The music of Africa: West African drumming and the role of percussion, polyrhythm and cross-rhythm, call and response, the master drummer and the ensemble, and instruments such as the djembe, dundun and balafon, for Area of Study 3.

What this dot point is asking

The music of Africa (focused on West African drumming) is one of the four regions of Area of Study 3. You need to know the central role of percussion, the textures of polyrhythm and cross-rhythm, call and response, the master drummer leading the ensemble, and the instruments (djembe, dundun, balafon). The listening paper expects you to recognise this music and explain its textures.

Rhythm and percussion at the centre

The interest is rhythmic rather than harmonic. Several drummers each play a repeating pattern (an ostinato), and the patterns interlock so that accents fall in different places, producing the rich, driving sound of an African drumming ensemble. Cross-rhythm is the deliberate clash of groupings: a player might feel the bar in threes while another feels it in twos, the two patterns weaving against each other. Recognising this layering of independent, repeating rhythms is the surest sign of West African music.

Call and response and the master drummer

Call and response appears in both the drumming and any singing: the leader states an idea, the ensemble or chorus replies, and the exchange repeats, sometimes with the call varied. The master drummer is the director: they cue the other players in and out, signal changes of pattern or tempo, and improvise the most elaborate part, so the ensemble follows their lead. This human, responsive structure, with one player guiding many, is characteristic of the tradition.

The instruments

• Djembe - a goblet-shaped hand drum, the best-known West African drum, capable of a deep bass tone, a ringing tone and a sharp slap.
• Dundun - a double-headed cylindrical drum, played with sticks, providing a lower, steady bass pattern under the djembes.
• Balafon - a wooden xylophone with gourd resonators, providing a tuned, melodic layer in some music.

Other percussion includes bells (such as the agogo or gankogui) and shakers, which often hold a steady timekeeping pattern that the other rhythms lock to.

Examples in context

A West African drumming ensemble might layer a steady bell pattern, a dundun bass pattern, and two or three djembe patterns, each repeating but accented differently, into a driving polyrhythm. A master drummer leads, signalling the group in, then improvising rapid figures over the texture and cueing a change of pattern. A song might add call and response, the leader singing a line and the group answering, all over the interlocking drums. The density of layered, repeating rhythm and the leader-group exchange mark the music as West African.

Try this

Q1. What is polyrhythm? [2 marks]

• Cue. The layering of two or more different rhythms at the same time, each repeating, which combine into a dense, interlocking texture.

Q2. What does the master drummer do? [2 marks]

• Cue. Leads the ensemble: sets and changes the tempo, signals new patterns, cues players in and out, and improvises the most elaborate part.

Q3. Explain what call and response and polyrhythm mean in West African music. [5 marks]

• What the marker wants. Call and response as a leader (caller) and group (response) alternating, often repeatedly; polyrhythm as two or more different rhythms layered simultaneously, with cross-rhythms, building the dense ensemble texture.