Sunday, April 14, 2013

Rhythmic Accompaniment in both C.R.E.A.M. and the Gishora Vilage Performance

Another strong connection between the Royal Burundi Drummers and the Wu-Tang Clan is the use of rhythmic accompaniment. More specifically, rhythm provided by the drums or any percussive insturment.

In the Royal Drummers of Burundi Gishora Village performance the structure of the rhymic changes can essentially be broken down into three different parts. The beginning segment uses the voice as a rhythmic component with occasional clapping. The second segment is the introduction to the drums with a fast eighth note pattern for a few bars on the sides of the drums to make a rim click tone. The third section is the majority of the piece and contains mostly playing on the drum head and occasional rim clicks. About every eight bars the drum pattern changes slightly as new soloists come on and off.

Similarly to the Burundi drumming, the beat in the Wu-Tang Clan's song C.R.E.A.M. can be broken down into three sections. The first section begins with vocals alone by Raekwon and Method Man followed by the second section to the introduction of the main beat. The second section is composed of jazz instrumentation - trumpets and saxophones- playing a repeated four note melody with parts of a drum set and bass also playing. After the introduction the primary beat comes in and plays throughout the entire song. The beat is composed of bass drum, cymbals, piano, snare, and bass. The piano provides the repeated melody.

The instrumentation of drums and vocals as well as a three part form of rhythm provide evidence of a strong musical link between the Royal Burundi Drummers and the Wu-Tang Clan.



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