Diansa

Masterclass by Seny Touré, AMP Festival, Amsterdam, June 2003

The Diansa solo patterns were taught in a Masterclass at the AMP festival, Amsterdam, June 6th 2003, by Seny Touré. Sonja, his wife, performed the dance steps so you could see the interaction.

Diansa rhythm

This is the basic Diansa rhythm.

Call

4t.tt4.tt.4t.ss4s...

Part 1 "S"

4s..s4s.tt4s..s4s.tt

Part 2 Diansa

4ss.s4s.tt4s.b.4sbtt

Solo acc.

4b.ss4.bss4b.ss4ttss

Kenkeni

4xssx..4xssx..44xssx..4xssx..

Sangban

x4t.x.xt4.x.xt.4x..xm.x4..xt.

Doundounba

4xb.x.x.4.x.x..x4b.xbx.4.x.x..
4x..xbxb4.xb.xbx4b.xb.x4..x..

Djembe doundouns
 

4t..t4..t.4b.b.4..t.
4t.bb4.bt.4b.b.4....

Diansa three douns

 

The solo accompaniment is a rhythm that the soloist plays when there is no full ensemble present - i.e. the solist has to fill in more of the doundoun part in his rhythm.

The "Djembe doundouns" part is a djembe part created out of the doun doun parts. It can be used to learn to recognise the main doundoun melody, or to play if the doundouns are absent.

Diansa solo

The full solo consists of five separate phrases, four patterns plus an echauffement. Each phrase is played four times. Every fourth time, the last two bars are changed to create an ending, a "breather", and a normal call follows, after which the next phrase starts.

How to end a phrase

Play the first 3 notes or rests as indicated in the seventh bar of a phrase, and play a slap flam in the eighth bar of a phrase.

The only exception is the first phrase, this is played four and a half times. This is because otherwise the dancers would end up in a funny position. You will hear all these fine details in the sound file. These details are left out below in order to keep things clearer and to see the patterns better.

Call

4v.tt4.t.t4t.t.4t...

Phrase 1

4ss..4...b4sss.4tt.b
4ss.t4tstt4sss.4tt.*b

Phrase 2

4ss.t4tstt4stts4ttsb
4ss.t4tstt4stts4tts*b

Phrase 3

4ss..4...b4ttst4t..b
4ss.t4tstt4s.s.4...*b

Phrase 4

4ttts4b.s.4b.ss4b.sb
4ss.t4tstt4stts4tts*b

Echauffement

4ttts4ssss4ttss4ssss
4ttts4ssss4ttss4ssss

The fifth phrase is actually the echauffement, the rhythm speeds up a bit. Also, if you listen closely to the MP3 file, you will notice that the whole rhythm is played with swing - it is between straight 4/4 beat and 6/8 beat in. The bass notes sound like they are not played at all, but that is due to the recording. And all phrases actually begin with the bass on the upbeat.

One final remark: Although various teachers will teach "the" traditional Diansa solo, they do vary. I have another traditional solo to the Diansa from Souleymane Camara which has similar patterns, it is recogniseable as "a" Diansa solo, but is definitely not the same as this one.

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Credits :: Seny Toure ::