There is a singular similarity to be observed between this heel-tapping
and the complicated drum-tapping of the African negroes of certain
tribes. In his book "Afro-American Folksongs" H. E. Krehbiel thus
describes the musical accompaniment of the dances in the Dahoman
Village at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago: "These dances
were accompanied by choral song and the rhythmical and harmonious
beating of drums and bells, the song being in unison. The harmony was
a tonic major triad broken up rhythmically in a most intricate and
amazingly ingenious manner. The instruments were tuned with excellent
justness. The fundamental tone came from a drum made of a hollowed log
about three feet long with a single head, played by one who seemed
to be the leader of the band, though there was no giving of signals.
This drum was beaten with the palms of the hands. A variety of smaller
drums, some with one, some with two heads, were beaten variously with
sticks and fingers. The bells, four in number, were of iron and were
held mouth upward and struck with sticks. The players showed the most
remarkable rhythmical sense and skill that ever came under my notice.
Berlioz in his supremest effort with his army of drummers produced
nothing to compare in artistic interest with the harmonious drumming
of these savages. The fundamental effect was a combination of double
and triple time, the former kept by the singers, the latter by the
drummers, but it is impossible to convey the idea of the wealth of
detail achieved by the drummers by means of exchange of the rhythms,
syncopation of both simultaneously, and dynamic devices. Only by
making a score of the music could this have been done. I attempted to
make such a score by enlisting the help of the late John C. Filmore,
experienced in Indian music, but we were thwarted by the players
who, evidently divining our purpose when we took out our notebooks,
mischievously changed their manner of playing as soon as we touched
pencil to paper."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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