Sometimes I get the sense that we are over complicating, or are making the subject more exotic than necessary. A Waltz is in 3/4—
simple triple meter. There are three main beats per measure and each beat is divided into two pulses. This is not the metric structure of African music.
- The waltz is in simple triple meter.
Triple-pulse African music is in 6/8—
compound duple meter. There are two main beats per measure and each beat is divided into three pulses. We may not have grown up with African-based rhythms, but 6/8 is taught to all elementary school music students. 6/8 is heard in plenty of European-based music such as marches, polkas, and Irish jigs. I can remember my music teacher in 4th grade telling me to tap my foot two times per measure (I played flute—not very well).
- 6/8 is compound duple meter.
6/8 is made more complex when three crossbeats are superimposed over the two main beats. Three-over-two is known in European music as a
hemiola. Hemiolas can be heard in French baroque music, and the music of Mozart, Handel, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky. 6/8 and hemiolas are not foreign to our Euro ears.
- The hemiola (three-over-two) is the basis of sub-Saharan rhythm and its New World descendants.
The challenge is to hear the two beats as the main beats when there are three crossbeats being sounded. Most often in African music, the three beats are emphasized by the music, while the dancer's feet mark the two main beats.
Mongo Santamaria's original recording of "Afro Blue" begins with the bass playing three crossbeats per measure (or six crossbeats per clave). The cool thing is that the soloists emphasize the main beats. Improvising on a simple pentatonic blues with an onbeat emphasis, creates the complete crossrhythm in a very satisfying way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbE7jf_Hp5wJohn Coltrane inverted the crossrhythm on his version of "Afro Blue" by making the three beats the main beats and the two beats, the crossbeats. The Trane version has a more complex harmonic structure, and is a jazz waltz, not the meter used in African music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-56JerzFO4&feature=kp