This is my dissertation-based book on the urbanization of jembe players' musical work and style i... more This is my dissertation-based book on the urbanization of jembe players' musical work and style in Bamako, Mali, since about 1960.
Improvisation is central to creative behavior across artistic and everyday domains, yet it is oft... more Improvisation is central to creative behavior across artistic and everyday domains, yet it is often portrayed as either pure freedom or rule-bound execution. While research in music and dance has shown that improvisation draws on structured kinesthetic vocabularies, less is known about how cultural rhythm and embodied memory interact in real time within and across genres. This study addresses that gap through ethnographic fieldwork in West Africa, where the first author, trained in contemporary dance, engaged in learning and performing Malian djembe dance. Drawing on autoethnography with a phenomenological orientation, alongside participant observation and conversations with Malian drummers and dancers, the analysis examines how kinesthetic and procedural memories inform real-time performance. Findings suggest that improvisation operates through culturally specific ways of sensing and attending to movement: dancers navigate genre-specific repertoire, rhythmic cues, and bodily affordances to evoke and transform embodied material. However, rather than merely reproducing fixed repertorial units, dancers also reconfigure embodied resources such as movement qualities in responsive and inventive ways. Our research supports the view of improvisation as structured play rather than unbound invention and advances the discourse by emphasizing the reconstructive play of embodied recall-how cultural and personal memories are recomposed in performance. Overall, the study contributes to understanding improvisation as a cognitive and cultural process: not the free invention of form but the creative reorganization of embodied memories within shared perceptual and rhythmic systems.
Perceptual systems adapt through individual experience across the lifespan, an ability referred t... more Perceptual systems adapt through individual experience across the lifespan, an ability referred to as plasticity. To understand perceptual plasticity, a promising avenue is to investigate how perception is shaped by cultural experience, as a process deeply embedded within collective practices of cultural production and social learning. The current review synthesizes findings from recent behavioral experiments investigating cross-cultural variation in rhythm perception. Specifically, these studies show that fundamental perceptual processes, such as event timing and rhythm categorization, display shared features but also systematic differences across cultural groups. Critically, these differences correlate with statistically prominent and socially relevant features of cultural production, revealing how perceptual systems are tuned to their music-cultural environments. Yet, how can cross-cultural differences in perception be related back to the collective practices that produce the diversity of cultural environments in the first place? To bridge this gap, we propose perceptual niche construction as an evolutionary approach that positions culture as both a source and a product of perceptual plasticity. That is, cultural experience tunes individual perception, yielding culturally diverse perceptual processes. These processes, in turn, create selection pressures shaping cultural production across nested timescales, resulting in diverse cultural environments. This approach presents implications for research in psychology and neuroscience, notably in proposing to operationalize culture as communities of learning and practice. Moreover, it highlights the relevance of contextually situated research, in view of accounting for the dynamic nature of culture-driven perceptual plasticity.
In many West African dance-drumming genres, the emphasis is on involving the gathered community i... more In many West African dance-drumming genres, the emphasis is on involving the gathered community in the performance, inviting them to take turns dancing. In such performance contexts, there is no audience in the strict sense: no group of participants who are not themselves directly involved as performers. Based on ethnographic case studies of music-dance events in rural southern Mali, this article argues for the concept of embedded audiency, showing how musicians provide dancers with the crucial contributions of audiency to performance: focused attention, social recognition, and meaning.
Humans across cultures show an outstanding capacity to perceive, learn, and produce musical rhyth... more Humans across cultures show an outstanding capacity to perceive, learn, and produce musical rhythms. These skills rely on mapping the infinite space of possible rhythmic sensory inputs onto a finite set of internal rhythm categories. What is the nature of the brain processes underlying rhythm categorization? We used electroencephalography to measure brain activity as human participants listened to a continuum of rhythmic sequences characterized by repeating patterns of two interonset intervals. Using frequency and representational similarity analyses, we show that brain activity does not merely track the temporal structure of rhythmic inputs but, instead, produces categorical representation of rhythms. These neural rhythm categories arise automatically, independent of any motor-or timing-related tasks, yet exhibit strong similarity with categorization observed in overt behavior. Together, these results and methodological advances constitute a critical step toward understanding the biological roots and diversity of musical behaviors across cultures.
Münster: LIT, In the context of the urbanization of celebration culture, some new commercial serv... more Münster: LIT, In the context of the urbanization of celebration culture, some new commercial services and trades have become established in Bamako since about 1960, for instance chair, awning, and sound system rental services, and, more recently, video film production. Traditional services such as the griots' music and praising and the dance music by drum ensembles studied here have become commercialized: Jenbe drummmers have made a trade of their live music performances and transformed their work and service into commodities.
Performance, as seen for instance in the works of Erving Goffman or Karin Barber, is often define... more Performance, as seen for instance in the works of Erving Goffman or Karin Barber, is often defined by a rather strict distinction of roles between performers and audiences. Traditional celebration culture in Mali, however, provides social situations that offer structures not only of role distinction but also of role-switching and role-blurring. It is a key feature of the audience at vemacular celebrations in Mali that the repertoire of responses to performance includes taking part in performance. The present analysis of social interaction during jembe drum/dance performances in Bamako, Mali, thus might help to differentiate our theoretical conception of performance and audience, and contribute to the anthropology of celebration and the history of media practice in West Africa. Drum/dance performance at celebrations is participatory performance; it presents a context of public representation and embodiment of community at the same time. [Mali, peiformance, audience, celebration, interaction, jembe drum]
Daniel Goldberg (2015, this issue) explores relations between timing variations, grouping structu... more Daniel Goldberg (2015, this issue) explores relations between timing variations, grouping structure, and musical form in the percussive accompaniment of Balkan folk dance music. A chronometric re-analysis of one of the target article's two audio samples finds a regular metric timing pattern to consistently underlie the variations Goldberg uncovered. Read together, the target article and this commentary demonstrate the complex interplay of a regular timing pattern with several levels of nuanced variation to be performed with fluency, flexibility, and accuracy. This might appear commonplace, but here it is observed in the context of an asymmetric rhythmic mode, non-isochronous beat sequence, and asymmetric metric hierarchy. This context evidently does not represent a constraint of any sort in respect to the rhythmic timing performance, which casts doubts on the deep-seated assumption that metric regularity depends on iso-periodicity and vertical symmetry. This assumption is sometimes explicitly and often implicitly taken as universal; this comment suggests that, on the contrary, it might well be culturally biased.
[1] In various styles of music with a regular metric beat, the fast pulse subdividing the beat is... more [1] In various styles of music with a regular metric beat, the fast pulse subdividing the beat is non-isochronous. Ingmar Bengtsson found that a consistent alternation of long and short subpulse durations (LS) is characteristic of the rhythmic feel of Swedish polska, a form of Nordic folk dance music. The subdivision of Vienna waltz is structured by the repeated sequence of short, long, and medium (SLM) subpulses. Bengtsson stressed that such cyclic variation of subpulse durations is essential to the feeling of rhythmic drive. (2) [2] Non-isochronous beat subdivision is polymorphic and widespread in various musical traditions of the world. An SLL feel pattern (short, long, long) shapes the timing of insiraf, a rhythmic mode of classical Arab music from Algeria ). An MSML pattern (medium, short, medium, long) underlies and identifies the subdivision of samba music from Bahia in northeastern Brazil. From the musician's view, this pattern serves as a marker of their rhythmic dialect, which they address as suinge baiano (Bahian swing) and distinguish from the feels of other regional styles of samba . Of course, the LS pattern is typical not only of Swedish polska. It marks the swing feel of jazz, the notes inégales of French Baroque music, and is also found in jembe music, a popular form of drum ensemble music from West Africa. [3] The present article analyzes the structures and music-theoretical status of non-isochronous beat subdivision in the standard repertoire of jembe music from Bamako, Mali. LS is only one among various timing patterns that appear in jembe music and I will describe three further patterns: two ternary and one quaternary. The approach is empirical and quantitative: I measure the timing of ensemble music performances. My theoretical aim is to show that rhythmic feel-the consistent characterization of subpulses by stable timing patterns-is inherent in the repertoire and fundamental to the metric system ABSTRACT: This article studies the empirical structures and theoretical status of rhythmic feels in jembe music, which is a popular style of drum ensemble music from West Africa. The focus is on systematic variations of durations -that is, cyclic patterns of non-isochronous pulse streaming at the metric level of beat subdivision. Taking for example a standard piece of jembe repertoire that is set in a 4-beat/12-subpulse metric cycle (often notated as 12/8), I show that the ternary beat subdivision forms a repeated sequence of unequal (short, flexible, and long) subpulses. This stable rhythmic feel pattern, SFL, is unmistakable and non-interchangeable with a second ternary pattern, which is characterized by long, flexible, flexible subpulses (LFF) and occurs in other pieces of jembe music. As predicted in Justin London's "hypothesis of many meters" (London 2004), these timing patterns distinguish individual meters. I further analyze how schemes of binary and ternary beat subdivisions can be synchronized to operate in parallel. Such metric nesting is based on the patterned non-isochrony of rhythmic feels. Cyclic variation of subpulse durations, I argue, is inherent in the repertoire and fundamental to the metric system of jembe music.
Most approaches to musical rhythm, whether in music theory, music psychology, or musical neurosci... more Most approaches to musical rhythm, whether in music theory, music psychology, or musical neuroscience, presume that musical rhythms are based on isochronous (temporally equidistant) beats and/or beat subdivisions. However, rhythms that are based on non-isochronous, or unequal patterns of time are prominent in the music of Southeast Europe, the Near East and Southern Asia, and in the music of Africa and the African diaspora. The present study examines one such style found in contemporary Malian jembe percussion music. A corpus of 15 representative performances of three different pieces ("Manjanin," "Maraka," and "Woloso") containing ∼43,000 data points was analyzed. Manjanin and Woloso are characterized by non-isochronous beat subdivisions (a short IOI followed by two longer IOIs), while Maraka subdivisions are quasi-isochronous. Analyses of onsets and asynchronies show no significant differences in timing precision and coordination between the isochronously timed Maraka vs. the non-isochronously timed Woloso performances, though both pieces were slightly less variable than non-isochronous Manjanin. Thus, the precision and stability of rhythm and entrainment in human music does not necessarily depend on metric isochrony, consistent with the hypothesis that isochrony is not a biologically-based constraint on human rhythmic behavior. Rather, it may represent a historically popular option within a variety of culturally contingent options for metric organization.
Studies of musical corpora have given empirical grounding to the various features that characteri... more Studies of musical corpora have given empirical grounding to the various features that characterize particular musical styles and genres. found that in Western classical music the likeliest places for a note to occur are the most strongly accented beats in a measure, and this was also found in subsequent studies using both Western classical and folk music corpora (Huron & Ommen 2006. We present a rhythmic analysis of a corpus of 15 performances of percussion music from Bamako, Mali. In our corpus the relative frequency of note onsets in a given metrical position does not correspond to patterns of metrical accent, though there is a stable relationship between onset frequency and metrical position. The implications of this non-congruence between simple statistical likelihood and metrical structure for the ways in which meter and metrical accent may be learned and understood are discussed, along with importance of cross-cultural studies for psychological research.
POLAK'S (2010) CHRONOMETRIC ANALYSES OF Malian jembe music suggested that the characteristic ''fe... more POLAK'S (2010) CHRONOMETRIC ANALYSES OF Malian jembe music suggested that the characteristic ''feel'' of individual pieces rests upon nonisochronous subdivisions of the beat. Each feel is marked by a specific pattern of two or three different subdivisional pulsesthese being either short, medium, or long. London (2010) called the possibility of more than two different pulse classes into question on psychological and theoretical grounds. To shed light on this issue, 23 professional Malian percussionists and dancers were presented with timing-manipulated phrases from a piece of Malian drumming music called ''Manjanin.'' In a pairwise comparison experiment, participants were asked: (1) if the items of each pair were same or different, and (2) if different, which of the two was the better example of the characteristic rhythm of Manjanin. While most contrastive pairs were well distinguished and produced clear preference ratings, participants were unable to distinguish short-medium-long patterns from short-longlong patterns, and both were preferred to all other manipulations. This supports London's claim that, perceptually, there are only two pulse classes. We discuss further implications of these findings for music theory, involving beat subdivision, tempo effects, microtiming, and expressive variation, as well as methodological issues.
Human rhythm perception and sensorimotor synchronization are both constrained by temporal thresho... more Human rhythm perception and sensorimotor synchronization are both constrained by temporal thresholds on several levels. The lower limit for durations that allow for entrainment at the level of metric beat subdivision has been estimated at about 100–120 ms (London, 2002; Repp, 2003). Tempos and subdivision durations reported for American jazz and East African xylophone music performance, however, suggest that the perception of shorter subdivisions within a range of 80–100 ms may well be possible. This paper musicologically analyzes and empirically measures the fastest metric subdivisions in two sets of live recordings of vernacular dance music from West Africa. In two recordings of Ewe drumming from Ghana, subdivision durations display mean values within a range of 90–100 ms for extended periods of time. Four recordings of jembe drumming from Mali feature subdivision IOIs of about 80–90 ms during their final and fastest sections. A lower limit for metric subdivision durations is hypothesized to perceptually constrain West African drumming within a threshold range of about 80–100 ms.
IT HAS LONG BEEN ASSUMED THAT RHYTHM cognition builds on perceptual categories tied to prototypes... more IT HAS LONG BEEN ASSUMED THAT RHYTHM cognition builds on perceptual categories tied to prototypes defined by small-integer ratios, such as 1:1 and 2:1. This study aims to evaluate the relative contributions of both generic constraints and selected cultural particularities in shaping rhythmic prototypes. We experimentally tested musicians' synchronization (finger tapping) with simple periodic rhythms at two different tempi with participants in Mali, Bulgaria, and Germany. We found support both for the classic assumption that 1:1 and 2:1 prototypes are widespread across cultures and for culture-dependent prototypes characterized by more complex ratios such as 3:2 and 4:3. Our findings suggest that music-cultural environments specify links between music performance patterns and perceptual prototypes. T HIS PAPER FOCUSES ON PROTOTYPES IN rhythm perception and production. While the timing of musical events is infinitely variative, humans perceive but a few rhythmic categories, which serve as the building blocks for more extended rhythmic structures. It has been broadly argued that rhythmic categories and their metric relationships are closely tied to prototypical durational patterns that lie near small-integer ratios, particularly the simplest ratios such as 1:1 and 2:1—the former being an isochronous series of pulses or onsets, and the latter a long-short pattern of durations/interonset intervals (among many others, see
D. Horn, J. Shepherd, G. Kielich, & H. C. Feldman (Eds.), Bloomsbury encyclopedia of popular music of the world. Volume XII: Genres: Sub-Saharan Africa (pp. 315–319). London: Bloomsbury Academic., 2019
2.4 Rhythmus und Zeitgestaltung bei nicht-isochronen Metren (Rhythm and timing in non-isochronous... more 2.4 Rhythmus und Zeitgestaltung bei nicht-isochronen Metren (Rhythm and timing in non-isochronous meter) The contributions collected in this section originate from a thematic session held at the Berlin 2015 conference, convened by Rainer Polak under the title Rhythm and timing in non-isochronous meter. Non-isochronous meter represents a historically neglected topic in metric theory; recently, however, it has increasingly attracted attention and specifically motivated interdisciplinary, empirically informed, and cross-culturally comparative approaches. The session aimed to productively integrate perspectives from music theory, ethnomusicology, music psychology, empirical/systema tic musicology, and music pedagogy. lt opened with an introductory review talk (Polak), followed by original research contributions on music from southeast Europe (Daniel Goldberg), Turkey (Andre Holzapfel), and Brazil (Gerald Guillot). The session ended with an invited response to the research papers Oustin London).
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