(the video is currently very LO-TEK)
This is music composed specifically to unfold through collective
improvisation, which means that the form of the music itself is directly shaped
through mutual interplay among its participants, and that collaborative drama
contributes centrally to the musical narrative a listener hears.
This approach to coordinating music poses a deliberate alternative
to the relative one way flow of information that passes between composer & performer
in much euroclassical practice as well as to that genre’s orientation toward
the construction of sonic monuments, a propensity also shared by much pop music.
Pop formulations furthermore have tended to compress rhythmic scope down to
basic denominator background beats. And, while much contemporary improvised
music may emulate open form as developed through jazz, the root African elements
& attitudes out of which this evolved have many times been distilled out.
Collective improvisation can also be recognized as a theatrical
personification of the dynamics of polyrhythm - that intricately sophisticated
African model of coordinated multiplicity. Polyphonically organized music is
able to integrate divergent voices, levels, directions & narratives; but the
wave matrix of polyrhythm’s gravitational convergences & suspensions further
enriches each moment of music with a holographic sensation of depth. This especially
charges & activates the gaps & silences that envelop musical gestures & encourages
attention beyond linear & sequential interpretations of activity to include
more multidimensional perceptions of time & movement.
This music often explores making polyrhythm central to the
organization & participation of the entire ensemble. One strategy has been to
code polyrhythm into the music via a stacking of interrelated countermelodies
that places each instrumentalist in a position of direct responsibility for
the composite ensemble sound. The countermelodies - & the relationships among
them - provide a thematic interface that supports both extemporized development
& communications among improvisers as the music progresses. Metagroove is an
allied compositional process that associates successive, contrasting polyrhythmic
constellations (i.e. grooves) to create a overall groovic resonance (in other
words, a meta- groove).
Each voice in this ensemble maintains an equal distinct narrative
foreground persona; & it follows that much of the compositional focus has been
on developing music through the rhythm section. As Bakongo scholar Fu-Kiau Bunseki
has put it, “Treble voicings represent our world, but bass patterns come from
the spirit.†The bass not only carries on an independent melodic narrative at
a pace appropriate to its register, but often functions as conductor of the
ensemble, cueing shifts from one metagroove constellation to the next. These
shifts are also multidirectionally jointed, allowing an overall form to wrap
around itself & construct an ensemble narrative that’s more oriented toward
immersion than linear progression from beginning to end.
It’s also natural that drums figure prominently in a music
that explores rhythmic harmony & multidirectional movement. Some listeners may
at first be disoriented by percussion’s abundant role here. But, as a trap kit
enables the playing of as many as four simultaneous lines, it can also be considered
as contributing more than one instrument to the ensemble. The non-tempered tones
enunciated by drums contribute a significant component of this music’s melodic
& tonal framework. Even a casual listening to Dou Dou Njaye Rose’s orchestra
of sabar wolofs from Dakar, for example, can reinforce a recognition that drums,
all by themselves, have more than enough range to enact complete & nuanced statements
on as high a level as any music.
Some market oriented & cultural perspectives argue that music
shouldn’t overly stretch or challenge listeners’ imaginations. Contrarily, this
music aims toward a threshold where some aspect is slipping just enough beyond
a listener’s comprehension to invite a sense of wonder & mystery as a small
reminder that there’s always something more happening anywhere than is already
known & recognized.
