Bembe 3 (Bembe Bakoso)

This Bembe is played by three drums.
Bell part is the same as other Bembes, please check previous post for the bell pattern.

Cachimbo (Salidor)
Highest drum.
Played by bare hands.

1

2

1

2

Salidor (High)    6/8

O

S

S

.

S

S

O

S

S

.

S

S

(hands)

R

L

R

R

L

R

L

R

R

L

Mula (Medio)
Middle drum.
Played by bare hands.

1

2

1

2

Medio  (Medium) 6/8

S

S

O

S

S

.

S

S

O

S

S

.

(hands)

R

L

R

L

R

R

L

R

L

R

Caja
Lowers drum.
Played by a bare hand (Left) and a stick (Right).
Caja player improvise, so one I showed here is a ride.
Stick play open (middle of drum head) and rim (rim or side of drum).

1

2

1

2

Caja  (Low)         6/8

O

.

Rim

.

Rim

Rim

.

Rim

.

Rim

.

O,O

(with one stick)

R

R

R

R

R

R

R,L

Right hand with stick

Please click Here for YouTube demonstration.

Bembe 2 (Havana Style)

This is "one" of Bembe from Havana.
All Bembes use same Bell (and Cata) rhythm, so I don't show that here.
Please check my past post for Bell and Cata pattern.

Salidor
Salidor is highest drum for this ensemble.
Some barrios (neighborhood) call highest drum "Cachimbo".
Salidor just keep tempo.
Played by bare hands.

		1			2			1			2
Salidor (High)    6/8		O	.	.	O	.	.	O	.	.	O	.	.
(hands)		R			R			R			R

Medio (Mula) is middle drum played by bare hands.

1

2

1

2

Medio  (Medium) 6/8

O

S

S

O

S

S

O

S

S

O

S

S

(hands)

R

L

R

L

R

L

R

L

R

L

R

L

Caja is played by one bare hand and one stick.
Caja player improvise.
I showed here the ride for this rhythm.

		1			2			1			2
Caja  (Low)         6/8		O	.	.	B	ST	.	B	.	.	B	ST	.
(with one stick)		R			L	R		L			L	R
Right hand with stick

Please click Here for YouTube demonstration.

Bembe 1

From this time, I will post several different Bembe styles.
Bembe rhythm is usually used for songs for Orishas.
If you are interested to learn songs for Orishas, Italian Santeiro Luca Brandoli is writing marvelous books.
Bembe has several variations depend on regions.
One I post today is one of the most popular Bembe rhythm.
Instrumentation I show here is:
Bell, highest drum (Cachimbo), mid-high drum (high Mula), mid-low drum (low Mula) and lowest drum (Caja).
If you have 3 drums only, play Cachimbo, high Mula and Caja.
Cata can be added to ensemble by playing the same rhythm as Abakua.

Bell
Bell rhythm is most popular 6/8 bell rhythm.

		1			2			1			2
Bell                 6/8		X	.	X	.	X	X	.	X	.	X	.	X

Cachimbo is highest drum for this ensemble.

1

2

1

2

Cachimbo        6/8

O

S

.

O

S

.

O

S

.

O

S

.

R

L

R

L

R

L

R

L

.

Mula (high).

1

2

1

2

Mula (High)      6/8

H

T

S

T

O

O

H

T

S

T

O

O

(High drum)

L

L

R

L

R

R

L

L

R

L

R

R

Mula (low).

1

2

1

2

Mula (Low)       6/8

B

B

O

T

S

T

B

B

O

T

S

T

(Mid drum)

R

L

R

L

R

L

R

L

R

L

R

L

Caja
Caja player improvise.
The pattern I showed here is a ride.

1

2

1

2

Caja                6/8

O

T

B

B

S

T

H

T

B

B

S

T

R

L

R

L

R

L

L

L

R

L

R

L

Please click Here for YouTube demonstration for this rhythm.

Gaga 3 (Guantanamo)

I show you 3rd Gaga mainly from Guantanamo.
Triang (Guataca/Bell) pattern is the same as the other two Gaga, so I don't show that here (please check Gaga 1).

Salidor pattern is the same as Gaga 1.
xX is Flam stroke.

1

2

1

2

Salidor (High drum)   2/2

xX

.

X

X

.

X

X

.

xX

.

X

X

.

X

X

.

with 2 sticks

r, L

R

L

R

L

r, L

R

L

R

L

Bocu pattern.

		1				2				1				2
Bocu (Mid drum)      2/2		O	.	M	.	B	.	B	.	O	.	.	B	B	.	.	.
hands		R		L		R		L		R			L	R

Bas
This is 4 bars (for 2/4 notation) pattern.
I divided this to two lines because it doesn't fit in one line.
Sorry that it looked a little be strange.

1 2 1 2 Bas (Low drum)       2/2 B . . . O . . . B . . . O . B . hands L R L R L

  

1

2

1

2

B

.

S

.

B

.

S

.

B

S

.

S

B

.

S

.

L

R

L

R

L

R

R

L

R

Please click Here for YouTube demonstration.

Gaga 2 (Santiago)

Gaga (Santiago)
 I show another kind of Gaga.
This is old style, but still played in Santiago area.
Instrumentation is Guataca (Bell), Cata, Bocu and Bas.

Guataca rhythm is the same as Gaga 1, so please check previous post.

Cata pattern is:

1

2

1

2

Cata   2/2

X

.

X

X

X

.

X

.

X

.

X

X

X

.

X

.

R

L

R

L

R

R

L

R

L

R

Bocu pattern is:

		1				2				1				2
Bocu (Mid drum)      2/2		s,S	.	.	.	s,S	.	.	.	s,S	.	.	.	O	.	O	.
hands		r, L				r,L				r,L				R		R

s,S played as Open Slap and "Flam".

Bas pattern is:

		1				2				1				2
Bas (Low drum)       2/2		B	.	.	.	O	.	.	.	B	.	.	.	O	.	.	.
hands(improvise)		L				R				L				R

Bas player improvise.
What I showed here is ride.

Please click Here for Video Demonstration for this rhythm on YouTube.

Gaga (1)

Gaga 1

Hello everybody.
I am sorry that I couldn't update my blog for a while because my computer couldn't connect with network.
This time, I will show you Guantanamo style Gaga.

Guataca (Bell)

They use Guataca (Hoe Blade), but you can substitute with Cow bell.

1 2 1 2 Guataca (Bell)         2/2  X . . X . . X . X . . X . . X .

Salidor (High drum)
If Cata is available, Cata plays the same rhythm as Salidor.
On beat "1", "Flan" sounds need to be made.

 

1 2 1 2 Salidor (High drum)   2/2 xX . X X . X X . xX . X X . X X . with 2 sticks r, L R L R L r, L R L R L

Bocu or Medio (Mid drum)

 

1 2 1 2 Bocu (Mid drum)      2/2 S . . S O . O . S . . S O . O . hands L L R R L L R R

Bas (Low drum)
This drum usually improvise.
I am showing basic ride for Bas here.

 

		1				2				1				2
Bas (Low drum)       2/2		O	.	B	S	.	.	S	.	B	.	S	.	.	.	O	O
hands		R		L	R			R		L		R				R	L

Addition to these imstruments, sometime they add "Basin" that makes bass sound and mark "1".

Please click Here to see YouTube demonstration.
Thank you.
I will try to update more often.
Chao.