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African Mus,
Postco/onial NotE
Queries, Positio,
Kofi Aga·
ROUTLEJ
NEW YORK AND LONI
70 • RepresentingAfrican Music
4
Polymeter,Additive Rhythm,
and Other EnduringMyths
71
72 • Representing African Music Polymeter, Additive Rhythm, and Other Enduring Myths • 73
search into musics of the Central African Republic, Nigeria, the Demo - fair to say that no other dimension of African music has elicited more ea-
cratic Republic of Congo, and elsewhere. gerness to name and rename .
For those suspicious of hegemony in any form, the absence of a com-
mon practice is welcome insofar as it undermines the possibility that a sin-
gle, ostensibly "correct" way of understanding African rhythm can ever RhythmicTopoi,or Time Lines
emerge. Others, however, will lament the practical circumstances that have Let us begin at the beginning by describing an aspect of everyday rhythm.
allowed scholars to overlook or deliberately ignore the work of their prede - As is well known, many West and Central African dances feature a promi -
cessors so that they can rediscover Africa freshly, sleep with a virgin Africa, nently articulated, recurring rhythmi c pattern that serves as an identifying
so to speak, own their bit of territory. The retreat from developing a gen- feature or signature of the particular dance/drumming. These patterns are
eral theory has in turn facilitated the propagation of certain myths, includ- known by different names: time line, bell pattern, phrasing referent, and so
ing notions such as polymeter, additive rhythm, and cross rhythm, among on. 2 I prefer to call them topoi, commonplaces rich in associative meaning
several others. In this chapter, which may be regarded as a kind of technical for cultural insiders. A topos is a short, distinct, and often memorable
supplement to chapter 3, I argue that these concepts are untenable as a rhythmic figure of modest duration (about a metric length or a single
modeling of practice in the specific repertoires to which they have been ap - cycle), usually played by the bell or high-pitched instrument in the ensem -
plied. Such myths persist in both the popular imagination and scholarly ble, and serves as a point of temporal reference. It is held as an ostinato
writing, however, partly because of the absence of a regulating common throughout the dance-composition. Although topoi originated in specific
practice and partly because of the incorrigible urge to represent Africa as communities as parts of specific dances, they have by now moved from
always already different . their communities of origin into a centralized, multiethnic, or detribalized
The absence of a common practice is signaled most obviously by the space. The main catalyst for this migration is interethnic contact through
plethora of terms used to describe rhythm and related phenomena. Some boarding schools, government bureaucracy, trade, rural-to-urban migra-
of the terms that have appeared in the literature include: tion, church, cultural troupes, and radio. The connotations of some topoi
have thus been abandoned or transformed, even while their structural au -
additive rhythm inherent pattern polymeter tonomy has been consolidated.
commetric accents interlocking rhythm polyrhythm The key to understanding the structure of a given topos is the dance or
contrametric accents isorhythm resultant pattern choreography upon which it is based. According to William Echezona, "it
counter meter linear rhythm silent beats is not easy for one to talk about rhythm without referring to (Nigerian)
cross rhythm main beat speech rhythm dance" (my parenthesis). 3 No one hears a topos without also hearing-in
density referent megarhythm strict rhythm actuality or imaginatively-the movement of feet. And the movement of
divisive rhythm melorhythm subjective beat feet in turn registers directly or indirectly the metrical structure of the
downbeat metronome sense subjective meter dance. Conceptually, then, the music and dance of a given topos exist at
free rhythm multilinear rhythm subjective pattern the same level; the music is not prior to the dance, nor is the dance prior to
gross pulse . nonsymmetric rhythm suppressed downbeat the music.
hemiola off-beat rhythm syncopation For cultural insiders, identifying the gross pulse or the "pieds de danse"
hot rhythm on-beat time line ("dance feet") occurs instinctively and spontaneously. 4 Those not familiar
implied beat phrasing referent with the choreographic supplement, however, sometimes have trouble lo-
cating the main beats and expressing them in movement. Hearing African
Each of these terms has a history, a logical place within an economy of music on recordings alone without prior grounding in its dance-based
technical terms, and a range of intertextual resonances. Some are descrip- rhythms will not necessarily convey the choreographic supplement. Not
tively transparent (Kolinski's "contrametric accent"), some are locked in surprisingly, many misinterpretations of African rhythm and meter stem
an active binary ("free rhythm" versus "strict rhythm"), while some speak from a failure to observe the dance. To say that in the beginning dance and
of American imposition ("hot rhythm"). Although a full understanding music were together, like left and right, man and wife, or front and back, is
requires much attention to context, origins, and influence, it is probably not to exaggerate.
74 • RepresentingAfrican Music Polymeter,Additive Rhythm, and Other EnduringMyths • 75
Recent research suggests that topoi constitute a most fruitful site for the
exploration of African rhythmic practices. Kubik, in whose research time Main beats
lines feature significantly, notes their distrib .ution "along the west African "Standard Pattern"
coast, in western central Africa and in a broad belt along the Zambezi val-
ley into Moyambique" and attributes to them great historical depth. He } Notational variants
analyzes their "asymmetric inner structure" and reports on his discovery of
a 24-pulse pattern said to be "the longest time-line pattern .. . among the Yoruba pattern
pygmies of the Upper Sangha River in the Central African Republic." 5
Kubik has also searched the musical cultures of the African diaspora for
asymmetric time line patterns and located them in Cuba, Haiti, Domini-
can Republic, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, and Brazil.6 Jeff Pressing, taking a
comparative perspective, has examined "cognitive isomorphisms" between
::::
c,;~e·k
..n .n
I.mo .! .b .b J .b__
J_
_L _t ::::::·..m,fo>e
1
}
~-..----, r---, Notational variants
rhythm /duration and pitch in various world musical cultures.7 Jay Rahn, l.ioc< -aJ. J. J_J.--,, ·- ·---+l-
to emphasize their origins in dance, and emphasize that dance feet are 1,;"' I rtwW-J----,,~·
__ J · · -r>'-1.
-- Main beats
usually regular rather than irregular (Africans have only two feet!). "Poly- u ..e2 l~~ J~)l J __JLL . _j_-+-- Adowa time line
Example 4-1 presents eight popular time lines (labelled A to H) to illus- u..,, ~f&P-
-·•__j_ __
3§_ ···- ·.···- Main beats/First bell pattern
trate some structural features. (Although chosen in this instance from var- Lmc2 . _____ -- ~ -- Second bell pattern
ious Ghanaian repertoires, a number of them are found elsewhere. 10 ) Each li,c) 1-~_fl] ··• -~- Gabada time line
representation gives the main beats followed by the note pattern constitut-
ing the time line; notational variants are given where appropriate. A is the
0 J. 112
so-called standard pattern associated with southern Ewe music and typi-
cally heard as a bell pattern in dances like Agbadza, Agbekor, and Adzida 1,;,,,1 ~E~~_fi-LL~" ""'"""
~
I
Lim:2 l· Gahutimeline
(line 2). It has four main beats shown as dotted quarters in 12/8 meter or
cycle (line 1). Out of its seven attack points, only two (attack points 1 and
Uo,d , • · . . • ~- J J notationa l variant
6) coincide with main beats ( 1 and 4). The pattern has a latent off-beat feel @ j. · n•
and an extensive anacrusis that confers on it a strong, forward-pointing 1,;,,, 1 ff0'if J J J__J 1 Main beats
dynamic. Also shown at A are alternative ways of notating the standard
pattern (lines 3 and 4). Line 5 gives a closely related topos found among the
t.iuc2 ti• 11J .J J __)_J_j .!_.~ fvtmensoun time line
Yoruba; in fact, lines 4 and 5 are so close that they may be .regarded as vari- ®
ants of one another. Their difference lies in the "exchange" of durational u ..,, ~~;
values of the last two attack points, 6 and 7. The Ewe and Yoruba patterns l.i11c2 ~)
Topos Bis associated with a popular Ga dance, Kpanlogo (line 2), but points 4 and 5 of the topos). This topos, too, has the same boundaries as the
has a very wide provenance. Like A, it has four main beats (given as quarter 12/8 measure, and it is an indication of its relative rhythmic consonance
notes in line 1) and only two moments of coincidence between main beats that it has six attack points. Finally, the topos given at H is listed by Nketia
and the pattern itself. B has a total of five attack points. Two notational simply as a time line. 12 Like E, its two halves are identical. Each half has
variants betraying an additive conception are shown in lines 3 and 4. Topos three attack points only one of which-the second-coincides with a main
C displays two cycles of the highlife time line (line 2). This popular pattern beat articulation. And like D, it originates from ah offbeat.
is notable for its extensive offbeat or anacrusic pattern that discharges into Another way of conceptualizing patterns C, D, and His as a nonalign -
a silence or assumed beat on each successive downbeat. Here, none of the ment between metrical structure and grouping structure. David Temper-
three attack points coincides with a main beat making for a very mobile, ley, drawing on Lerdahl and Jackendoff's Generative Theory of Tonal Music
forward-pointing, and uplifting feel. There are, however, variants of the (1983 ), clarifies this basic aspect of African rhythm. 13 Where meter func-
highlife topos, such as that shown in line 3 of C, which includes at least one tions as a constant but dynamic framework, grouping structure arises from
point of common articulation (the downbeat) between main beat and specific forms of articulation determined by motivic structure, rests, and
time line. Note that if the highlife pattern is reckoned from its first sound cadences . It is important to note, however, that oftentimes silences are an
then it is properly understood as originating on the third eighth-note of important part of groups in African music, that a silence is not an absence
each 4/4 bar and terminating in the comparable place in the next bar. of sound but an intentional placement of silence as a substitute for sound.
Thus, unlike patterns A and B, which are isomorphic with the metrical Thus the alternative version of the highlife topos 3, for example, includes
cycle, C features a surface displacement. sound on the downbeat, while the main version shown does not.
Something of this displacement is evident in D, the topos of the Akan The morphology of a topos should never be divorced from its main
Adowa dance. In the version written here, the Adowa topos has five attack beats and the referential cycle. Taking such a holistic view allows one to ap-
points of which two (points 3 and 5) coincide with a main beat. Like A and, preciate the degree of embeddedness of the time line function in a drum
especially, C, pattern Dis overshadowed by a long anacrusis that discharges ensemble. Indeed, in ensembles that do not feature a clear timbral distinc-
not into a silence (as in C) but into a strongly articulated downbeat. Line 3 tion betwee·n time line and other instrumental functions, the topos may re-
of E shows two cycles of the topos of Gabada, a popular northern Ewe main implicit in what is played rather than made explicit. But it is no less
dance. It, too, has five attack points. Like B, its cycle may be accommodated important or functional for being an emergent or resultant pattern. It is, in
within the confines of a single measure. And of the four eighth-note main short, the combination of the sounded and unsounded that gives a time
beats, the first and last coincide with articulations in the pattern. (Also line its meaning. If you ignore the role of the unsounded, you may miss the
shown in E are two other bell patterns that are heard with the topos. Line 1 orientation provided by the choreographic rhythm. You might then be led
marks the main beats while line 2 subdivides them into eighth notes. Lines to think that the first sound you hear marks the beginning of a metrical
1 and 2 thus reinforce the basic pulse. Which is why line 3, with its distinct cycle, that relatively longer durations indicate downbeats, or that down-
shape, is designated the time line.) beats must be "filled" with sound rather than silence.
Fis the topos for Gahu, another popular Southern Ewe dance, in the ver- Example 4-2 hypothesizes a generative process for the highlife topos ( C
sion studied by David Locke. 11 Like B, D, and E, Fhas five attack points, but in Example 4- 1) to show its conceptual origins in the dance feet that mark
it is most like D in achieving coincidence with a main beat once, this time, main beats. We start with the four main beats ( 1), suppress the downbeat
however, at the beginning of the pattern. Like A, B, and E, its pattern is (2), subdivide the remaining beats (3), and finally suppress the on-beats,
coterminous with the metrical cycle. leaving three off-beats (4). The reason for beginning with the main beats is
The topos shown at G identifies the music of elephant horn ensembles of to ensure that interpretation is grounded in the choreographic supple-
the Akan known as Mmensoun. Like A and D, it is written in 12/8 to accom - ment, here a straightforward foot movement, perhaps alternating left and
modate four main dotted-quarter beats. Its first two beats are "crossed' with right, and coinciding with the four main beats. And the thought behind
the main beats to produce a familiar cross rhythm, the two-against-three the suppression of beats is to introduce an element of play. The idea of
feel said to be characteristic of African music as a whole, while its third and knowing where the beat is but articulating it as a silence is part of an aes-
fourth main beats are reinforced by the articulation of the topos pattern, the thetic of play found in numerous African communities. The generative
only difference being the subarticulation of the third main beat (attack process shown in Example 4-2 is thus consonant with indigenous habits of
78 • Representing African Music Polymeter, Additive Rhythm , and Other Enduring Myths • 79
Step l: Establish 4/4 metrical cycle t j j j j II timpani, it need not be; it can be inferred from the confluence of rhythms.
Nor do we take the nonalignment between grouping and meter in Brahms
Step 2: Suppress the downbeat t , j j j II as a sign of metric change on a deep level. In this sense, African music
Step 3: Subdivide remaining beats t , n n n II shares with European music (and indeed much other music) a conceptual
space describable in terms of a hidden background and a manifest fore-
Step 4: Suppress the on-beats t , j) j) JJII
'I 'I 'I ground. It is somewhat amusing, then, to find commentators hailing
Richard Waterman's notion of "metronome sense" as a breakthrough in
the quest for understanding African rhythm. 16 Could African musicians
Example4-2 Generating the highlife time (pattern C, line 2 of Ex. 4-1) have been relying upon anything else all these centuries? Why is the idea of
a regular pulsation , the sine qua non of much of the world's music, not
rhythmic organization, even if it is never framed as such. Other topoi may taken for granted when it comes to Africa?
be similarly generated. Generating topoi in this fashion is of course a spec-
ulative exercise, but it has the advantage of inciting the analyst to modest Polymeter
acts of composition and thereby reinforcing the dialectical stance that fa- Polymeter is the simultaneous use of more than one meter in an ensemble
cilitates understanding of African rhythm. composition. Each functional component of the texture, be it an instru-
The basis for correct interpretation, then, is the background against ment or a group , is said to expose a distinct rhythmic pattern within its
which a different, more complex pattern is sounded. By background I own metrical frame, apparently without any obvious regard for a larger co-
mean an enabling structure, a simpler, regulating pattern that makes possi - ordinating mechanism. Constituent meters do not collapse into each other
ble the accentual and durational patterns that constitute a particular topos. or into a larger meter, but persist into the background, creating a kind of
The background provides the condition of possibility for the time line. It is metric dissonance or metric polyphony. Philosophically, polymeter in-
tempting to describe this feature as an at-least -two view, echoing a remark dexes coexistence , not (necessarily) cooperation. 17
by A. M. Jones that Chernoff and others have repeated frequently, that "in Example 4-3 is a typical polymetric texture taken from the "apostle of
African music there is practically always a clash of rhythms: this is a cardi- African polymeter;' A. M. Jones. 18 The eight layers represent different in-
nal principle." 14 "Clash and conflict" are antithetical to African traditional struments as indicated. Layers 1 and 2 feature the bell and rattle in 12/ 8, the
philosophy, which is more likely to be communal and cooperative. 15 usual meter for Anlo -Ewe dances such as Nyayito, Agbadza, At siagbekor,
African musicians play with competing accents in order to enhance plea- Kpegisu, and others. Layer 3, hand claps, is also transcribed in 12/8, but no -
sure, delight the ear, and stimulate spiritual renewal. Such flights are pos - tice that it begins its cycle on the third dotted quarter of the previous layers'
sible only as temporary, imagined, or simulated departures from solid pattern. Layer 4, the song, is not given a time signature, but on the basis of
ground. Jones's bar lines, we can assign a succession of shifting meters: 7/8, 4/8 (or
It should be obvious that the phenomenon we are discussing- of a 2/4), 6/8, 4/8 (or 2/4) again, 3/8, and finally two bars of 6/ 8 or 3/4. Layer 5,
foreground at variance with its enabling background, or, in Temperley's the so-called master drum, begins with two bars of 5/8 before going else-
terms, a non -alignment between grouping and metrical structure - is where, while the support drums in layers 6 and 7 are in 6/ 8. Finally, the last
characteristic of a great deal of European music, even if the gap between of the support drums is given a 3/8 time signature. When the entire ensem -
levels is smaller than that in some African compositions. Yet, we do not ble is together in the last bar of the transcription (Jones's bar 6), you have at
normally identify a "clash and conflict of rhythms" in the gavottes from J. least four meters unfolding simultaneously: 12/8, 6/8, 5/8, and 3/8. We are
S. Bach's keyboard suites, or in the opening theme of Mozart's 40th Sym- asked, in other words , to imagine a master drummer playing in 5/8 while
phony, or in the scherzo movement of Beethoven's early String Quartet, the guy next to him plays in 6/8, and the one next to them in 3/8. Mean-
opus 18 no. 6. Nor do we invent a new vocabulary to account for the open - while the singer is in 6/ 8 or 3/4 while the bell and rattle are in 12/8 or 6/8.
ing bars of Mozart's D minor Concerto, K. 466, where, in order to render
the alla zoppa or limping style topic, the performer needs to have recourse Polyrhythmversuspolymeter
to a pattern of regular pulsation: a background or choreographic supple - It is important to distinguish between polyrhythm and polymeter.
ment, in our terms. Although this particular background is sounded by the Polyrhythm is generally understood as the simultaneous use of two or
80 • Representing African Music Polymeter, Additive Rhythm, and Other Enduring Myths • 81
,.,Hel l
MASTER PAnERN A
,,.---- r ,--,
-,
ko ko-ko - ko - ko
o, i o_n_n_n I
- t)
Rattle
Clans
-
<~<:X!)(:><:)
- -: pa
K:igonu
pa-ti - pa - ti - pa - ti - pa
- - - - Begin
..Sons
G)
----- ( !) : < ~G)
-
. ..
:(~(!)
, ••
_,
' ko-tn ka-ta ka-ta ka-la
t)
ku do,
I,,,'
ha-JC ya
____,I
he-ce,
-....i
mio-wo 10-ba.ho 7.U
TI~, ve-~ziadc dz.ade 'nyi me
Kidi
r 1 i1 n-n I I
Master dru m
= - '
·-- :I
4
rr
f JCD
I I I
not 7
Support drum de de
Lc_ad
___ E_:n~ 13:g
_;" _ __ __ ~- -,
: V
Supoort drum
Kl • Ji .J not 1r r
<legc galen to lo
KA - GAi) KAGAIJ
Inventingpolymeter:ReadingMerriam reading Word This is a far cry from what Ward wrote. Ward spoke of different rhythms in
One source of the idea that African music is polymetric is the inflected combination, not different meters. Nor did Ward claim that four, three,
transmission of ideas. We cannot review all of this scholarship here, so a and five beats were played "over the same span of time." He wrote, rather,
single example will have to suffice. Alan P. Merriam, never guilty of shun - that two, three, or "as many as four" rhythms may unfold simultaneously
ning previous scholarship, provided the following statement about poly- in a piece of African music. The extension of Ward's maximum hypotheti-
meter or "multiple meter": cal number from an even four to an odd number five may be a harmless
slip in the interest of rhetorical emphasis. But the introduction of the no-
[a]lmost all students agree upon the fundamental importance of tion of time span as a quantitative measure takes us into a different realm
rhythm in African music as well as upon the fact that this rhythmic altogether. Indeed, Merriam elsewhere was so determined to establish an
basis is frequently expressed by the simultaneous use of two or more African difference on the topic of time that he failed to see that the simple
meters. The organizing principles upon which multiple meter is distinction between the West's linear time and Africa's circular time repre -
based, however, are not agreed upon . Ward notes one drum playing sented a gross distortion of both realities. 27
a basically unvarying beat; Hornbostel sees the organization in On the matter of the metrical background, Ward had correctly sensed
terms of motor behavior which is the opposite of the Western con- that ensemble rhythms depend on something simpler, a duple rhythm:
cept; Waterman postulates the concept of the metronome sense;
and Jones makes the point of lack of coincidence of the main beats. This [duple ] deep booming regular beat is the fundamental beat of
While these specific details remain to be worked out, the consensus the piece, and sets the time for all the other rhythms and instru -
about the use of multiple meter is so strong as to remain unquestioned ments. The other rhythms may have no possible similarity to it and
as the basis for African rhythm .24(emphasis added) no connection whatever, but on the first beat of the big drum all
must coincide .28
This is a remarkably strong endorsement of a principle whose "specific Could one have been more explicit about the regulative and integral
details remain to be worked out." I would have thought that the normal role of the so-called big drum? Doesn't Ward's statement suggest
procedure would be to specify at least the basic "specific details" before polyrhythm rather than polymeter? And, in any case, is there not some-
announcing that the principle "remain [s) unquestioned as the basis for thing contradictory ,between Ward's claim, on the one hand, that he sees no
African rhythm ." Are different standards at work here? Imagine making a similarity or connection between other rhythms and that of the big drum,
claim like that for European music! and, on the other, that the other rhythms must coincide or connect with
Merriam, it should be said, did valuable service by periodically summa - the big drum "on the first beat"? Perhaps Ward himself was not clear on
rizing the results of other people's research, but he was not always a vigi- this point. The right thing would have been for Merriam to convey some of
lant or disinterested reader. Look, for example, at the way he uses Ward that confusion.
to invent "polymeter" for West African music. "Broadly speaking;' Ward Merriam then reproduces Ward's carefully worked out musical example
wrote, "the difference between African and European rhythms is that in which the beats are correctly aligned with no hint of polymeter . Com -
whereas any piece of European music has at any one moment one rhythm menting on it, he sneaks in two words that Ward never wrote, enclosing
in common, a piece of African music has always two or three, sometimes as them in parenthesis: "The following example illustrates both the diversity
many as four."25Ward the musician had sensed correctly that the music he of rhythm (and meters) and the organizing beat of the big drum." 29The
heard in the Gold Coast during the 1920s was polyrhythmic. But observe parenthesis enclosing "and meters" says it all. Against all the evidence and
the way Merriam the anthropologist glosses this quote: Ward's careful if not always accurate description, Merriam seemed deter-
mined to infer polymeter from the earlier writer's study. So he invented it.
This principle [as described by Ward ] is not to be confused with a Slippage and cognitive failures of this kind might be overlooked - in-
simple elaboration of a single basic meter; different meters are used deed, you might accuse me of making too mu ch of an innocent parenthe-
in combination so that while one drum is playing four beats, a sec- sis- were it not for the fact that polymeter and associated concepts are
ond is playing three, a third, five and so forth, over the same span of found repeatedly in reference articles, some of which may have mistaken
time. 26 Merriam's fantasies for an accurate report. To mention just two: Klaus
84 • RepresentingAfrican Music Polymeter, Additive Rhythm, and Other EnduringMyths • 85
Wachsmann and Peter Cooke, in the article on "Africa" for the New Grove African music insofar as it erases the essential tension between a firm and
Dictionary, quote Merriam's statement that the use of multiple meter "re- stable background and a fluid foreground. 35
main [s] unquestioned as the basis of African rhythm;' describing it as "an I am not, of course, the first to raise questions about polymeter. Kolin-
excellent short-cut to comparing various views about African rhythm." 30 A ski, Arom, Anku, and Nzewi, among others, have either cast doubt upon it,
short-cut it certainly is, but excellent it is not, because, as I have suggested, or rejected it outright. In a 1973 article describing rhythmic procedure in
the transmission of Ward alone is fraught with problems. Similarly, Helen European and African music, Kolinski records that he "came to realize that
Myers, relying heavily on Jones for an article on African music for the New a performer or listener is not capable of a truly polymetric perception."
Oxford Companion to Music, reproduces every one of the contentious con- Arom endorses Kolinski's terms "commetric" and "contrametric" while
cepts-the myths - with which this chapter is concerned. 31 similarly rejecting the analytical relevance of polymeter:
sensitivity to "musical" features. Rather, the reception of theories has I. Notation implying syncopa tion "" '"divisive" concc p1io11
everything to do with their narrative potential. By inciting certain acts of J . 112
bJ S JP I
hoo
>
hoo
the particular theory. And those behaviors are, in turn, determined ~y cer-
'g''
tain preconceptions, presuppositions, and prejudices. On the ~ubJec~of 2. Notolion showing hcmiolic conten t .... "odditive" conccplion
polymeter and African rhythm in general, ~uropean _invest~e~t m a~ ide- Ji- = A-,so > >
ology of difference so powerfully constrams what 1s ordmarily beheve~
mf
HI jj; ffl fi . EAJj j Bl ii n,1ffl,,Ji]g l__Ji'
b . .
that, no matter what and how powerful the evidence is-and there 1s Metric success ion:
c-mo ro.-mo re-n 1111
g o-ro-110 bu.v-d 1 wo 1-z 1 yo-w:i hoo hoo
~ f J.
Ewe
Line 1 I "Divisive" qeka
Twi
baako
Siwu
iwe
English
one
eve abien iny::, two
et3 abiesii it£ three
ene anan ma four
Line2 ~fJ J I "Additive" at3 anum iru five
ade asiii iku::, six
adre aS:JI) ibdz£ seven
Example 4-6 Two different notations of a common rhythmic figure enyi aw:Jtwe friifana eight
asieke akron bwe nine
ewo qu iweo ten
wuiqek£ qubaako iweoiwe eleven
of smaller values; its well-formedness as minimal unit arises purely con- wuieve clumien iweoiny:-, twelve
textually. From a divisive point of view, however, the pattern subtends a
parallel quarter -note articulation that marks the main beats. The pattern is In teaching the 3+3+2 pattern, an English speaker would repeat: one-
normally heard and felt with this background in mind, never without it. Its two-three-one-two-three-one-two several times. But try saying the Ewe
perceived well-formedness is owing to the presence of a palpable back- equivalent: qeka-eve-et:-,-qeka-eve-et:-,-qeka-eve, and you will see that it
ground. works less well. The excess of syllables in the Ewe version produces an awk-
Although the difference between the two ways of notating this rhythm wardness that undermines its likelihood as a reflection of indigenous ped-
may seem small, they stem from fundamentally different conceptions. agogy. And it is for reasons like this that the entire durational-quantitative
Those who wish to convey a sense of the pattern's background, and who approach to African rhythm needs to be rethought.
understand the surface morphology in relation to a regular subsurface ar- The absence of a counting culture is not, of course, a strong enough rea-
ticulation, will prefer the divisive format. Those who imagine the addition son to reject additive rhythm altogether. Theory involves negotiation, it
of three, then three, then two sixteenth notes will treat the well-formedness may or may not take its cues from indigenous conceptions, and it appeals
of 3+ 3+ 2 as fortuitous, a product of grouping rather than of metrical to different orders of authority, among them the divine or mystical, the
structure . They will be tempted to deny that African music has a bona fide logical, empirical, or rhetorical. So if some people find helpful the distinc-
metrical structure because of its frequent departures from a normative tion between additive and divisive rhythm, we must not, in principle, de-
grouping structure. prive them of such a hermeneutic window . Only the outcome will provide
One reason to be wary of the notion of additive rhythm is that African justification for the course taken. While such a counter argument is plausi-
musicians do not normally conceive of the patterns they play additively. ble, it must nevertheless give us pause if a method that is supposedly "the
For the theorist , this absence is advisory rather than determining, because hallmark of rhythmic organization in African music" (my emphasis) not
it is possible that indigenous structural conceptions-if one is patient only finds absolutely no practical corroboration in, but in some respects
enough to get at them-are entirely compatible with the quantitative ori- runs contrary to, the ways in which composer-performers and active lis-
entation of European discourse. Still, one must wonder about the ade- teners understand and interpret the resultant patterns.
quacy of durationally oriented descriptions like 3+2+4+1+2, 5+7, or Brandeland Nketia on additive rhythm
3+4+5 of patterns whose material mode of articulation on bells, rattles,
In her 1961 book, Music of Central Africa, Rose Brandel explains rhythmic
and drums cannot possibly lay great store by sustained notes. More impor-
structure in terms of hemiolas and additive processes. As Example 4-5
tant, the syllabic structure of counting words in numerous indigenous
African languages does not facilitate the kind of beat counting that would showed, and as the following quotation will further attest, Brandel explic-
itly rejects the notion of syncopation within regular time spans:
support 3+3+2 as a basic pedagogical mode. In the Ghanaian languages
Ewe, Twi (Akwapim dialect), and Siwu, for instance, one, two, three, four, African hemiola rhythms could be misinterpreted as being synco-
five, and six are two-syllable words, not one-syllable words as in English; pated . Should a notation within a symmetric context showing a
eleven and twelve are three - or four-syllable words: basic undercurrent of regular beats be utilized, the stressed offbeat
90 • Representing African Music Polymeter, Additive Rhythm, and other Enduring Myths • 91
would make its appearance .... The subsuming of an independent, crossed with the main beats, but only in its second half, not the first. And
asymmetric line under a "counter" line of regularity, however, line 3 reverses the pattern in 2 but suppresses the previous subdivided dot-
would be a falsification of the rhythmic intent of the music. ted-quarters. Patterns 4, 5, and 6 are versions of the standard pattern. Al-
Brandel was surely right to broach the matter of"the rhythmic intent of though it is not grouped as such, 4 may be represented as 2+2+3+2+3.
the mus~c" but she s~ei:nsto have overlooked the choreographic compo- Lines 5 and 6 at this level would be 2+2+1+2+2+2+1 and 2+2+1+
nent entuely. Transcnbmg mainly from published LP records, she did not 2+2+ 1+2, respectively. On a higher hierarchic level, Nketia indicates a 7+5
always have the benefit of seeing the music and hearing the dance. And al- grouping for 5 and 6.
though she was alert to the preponderance of so-called hemiolas (or suc- Why is the pattern at 5 grouped as 7+5? As a matter of principle, no
cessive and simultaneous cross rhythms), her decision to represent Central competent hearing of this pattern ever ignores the main beats, which are
African rhythmic patterns not within the constraints of a recurring metri- four dotted quarters in 12/8. The standard pattern makes sense therefore as
cal cycle but by placing a bar line before any perceived accent produced a figure against a ground. But nothing about the ground sanctions a 7+5
some unfortunate results. Brandel's Stravinsky-style scores confer an envi- segmentation, because once you take the main beats into account, you are
able complexity on ordinary African dance music, but they do not reflect more likely to interpret the pattern as syncopated, as heard against a regu-
the way African musicians conceive of their music. A Mangbetu woman lar accentuation. There is, then, something mechanical about Nketia's 7+5.
dancing to the music of Example 4-5 is unlikely to think in terms of 3/8 His segmentation arises from treating the pattern in isolation, focusing on
followed by 5/16 followed by6/16, then 7/16 then 3/8. the morphology of the pattern without the ecology that sustains it. But if
Unlike Brandel, Nketia confines his demonstration of additive rhythms to you accept the theoretical legitimacy of such treatment, then the door is
pat~er~swithin a_1_2/8measure, not to successive metrical groups. The impli- open to other segmentations. Why not 5+7, 2+10, 4+1+6+1, 2+3+4+3,
cation is that additive rhythm is operative at this local level of structure, not at 2+7+ 3, each of them equally valid? In order to justify an additive concep-
a larger level. But there are two problems with Nketia's demonstration. First is tion, one must be explicit about one's criteria for segmentation. And those
the abstract rather than concrete nature of the discussion; second is the ab- criteria should be culturally pertinent. Neither Nketia nor Brandel dwells
sence of culturally pertinent criteria for segmenting a given rhythmic pattern. on criteria for segmentation that originate from within the culture. Per-
Example 4~7 ~eproduces Nketia's analysis of the so-called standard pat- haps it is not possible to be forthcoming when the procedure itself is so
tern. Heard withm a 12/8 meter, the pattern shown at 1, consisting entirely questionable in the first place.
of quarter notes, produces cross rhythms. In line 2 the pattern is also
CrossRhythm
Consider another basic device in the organization of African rhythm, so-
OJ J J J J j called cross rhythm. Typically, two differentiated rhythmic patterns (Ex-
ample 4-8, lines 1 and 2) unfold within the same time span but articulate
2 OJ .b j .b J j j
3
5
OJ
Oj
Oj
2 +
j
J
J
2
7
+
7
J
3
j.
.b j
J+
+
2
j
T
j -·
+
5
j
j.
3
J
-.b
Line 1 R.H.
Line 2 L.H.
eJ_3.
~
J J
J
J
6 oj J .b j .b j
Line 3 Resultant ~J JJ JJ J
Example 4-7 Nketia's demonstration of additive patterns in "triple rhythm"
(1974:132) Example 4-8 "Cross Rhythm"
92 • RepresentingAfrican Music Polymeter,Additive Rhythm, and Other EnduringMyths • 93
that space differently, at cross purposes, perhaps. According to the stan- tion. Thus the different characters, energies and qualities of the
dard explanation, the African musician beats two equal beats in one hand mutually relating entities are preserved .46
(line 1) and three equal beats in the other (line 2) within the same time
span, as Merriam would say. This would imply a low-level bi-metric orga- Drummer, dancer, and theorist C. K. Ladzekpo, who speaks of "the
nization: left hand in 6/8 and right hand in 3/4. myth of cross rhythm" in his foundation course on African drumming, ex-
This extraordinary explanation is so much a part of the lore on African plains the technique with respect to "composite rhythm":
rhythm that it would seem almost perverse to question it. Yet one must ask A cross rhythm consists of a main beat scheme (a purpose in life)
whether African musicians really think of a span of time that they divide and a secondary beat scheme (a perceived obstacle) . Each beat
up by 2s or 3s and fill simultaneously. This seems unlikely. Because the two scheme has a significance and function in making up the distinct
rhythms unfold together, articulation of one pattern presupposes the cross rhythmic texture. In performance, a cross rhythm becomes a
other. Therefore the resultant rhythm (line 3 of Example 4-8) holds the key composite unit by combining the contrasting beat schemes into a
to understanding. The resultant is in fact a straightforward 6/8 pattern. So one line resultant rhythm or motif that recurs throughout the mea-
when people say that they are performing this particular cross rhythm, sure schemes as a unifying element. By the very nature of the de-
they mean that they are performing in 6/8, not in 6/8 and 3/4 simultane- sired resultant, the main beat scheme cannot be separated from the
ously! It is true that the resultant is articulated with timbral distinction be- secondary beat scheme. It is the interplay of the two elements that
tween left and right hands, and that looking at what the hands play produces the cross rhythmic texture.47
separately may encourage thinking in terms of independent articulations.
But there is no independence here, because 2 and 3 belong to a single Thus Nzewi conveys the internal dynamism of the interacting parts
Gestalt. while Ladzekpo insists on a hierarchic explanation. Both authors imply
As before, we ought to acknowledge the thoughts of other African musi- that the threat to a correct explanation comes from rampant atomisation
cians on the idea of cross rhythm. Meki Nzewi takes a philosophical ap- of what is in effect a holistic practice.
proach that admits dependence as well as independence within the pattern
as analogous to larger social transactions:
AdditiveRhythmin VocalMusic
[The term "cross rhythm"] is antithetical to African social and, If additive rhythm is problematic when applied to instrumental music,
therefore, ensemble philosophy. A community/family/team does might it fare better in the analysis of vocal music? After all, given the con-
not work together at cross purposes. This musical structure [three sistent and natural asymmetries of speech rhythm, the accumulation of
quarters against two dotted quarters], which has depth essence, de- minimal units determined by syllabic accretion, and the placement of
rives from the African philosophy of interdependence in human re- meaningful breath marks, it is not hard to imagine additive groupings. In-
lationships. Personal/group identity and strength develop through deed, in Sachs's distinction between additive and divisive, additive points
structures of physical and emotional tension and catharsis. Motive to rhythms based in language and emanating from speech while divisive
as well as emotive suspense is generated when two moving entities points to rhythms of the body expressed in dance.
which are at the point of colliding with each other unexpectedly A wide range of temporalities is domesticated in African song, but one
veer off. A bounce-off affect is generated [Nzewi supplies a dia- enduring distinction, indeed one that is well-nigh universal, is that be-
gram] . The entities in missed-collision retain their individuality as tween unmeasured and measured song, between free and strict rhythm, or
well as motive or emotive energies/directions. When anticipations for certain readers, between something like secco recitative and aria. My
that develop in a motive or emotive relationship are not resolved or interest here is in the measured or strict type. In general, the prosody of
neutralised by actual contact, there is energy tension, a suspension. African songs of this type (syllabic count, speech tone contour, accentual
But a merger, subsumption or submersion of independence is scheme, and occasional rhyming effects) tends to be absorbed by the pat-
avoided . In some African societies the bride price is never settled in terns implicit in hand claps, drumming, and dance. To say that the metrical
full; in love relationships there is more emotional intensity when structure of a song is most decisively articulated in such "extra-song" com-
resolution is not attained through marriage or physical consumma- ponents may seem to devalue the internal structure of the sung elements,
94 • Representing African Music Polymeter, Additive Rhythm, and Other Enduring Myths • 95
the song proper. But we must be careful not to impose an inappropriate mechanism for those transcribers who either disregard the choreography
ontological scheme on African song. Because there is no song proper with- or fail to accord it foundational status. As a quantitative or durationally
out a sense of associated movement, deferring to extra -song components oriented concept, it finds no corroboration in other ordering procedures
is entirely appropriate. in African music. It is, in short, a myth.
A. M. Jones was confronted with this issue, and he worked out a solu-
tion that reflects compromise. Having understood from his informant
Desmond Tay that the hand claps and feet movement that accompanied Conclusion
play songs, for example, proceeded in a regular pattern - what Brandel If polymeter, additive rhythm, and cross rhythm are as problematic as I
calls "a basic undercurrent of regular beats" - Jones sought to reconcile the claim they are, why have they persisted in the literature? These modes of
obviously shifting accents of sung words with the nonshifting choreo - representing African rhythm are not isolated cases but part of a broader set
graphic accents. Transcribing the Southern Ewe song "Ta av:, na legba" of imaginings and constructions of Africa. They marked by the epistemo-
("Clothe the idol"), Jones put the dance and feet movement (the extra- logical or perhaps cognitive constant that Edward Said has described as a
song components) in a straightforward 6/8 meter, thus signaling a divisive discourse of "orientalism." 5 1 One could therefore postulate a parallel dis-
interpretation. 48 For the sung part, however, he opted for an additive con - course of"Africanism" were it not for the fact that the word "Africanism" is
ception whereby the singer begins with four bars of 6/8 followed by 3 of already spoken for in writings by Herskovits and others as indicator of
3/4, one each of 6/8, 3/4, and 6/8 again, and finally two bars of silence refer- those nuggets of African cultural identity that survive in the New World .52
able presumably to the last active meter, which was 6/ 8. Jones, unlike some Alternatively, we could describe polymeter and additive rhythm as inven-
other transcribers, was sensitive to the placement of word accents, but he tions or myths, that is, power -based constructions of knowledge motivated
erred in using the bar line to mark such accents . His transcription reflects in part by a search for self through imagined differences . Such construc -
an understandable compromise between extrasong elements in divisive tions often betray the inventor's conscious or-more likely-subconscious
rhythm and song elements in additive rhythm. But this sort of compro- desire for the people represented. 53
mise is weak, because it betrays a refusal to choose. Additive and divisive There is, though, something a little facile, not to say merely fashionable,
are not equal forces engaged in battle. The background is controlled by the about invoking constructs like "orientalism" and "invention ." You could
divisive structure; additive, you might say, makes a lot of noise on the fore- argue that these sorts of error arise not from a peculiar cognitive disposi-
ground. tion but simply from inadequate research: insufficient ethnographic data,
We may compare Jones's transcription to two others. One by Hans - wrong inferences, disregard for indigenous conceptions, hasty conclu-
Heinrich Wangler shows a spoken as well as sung version of the Ewe text. 49 sions, and so on. And you might remind us that these same errors occur in
The sung version is grouped additively as three bars of 3/4, one of 4/4, and other areas of musicological research: in Renaissance historiography, in
one last of 3/4. Since "Ta av:, na legba" usually accompanies or is accompa - music analysis, or in nineteenth-century studies. So, you would conclude,
nied by dance -drumming, it is not clear what Wangler means to commu- there is nothing unique about the African situation as presented here.
nicate by suppressing the extrasong components. Like Jones, Wangler's But therein lies the root of the problem: the denial of nonuniqueness to
framework for the sung part is additive, but unlike Jones, he seemed to Africa. To imply that no portrayal of Africa is legitimate, complete, or of
have been guided neither by the sequence of word accents nor by the silent interest if it does not establish an ultimate African difference is to saddle
choreography . Africa with an enormous critical burden. And yet this seems to be the
A third transcription appears in Nketia's The Music of Africa and is writ- premise (not always acknowledged and therefore rarely elaborated) with
ten in a single 6/8 meter throughout, the thought being that such a grid which many ethnomusicologists work. Unlike European music, which is
provides the ground against which word accentuation may emerge; not ostensibly unmarked, belonging on a sort of zero level of conceptualiza -
only structurally but within individual performances. Here, rhythm is un- tion, African music is marked, different, Other .
derstood as resolutely divisive, not additive. 50 A fuller exploration of difference will be found in chapter 8, and, al-
Additive rhythm, in short, is a highly problematic concept for African though my own position boils down to a profound mistrust of difference,
music. Like polymeter and cross rhythm, it is not in sync with indigenous the issue is not productively framed as pro or contra. It rather lies in the in-
conceptions of musical structure. It arises as a kind of default grouping terstices between difference and sameness, in the effort to mediate between
96 • RepresentingAfrican Music