scholars have deduced that while melody and harmony are preeminent in traditional European music (and the West generally speaking) in African music (more so in West Africa) rhythm is king. The drum is the greatest purveyor of rhythm. And rhythm is arguably the most definitive of musical style in popular contemporary music. Although we use the drums in our music, mostly to create grooves and stimulate dance, in traditional Yoruba music the drum plays more diverse roles. They do much more than stimulate dance, especially in the sacred worship of Yoruba deities.

In my band, we use the four major families of Yoruba drums. Each family consists of drums of different sizes playing generally slave/master, support/lead roles. In each instance, the mother drum (iya ilu) plays the lead role. The four families are Dundun/Gangan, Bata, Sakara, Ogido/Gbedu. Traditionally, each family has a complete ensemble. Oftentimes we use different drums from different families together, and other times, we play the drums as complete ensembles as they are used traditionally. For more details on the drums, grooves and ensembles please visit www.lagbaja.com. Although the Yorubas utilise the flute, agidigbo and goje just as there are lots of melodic and harmonic instruments in other African cultures- kora, marimba, mbira, oja (ibo flute), kalimba, etc. their music is predominantly driven by drums and other percussion instruments. Drums, drums and more drums.

African grooves

The western drum kit comprising the kick, snare, toms and cymbals has become a very domineering sound and groove driver worldwide including in African music. To demonstrate the power of our traditional drums we have gone back to the basics. As we say in Yoruba “ka daale ka tun sa”. So this album and its twin ‘Africano Party’ are completely devoid of the Western drum kit. Four songs (out of about twenty seven) feature the Hi Hat and Cymbals used as percussion instruments. For avoidance of doubt I repeat categorically that there is not a single note of kick drum, snare or toms on these two albums. I am not advocating the total exclusion of the drum kit from African music, as it is such a powerful and beautiful instrument. But that is the hands of a skilled player. The tendency for many players of the drum kit in African music is to play western grooves. For the drum kit to work well with African drums it needs to be perceived from the African standpoint. It should be used as a part of the total drum weave. Not like the domineering role it plays in western pop music. While our future works would still feature the drum kit, for now we start from the beginning. The African grooves played only by traditional African drums. Each groove an interplay of rhythms from these different drums.

It should be noted too that although the drums lead the groove, the western instruments also contribute to the total groove. So this is not an intellectually enforced marriage of non compatible mates. The electric bass, for example, locks into the drum groove in many instances. The rhythms of the keyboards and guitars also complement the groove.

Another tendency in pop music is to sift the essence of a groove into simple beats. With all the sophistication of western melodic and harmonic structures much of its popular music is still driven by simple beats. Rather than breed cliché grooves we’d love the world to hear the sophisticated rhythms of the motherland. So once again, we go back to the source and play the drums the way they are traditionally played with all the inflections and nuances, polyrhythms and shifting accents. The Yoruba groove in all its subtlety and complex glory. No distillation for simplification. Contrary to pop fears it doesn’t take much time for a new convert to find the accents and find his locus in relation to the encompassing groove. Music from Latin America already bridges the gap by offering a glimpse of the possibilities, to the Western world.

Hands versus sticks

One of the major sources of the subtlety in African grooves is the use of the hands. This is also the major factor that sets our drums apart from the western drum kit. The kick drum of the drum kit is played with a drum pedal while drum sticks are used for the snare, toms, hihat and cymbals. On the other hand, direct hand contact with our traditional drums results in a richer groove altogether. There is so much more that direct hand contact can do than indirect contact using sticks. So many sounds and possibilities. Slap, scrape, thump, finger rolls etc. aside from sounds resulting from double hand techniques. Mutes, rings, closed and open sounds also mean a wide array of sounds. In just one bar of music from just one drum the possibilities are enormous. Now put several of these drums together, each playing a different rhythm. The resulting groove is a killer. The gangan and bata use the best of both worlds. A beater and a hand. But listen for the sounds between the main beats.

Many hands, many minds groove as one

Another major difference between the drum kit and our traditional drums is the number of players. An accomplished drum kit player could sound like five players were playing, but it is still his single thought process creating the groove. He is like a one man drum orchestra. It is not worse just different. However five traditional drummers need to synchronise their creative thought processes to produce one single monstrous groove. The closest would be for the drum kit to be split up into different parts and each drum given to one player - one drummer plays the kick while another plays just the snare and another one tom etc. The team play of the traditional drum ensemble results in a different intricate groove.

Drum Language

The Yoruba drums, like many other African drums, mimic speech and speech patterns. This is another unique quality that bestows endless possibilities of grooves on African drums. Although the hourglass drum, gangan/dundun, is commonly refered to as the talking drum, it is not the only talking drum in Yoruba music. Other drums like the bata, sakara and ogido also talk. In grooving, our drums play rhythms or talk. Furthermore a drum could be designated to monologue. It could also harmonise other drums or speak in unison with them as well as all combinations in between.

Tempo

The cliché that African music is all about frantic, wild, fiery fast paced beats needs to be corrected. The essence of African drums is actually the grooves- how polyrhythms work together to create an enchanting, entrancing feel. The groove is the essence. Fiery rhythms are just one category of African drumming. Most important is the groove, whatever the tempo. The whole imaginable spectrum of tempos exists in African music. Fast paced drum rhythms constitute just one perspective. In fact much of Yoruba urban dance music has always been mid tempo grooves. Indeed the quintessential Yoruba social music is the mid tempo groove. Much of this album is mid tempo dance music.

Dance

“The white man can’t dance” is another cliché that needs to be debunked. My contention is that ears accustomed more to sophisticated melodies and harmonies than to rhythms have an initial difficulty in placing the beat accents. So a fresh ear would tend to dance simultaneously to the myriad beats he hears. However, just as in western beats, African grooves can be broken down to the dominating accents and from there a listener can find the top of the beat. Just consider the other “backing beats” as the “drum harmonies” and you have your license to dance. We have demonstrated this often at live concerts and many new converts find it hard to believe how quickly they learn to flow with the rhythm. Don’t copy the movement of others. Just listen to the groove and from there you’d find your rhythm. Remember, music is first a listening art, not a visual one.

Vocal Language

Though I have used Pidgin English copiously in the past, none of the songs on this album is performed fully in Pidgin. From now my focus is on my mother tongue, Yoruba and my second language, English. Pidgin takes a back seat.