congaplace.com

Can someone tell me what this rhythm is ( toward the end on conga ) I heard it a million times and never looked into it. If I can get the notation then even better. Thanks in advance...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTPhZOMu8oA

It looks like ad lib to me. It appears to alternate from a part for an obscure conga drum adaptation of iyesa to the a caballo tumbao.
-David

Its a good mix there but the last one it's apear to be merengue.

I learned a brazilian Ijexa/ iyesa rythm very similar to what is played . in this video it has a slight different swing leaning to merenge but it is a ijexa rythm .

Hi

It looks like "home made" to me. It looks like some kind of rythm you find in the French West Indies. The same you find in Zouk music for exemple.

B

I gotta say after playing merengue on one conga just experimenting a while back I went back to this and picked it up quick. I've heard that what is played in merengue with congas is related to the a caballo rhythm like David Penalosa pointed out so it makes sense. The guy playing has a Cuban accent so I dont think he would be playing soca or Brazilian music (pure speculation ). Looking at it now I'm guessing it is based on the a caballo rhythm.

The main groove of the acaballo rhythm is exactly the same as the Rumpi ( conga ) groove in ijexa / afoxe in brazil .

In Brasil it is Ijexa no doubt. (or close enough)

I believe the rhythm is called Iyesa..."JC" Johnny Conga

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

leedy2 wrote:Hey Johnny
How are you doing that is one of the many Puerto Rican bomba rhythm and the melody the violin is play is a bomba record back in 50's by one of Puerto Rico greats singers called Canario and the name of tune is ( YO LA VIE) this was a very popular song back then.By the way this is not the Dominican Canario Jose Alberto The guy in video look's so high does not even know what he is doing.

The melody is a santeria song for elegua and the rhythm is some sort of Iyesa groove .

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

Hi Leedy2 , im not for one minute suggesting you are wrong but i % 100 promise you this is one of many many songs for elegua . I know the song well and have sung it many times and actually learned the song in havana .I imagine the bomba artist who you refer to used the melody for his bomba tune . There are lots of people on here who will also know the melody well especially Thomas altmann who included the chant in his book " cantos pa los orichas " .

Elegua , Elegua Aso kere kere me ye , Elegua, Elegua , Alároyé ki ‘la ‘bo ‘che .

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

Leedy2, I agree completely with what you are saying about groups ripping off songs from others and making hits. This kind of injustice happens all the time, from folk blues to rock & roll, and from rumba to salsa. The original creators of rumbas like Gonzalo Ascencio "Tio Ton", and many even less widely known, often got zero credit and zero royalties, while the salsa bands that sold thousands of records at least got paid something. It is often the Cuban rumberos getting ripped off because they have no international lawyers who can defend them in lawsuits outside of Cuba.
That said, "A Nueva York" by Justi Barretto is a completely different song from "Un Verano en Nueva York" by EGC. I think Justi Barretto was a great rumbero and rumba composer, but I don't understand how a court of law could have established his claim that Un Verano en Nueva York was the same song as A Nueva York. I have to listen to it again, it has been a few years, EGC may have used a few of the lyrics, but one of their styles is to make jokes in their songs responding to other bands' songs. For example, after Ruben Blades' "El Telefono" about a groupie stalking him by phone, EGC came out with a song that starts with the phone ringing just like Ruben's song, then "... con quien? con Ruben??? No. Esto no es Ruben, es El Gran Combo". Cracked me up when I first heard it, and definitely not a ripoff of Ruben's song. Using religious rhythms and songs in popular music happens all the time also, although religious songs are generally public domain and there is no copyright involved. You are probably right that the song on the YouTube video, supposedly to Eleggua, sounds like a bomba recorded in the 1950s by Canario. Lots of bombas and rumbas use bits and pieces of religious rhythms and songs and change the words, and it would not surprise me at all if Canario based the melody of his song on a song to Eleggua. Olofi, Eleggua, Chango & crew have a less possessive approach to digital rights management and copyright issues than the commercial music business and besides, Eleggua is older than Canario, so it is unlikely that the Yoruba religion stole the melody from Canario's bomba in the 1950s.