Making rhythms our own
At Rhythm Culture we are honouring traditional rhythms in a modern way by arranging age-old djembe rhythms to suit our abilities and events.
In West Africa, traditional music is still performed at various times, such as ceremonial functions and festivals. At Rhythm Culture we aim to play the rhythm as close to its traditional roots but we do arrange it to suit our students’ abilities, too. As with many of our traditional rhythms, Soko is a Malinke rhythm from the Faranah region and is commonly played throughout Guinea and Mali.
In the next few weeks, we will have a lot of fun with this energetic and fast rhythm and if you stay on after class to drum for the African Co-op dancers you will enjoy watching some typical Soko dance steps.
Traditionally, Soko is played to announce initiation festivals. From what we know, the Bilakoro (uncircumcised) were sent to all the surrounding villages to announce the upcoming circumcisions. It appears that this was actually the first step of initiation because the boys had to find their way around without the help of an adult, so they had to at least manage not to get lost and carry or find provisions. In a sense, that’s a first test of manhood. When the boys arrived in another village, Soko was played that night to announce the initiation.
It’s worthwhile noting that many, many years have passed since a lot of djembe rhythms were created. Incredibly the rhythms have remained intact and while they change from region to region overtime, customs have kept these traditional rhythms. They even changed while being brought down from generation to generation, as is the case today. The rhythms we play and introduce are just a small example of how we adjust and arrange rhythm to suit our own abilities and events. That’s the beauty of djembe drumming… there is no right or wrong… it can evolve anywhere, any place! However, these rhythms can no longer be called traditional.
Famous djembe player Yaya Diallo said Africans don’t seek to know what is right and who is wrong… so just enjoy it for what it is, today.
Below you can watch a great version of the Soko in action! Enjoy!
