Dansa, djansa

After years of playing this rhythm I finally got to attend a workshop with a Malian teacher that could show me how the Dansa (Djansa) is supposed to be played. Originating from the Khassonke people (Kayes region in Mali), the Dansa is known as a slow song with a strong swung feeling. In fact, it seems more ternary than binary when played slowly.

Still today in Bamako and other cities in Mali, the Dansa is recognized by this konkoni pattern:
1...2...3...4...
O--X-OO-O--X-OO-

The solo dun plays a ternary bell pattern (x-xx-xx-xx-x) and there are several solo phrases which I'll not write about.

Pushing it faster the konkoni starts leaving out one stroke:
1...2...3...4...
O--X--O-O--X--O-

From which you can finally switch to this pattern, when the tempo is really fast:
1...2...3...4...
O--O--O---X---O-

The last pattern is of course the widely known sangban pattern for the Djansa (as they would play it in Guinea and elsewhere).

Aminata Touré

Aminata Touré is a young Guinean dancer that recently started working in Brussels and its surroundings. She is very young and has an incredible amount of energy to share. When she moves you just feel the energy being transferred to you. I've accompanied some classes of hers recently and I was pleased to find out that she is one of those dancers for which you just can't stop playing for.

I can feel she made a big impression on the people from Brussels, and there are good reasons for this, so I think she might become very well known everywhere around pretty soon. Here is a promotional video distributed by the association that sponsors her (Gine Fare, site in French).