AFROPOPPLAY-ALONG

FOR DRUMMERS

Copyright © 2014 by Maciek SchejbalISBN 978-0-615-99268-6

Music copyrights listed with each track

Text, drum charts, photography, layout and design by Maciek Schejbal

Lead sheets by Fernando Hernandez-Moros

Reference drums recorded by Greg Novick atChunky Karma Studio, North Plainfield, NJ

Special thanks to Maria Traversa, Francky Moulet, Graham Hawthorne, Fred Doumbè, Leo Traversa, David Weiss,

Mark Manczuk, Bahar Behbahani, and Peter Allan

www.afropolka.com

Photographs by Maciek Schejbal taken at FENAC, National Culture and Arts Festival

Maroua, Cameroon, December 2008

Cover graphic by Andrzej Klimowski

Contents

Introduction ..................... 1

How to Use this Book ..................... 2

Key to Drumset Notation ..................... 3

Eyoum (mangambeu) ..................... 4

Alea So (soukous) .................... 10

Joy (bikutsi) .................... 18

Ombwa Te (Afrobeat) .................... 28

To Ndje (makossa) .................... 36

Senga .................... 42

O Si Keka (reggae) .................... 47

Essimo (essewe) .................... 53

Mumi (African 6/8) .................... 56

About the Author .................... 62

About Kaïssa .................... 63

Track List .................... 64

Endorsements .................... 66

Introduction

A�er teaching Afropop drumming classes at the Drummers Collective in Manhattan for a

number of years, I was asked to conduct a recording class where students were required to play

along music-minus-one recordings in a professional studio setting.

From the available school materials I assembled a number of tracks suitable for those exercises.

�e music was mostly rock, funk, fusion, and jazz. I then had the idea to include in those classes

some of the World music I played around New York City. While working with the Cameroonian

singer Kaïssa, I produced and mixed her �rst album and had access to the masters. I wanted to

share them with my students and the idea of this play-along book was born.

�e album was recorded with a click track, making it a perfect choice for play-along exercises. I

retained all the original tracks, only removing the drum parts. Since the drumming on Kaïssa’s

repertoire evolved into more African-oriented grooves from the time it was originally recorded,

I decided to include the charts of the most recent versions of my drumming played during live

shows. I also included recorded examples (reference tracks) of some of those recent versions of

the tracks, which are signi�cantly di�erent from the originals. Others are the originals and are

part of the album Looking �ere. �e album was self-released (also licensed by Sony Music South

Africa) in 2004. It is available online at CD Baby and at several digital merchants including

iTunes. I trust you will discover new things in both versions.

�e tracks include a mix of some Cameroonian grooves like bikutsi, mangambeu, makossa, and

essewe as well as reggae and Afrobeat. Playing and developing various World music grooves has

been the best part of working with Kaïssa and mixing grooves based on the same rhythmic roots

has been keeping my interest in World music drumming alive through the years. I wanted to

share this interest with the students at all levels, and I think they might �nd jamming with these

tracks a great way to explore World music and expand their vocabulary on the drumset. Playing

your own grooves along with the songs might be surprisingly rewarding, so give it a try!

1

How to Use this Book

Each song in this collection has a chapter in the book with performance tips, background info,

lead sheet, drum chart and related style examples (or various African music in�uences). �ere

are two versions of each song, one with a click track and one without. You could practice the

songs with the click �rst, and eventually play them without the click, for example.

Reference tracks of some of the songs were added to this collection. Others, being closer to the

originals, can be found on Kaïssa’s album Looking �ere.

Import the ‘No Click’ �le to your session and add the click from your so�ware to be able to adjust

the click volume independently. Setup the session tempo exactly as indicated on the chart1. �e

click of the �rst two bars of the audio �le should align with your session’s click. Now you are

ready to record.

�e list of the tracks is on the last page of this book.

As always, have fun!

Best,

Maciek

2

1Adjustments to the ProTools sessions resulted in decimal points of some tracks’ tempos, set them up precisely for accurate synchronization.

3

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Key�to�Drumset�Notation

(HANDS�-�STEMS�UP,�FEET�-�STEMS�DOWN)

Eyoum

Originally, this song was recorded without the drums but the intricate guitar parts are a perfect

match to play along one of the most interesting African grooves, mangambeu (this French spell-

ing is sometimes changed in English to mangambe). �e mangambeu musical style comes from

the Bamileke people of Cameroon’s West Province. �e rhythm was mastered, popularized, and

developed on the drumset by Brice Wassy, whose book Rhythms from Cameroon takes you deeper

into the subject.

One thing to mention is the way the rhythms of 6/8 or 12/8 are written and, more importantly,

felt. �ough many people write the rhythms as 6/8 or 12/8, I prefer to write them in 4/4 with

triplet division. �e 4/4 pulse, in my opinion, projects the feeling of forward motion better than

6/8 or 12/8 and that’s what I sense playing, listening, or moving to African music and watching

African dance. Nevertheless, developing awareness and ability to switch between 6/8 and 4/4

feelings is an additional tool in a vocabulary of a well-rounded drumset player.

In addition to the drum part written in the chart, I have some suggestions for preparatory exercis-

es allowing you to hear the triplet subdivisions that are the basis of mangambeu. As a bonus, your

jazz playing will improve as your sense of triplet becomes more solid and the forward motion

more �uent.

I found this �rst exercise helpful when preparing for gigs with Kaïssa. Alternating between

four-on-the-�oor and mangambeu kick of this two-bar loop should center your triplet sense and

lock the groove. Repeat the exercise many times using a metronome with triplet subdivision (feel

free to start the snare part from bar 2, the starting point is as �exible as in Afro-Cuban clave).

Written by Patrice Bihina and Kaïssa DoumbèLove Lina Music, ASCAP / Mon Bebe Music, ASCAP

Kaïssa - lead and backing voices

Maciek Schejbal - drums

Henri Tanash - guitars

Fred Doumbè - percussion, percussion programming, backing voice

4

Also, at �rst, do not accent the second note of each triplet as in the chart. �is can throw you o�

before mastering the mechanics of every drum part (next exercise will deal with this issue):

Before adding the accent, you’d need to internalize it; otherwise you are prone to turning the beat

around and making it a shu�e groove. Here’s an exercise that will force you to hear the second

eight-note triplet of each beat:

Another issue is the mangambeu �lls. What adds spice to them is a slight dragging of tempo but

before you do that, play them very tight, as written. I found these �lls to sound great played with

one, leading, hand, though a�er a while of dealing with this music you might �nd that changing

the sticking might suit your own sound better.

Here’s the most typical mangambeu drum �ll you might like to build on. You can play the �lls

without bass drum or replace the written bass drum pattern with the same one as in the previous

exercise:

5

ã c .. ..

Drums

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‰ x x e x x‰

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Œ œ œ ‰ Œ œ œ ‰3 3

xœ x œ x x‰ x x e x x

‰3 3 3 3

Œ œ œ ‰ Œ œ œ ‰3 3

Love Lina Music, ASCAP/Mon Bebe Music, ASCAP

ã c .. ..

Drums

œ x ‰ ‰ jx ‰ ‰ x e

‰ jx ‰

3 3 3 3

x œx œ ‰ x œx œ ‰3 3

œ x œ‰ jx ‰ ‰ x e

‰ jx ‰

3 3 3 3

x œx œ ‰ x œx œ ‰3 3

Love Lina Music, ASCAP/Mon Bebe Music, ASCAP

ã c .. ..

Drums

‰ œ œ ‰ œ œ ‰œ œ

‰ jœ

‰3 3 3 3

œx œ œx œ

Love Lina Music, ASCAP/Mon Bebe Music, ASCAP

Mangambeu examples:

• Nouteussi from the album Dance Around The Fire by Jack Djeyim, drums by Brice Wassy

• Wamba from the album Soro by Salif Keita, drums by Brice Wassy

• Eyando from the album Scenes From My Life by Richard Bona, drums by Mokhtar Samba

• Gwarir from the album Ifrikya by Karim Ziad, drums by Karim Ziad

6

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#’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’

© Love Lina Music, ASCAP / Mon Bebe Music, ASCAP

Eyoum Patrice Bihina / Kaissa DoumbeLead Sheet

Mangambeu

q=122.62

8

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© Love Lina Music, ASCAP / Mon Bebe Music, ASCAP

Eyoum2

9