Mendiani Djembe and Dundun

Traditional arrangement of mendiani, however the dununba is on the off beat, this is different than how some play it.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• djembe
• mendiani
• dundun
• african
• drumming

[willowglenn]

I like the sound of it, but it's not any version of mendiane (manjane, menjane) that I've ever seen or heard.

The most distinctive doun part within mendiane is played by the Sangban.

It's the right Sangban phrase, straightened out and played in the wrong place.

If you think in terms of a 1, the 3rd stroke should land on it (not the first as is played here).

[rich991980]

@willowglenn The third stoke does indeed land on what us westerners like to call the 1! Examine the beginning or ending calls and you will see. As for the parts other than sangban, I would agree that they might be different from the mendiani you know. Thanks for the feedback, hope you enjoyed it for what it is.

[archetypo]

The dancer moves according to the sangban phrase, not just the djembe solo. So what you guys are playing here is not so much traditional but more a modern arrangement. My observation was that many traditional teachers were reluctant to even attempt teaching all the sangban variations to western students, because they often believe that we will never really get it. Fortunately that is starting to change.

[rich991980]

Thanks for the feedback. There are loads of people out there who know more about this music than me. I posted this video because I know it's a descent representation of at least one variation of mendiani. There's a lot of garbage out there claiming to be "djembe" or "african drumming" and I think this vid doesn't fall into that category.

[nonidentity]

@rich991980 ya i know - i just realized my post sounded very... preachy - sorry about that! - i was just pointing out that this is a modern, simplified arrangement that mamady often plays - i also hear it is played like this in mali - the trad version (hamana or gberedu version) is one of the most complicated set of variations on the dununs that i've heard in malinke music - anyway, sounds great

[rich991980]

@nonidentity Mamady Keita is Malinke. Your post seemed to imply that you thought he was Malian. Apologies if that's not what you meant. Just thought I'd mention it in case you didn't know.

[musicallysmitten]

too heady and analytical for my limited knowledge of the sources and the regions. I however, enjoyed the video and would like to see more 'headincluded' performances of Batuk>

[kostadjembe]

thanks bro for the info, its funny how guineans and malians claim originality of rhythms...my teacher told me that Mendiani is the name of a girl who danced this so goood that decided to name the rhythm after her, and that his teacher's teacher was the one who changed it to this version in the 40's. I think his name is Moriba Keita, anyway at the end of the day they are all Mande, just different names

[nonidentity]

hmmm - mamady does play this arrangement - however, i wouldn't call this the guinean version - this is a simplified version - for the real (traditional) guinean version, check out famoudou's sons on archetypo's channel - mendiani is a malinke rhythm, not a malian one - anyway, not sweat, i like your channel

[rich991980]

You are right in a lot of ways. It does seem to lack joy, and we do have shit eating grins throughout this vid. The video is what it seems to be. We're headless to maintain anonymity. As a white person passionate about this music, I hesitate to put myself on the web playing a music that is not my own. Our band does play in public, and has loads of joy and soul that are very similar to the djembe performance videos on the tube. That's just not this video.

[Shrekozinovitch]

Genial !!!!