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Looper's Delight
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For some reason my previous post didn't show up. I consider European military marches to be a form of trance drumming, that most definately creates entrainment. These bands,esp the drums and cymbals were copied from the Turkish Jannisery bands. The Turks were of course,colonizers. The parts of Eurpoe that were once under their rule,have much more rhytmically complex music than the other parts. Working with the formula 'Low notes entrance,high notes excite' ,the bass drums create one effect,which is connected to the feet going down,and the busier high snare drums are pulling the knees up. left right exactly synced. They used to use that stuff to psych people for fighting.Years ago I played a gig with an African dance troupe as part of the Festival of the Pacific,which happens every year.Also on the bill was a group from Truk Island. The island was occupied by US military in WWII ( after taking it from the Japanese) They did one dance that was an imitation of soldiers marching,50 years later the frozen hips, rigidness, locked chin ,seriousness etc still totally cracked them up. Esp the Frozen Hips posture.Showed me alot about cultural differences.I don't think anyone on the planet besides Caucasion W. European,and N Americans have that frozen hip thing? The was a world wide Military music fad inthe late 19th century,a Gazebo or bandstand in every town square ,throughout all the colonies. When African Americans in New Orleans got their hands on military instruments,they took those square, military marches,and started adding the offbeats -the ands and ifs that move the hips. When they took all the drums and cymbals,and put 'em together into a contraption one person could play,we got the trapset,jazz blues rock and roll RnB Funk soul etc. Similar process in brazil gave us Samba ,Maracatu,Bossa Nova Pagode. In W. Africa ,High Life which led to all sorts of later styles. There are Horn bands all over the world. In Triniad the oil drums from the US Navy base became orchestral instruments Northern shamanic continuum trance drumming styles are often intended to put the Player in a trance-and if it's truly Shamanic-for that person to go to the other workd ,and bring something back for healing.A lot of new agers think that just going into a trance state is shamanic,but this intent of navigating in the other world to bring something back is what it means in the Turkic languages where the word originates. The term entered the west through the work of Mircea ELiade with Yakut /Samoy shamans of E Siberia. Interestingly the roots of the word Bongo ( ngoma is drum in Bantu languages) ,and Fungus ,are the same-both are used to induce altered states. The familiar Native American powwow big drum with several players on the same heavy down beat is for social dances,which also involves entrainment. Both this and the shamanic styles involve all low notes ,no sharp high accents. The deep trance stuff which also use drums, take place in Sweat Lodges,Vision Q,uest Peyote Ceremoniess and Sundance ,the latter involves extremely altered states inducing endorphin highs by intense pain-they put skewers through their skin,with which they drag heavy weights,and suspend themselves. For days African Diaspora drumming styles are mostly used to induce trance in the dancers,and not the drummers. In some traditions the drummers take specific precautions to avoid trancing out. These styles combine low and high notes in ways that create complex psycho-acoustic effects,one of which is to knock peoples spirits out of their bodies so others spirits-ancestors ,orishas loas,can come in. They dpon't go to the other world for spirit connection,they invite the spirits to come into this ine,in their bodies. Essentially they dance with their Gods This effect seems to come from that combination of low notes entrancing ,and high notes exciting. The combination of elements working in differnet directions is also characteristic of African styles CK Ladzepko says the tension between 3s and 4s in the same piece teaches people how to work with tension ,resistance,and adversity. I've seen a drummer watching a dancer carefully then suddenly hit a high sharp phrase,and the Dancer goes - out,eyes roll back,body language changes drastically. So far I haven't really found examples of music traditions that don't show influneces from contacts w. 'other cultures'. The influences go in all directions-not both directions,it's never that simple. Spell a grand slam in this game where word skill meets World Series. Get in the game. |