Djole * Let's party!
Traditional Ethnic Group: Temine. Border region Guinea / Sierra Leone. From Mamady Keita: A life for the djembe.
Djole is a very well known rhythm that owes its popularity to some Mandenyis who brought it to Conakry. Now it is played all over West Africa. In the beginning, it was a mask dance representing a woman. The mask was worn by a man who dressed as a woman.
Djole always was great village festivity, where several villages got together in order to celebrate a big harvest, the end of Ramadan or a wedding. The original instrument for this dance was the siko, four square drums of different sizes that were played together. Today, the rhythm is also played with djembe and doundoun.
Suitable for beginners
The Djole is a very lively rhythm that is simple and fairly "western" in feel, which makes it very suitable for beginning djembe players, as well as for beginning djembe listeners! Never forget your audience! It has enough different parts to create an intricate presentation piece that could mix breaks and uni sono parts with the more complete rhythm. For example, you could break up the rhythm by just playing the djembe doundoun part, with the doundounba bell, 4 times. During the fourth time the solo player plays a few beats and the call, and then the rhythm comes back to where it was.
Djembe parts
The djembe parts 3 and 4 are not from Mamady Keita.
If you are going for a performance piece, you may consider playing 1 or 2 djembe parts together at any one time. This will allow you to create more variety in the rhythm, and leave more "room" in the music.
The simple kenkeni part is for those who find the full offbeat rhythm too difficult to play yet.
Call
4v.tt4.t.t4t.ss4s...
4b.tt4b.ss4b.tt4b.ss
4b..t4t...4b...4tttt
4t..t4t...4b...4t...
Djembe 3 (optional)
4t.ss4b.ss4ttss4b.ss
4ttt.4ssb.4ss.t4tttt
4..xsxs4..xsxs4..xsxs4..xsxs
Simple kenkeni
4x..ss4x..ss4x..ss4x..ss
4x_t.x..4xt.x..4x_t.x..4xt.x..
4xb.x.x.4.x.x..4xb.x.x.4.x.x..
Three douns
Playing three standing doundouns gives different possibilities for creating variations.
These are my own variations:
Three douns 1
4b.ss4t.ss4b.s.e4t.ss
Three douns 2
4eb...4et...4eb..s4t.s.
4eb.ts4..et.4eb.ts4..et.
Djembe doundoun part
The djembe doundoun part is my own free-form translation of the doundoun melody to djembe. This part is expecially suited for beginners, it is musically challenging without being technically challenging, and it helps students to recognise the doundoun melody of the rhythm.
The djembe doundoun part can be used as a break, an introduction, as an uni-sono part, in various interesting ways.
4b...4t...4b...4t.t.
4b.tt4..tt4b.tt4..tt
Break
An uni sono break is always interesting. This one is from Mamady Keita. It is a good idea to have a bell continue to keep time, the doundounba bell perhaps.
4s.s.4....4s.s.4....
4....4....4s.s.4....
4s.s.4....4s=oss.4t=itt.
Solo patterns
Solo patterns from Ponda O'Bryan and Baba Touré. Please note that these solo patterns are for 12 beats, not the usual 4, 8 or 16. It always depends on the actual dance steps how a solo pattern is structured. By doubling the bass beats, or leaving them out, you can change the length to 16 or 8 beats. However, playing a 12-beat pattern over an 8-beat accompaniment is quite interesting too!
4b...4b...4b...4b...
4t.tt4.tt.4t..b4s.s.
4bs.s4.bs.4s...4ttt.
4b...4b...4b..b4s.ss
4s...4..ss4s..b4s.ss
4s...4..ss4s...4....
4ts.s4.s.t4tss.4ss.t2x
4ts.s4.s.t4s=osss4st..
4ttss4ssss4ssss4ssss4x
4ttss4ttss4tts.4f...