Definition
In West African music (Ewe, Asante, Yoruba and many other traditions) a timeline, usually played on an iron bell (gankogui, atoke, agogô), repeats an asymmetrical pattern that serves as the reference for the whole ensemble: drums, dancers and voices all orient themselves to it. The most widespread is the standard pattern or bell pattern, with seven strokes over a cycle of 12 pulses, studied by A. M. Jones, Kofi Agawu and, from a mathematical angle, Godfried Toussaint.
The pattern
Cycle of 12 pulses (one bar of 12/8):
1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12 → x.x.xx.x.x.x
Intervals between strokes: 2-2-1-2-2-2-1. This is the same layout as the intervals of the major scale (W-W-H-W-W-W-H): Toussaint and others point it out as a structural curiosity, since both are “as even as possible” distributions of 7 elements over 12.
How it feels
Under the timeline there are several possible layers of pulse:
- 4 dotted-quarter beats (pulses 1, 4, 7, 10): the dancer's step, the “4” of the 12/8.
- 6 beats (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11): the 6/8 or 3/4 feel.
- 3 beats (1, 5, 9): the slow level.
Western listeners tend to hear the pattern as “crooked”; the performer experiences it in relation to the step in 4 (pulse 1 is the foot step). The tension between 4 and 3 is the basis of the African 3:2.
Rotations and family
Starting from different strokes of the same cycle gives rotations used in different cultures (the Afro-Cuban bembé is this pattern). Removing two strokes gives the claves in 6/8: son 1, 3, 5, 8, 10; rumba 1, 3, 6, 8, 10. There are also 5-stroke timelines (e.g. kpanlogo in 16 pulses, similar to the son clave) and duple-meter timelines.
Roles in the ensemble (Ewe example, agbekor in brief)
- Bell: constant timeline, never varied.
- Rattle (axatse): reinforces the step and the bell strokes.
- Support drums (kaganu, kidi, sogo): short ostinatos that converse with the bell at different distances from the downbeat.
- Master drum (atsimevu): varies, calls the changes, improvises over everything.
Use in production
- Afro house and afro tech: shakers and bells in 12/8 or “triplet-feel” over a four-on-the-floor kick (see the rhythm r-afro-house).
- Afrobeat of Fela Kuti and Tony Allen: 4/4 with sixteenth-note density and interlocking guitars that reflect the logic of the timeline.
- Jazz: Elvin Jones, Art Blakey and the African 6/8; Coltrane, “Africa”.
- Pop: the bell pattern is a perfect percussive texture for a bridge or intro.
Programming it in FL Studio
Set the pattern to 12 steps (Channel Rack, step count) or write it in the Piano Roll with snap “1/3 beat”: each pulse is one eighth-note triplet. Kick on pulses 1, 4, 7, 10 (the four beats), bell with the string x.x.xx.x.x.x, shaker on every pulse with accents on the beats. Vary the bell's velocity: strokes 1 and 8 louder (they are the most strongly felt anchor points).
Example in A minor
At 118 BPM (12/8 felt in 4): bass A–A–C–D on the four dotted-quarter beats, pad Am7 – D9 alternating every two bars, bell on the bell pattern, congas on pulses 4 and 10 (open tone) with a slap on 11. The vocal melody can enter on bell stroke 8 to create a “counter-beat” effect.
Exercise
- Tap the step in 4 with your foot and sing the bell pattern (“ka-ka-kaka-ka-ka-ka”) for two minutes.
- Program the pattern and try to hear it first in 4, then in 6, then in 3: it is training in multistable listening.
- Take one of your own 4/4 loops at 120 BPM and add only the bell pattern in triplets on top: notice how the 3:2 transforms the groove.
Connections
“Clave families”, “Polyrhythms 3:2, 4:3, 5:4, 7:4”, “Polyrhythm, hemiola and polymeter”, “Drum grooves by genre”. Texts: Kofi Agawu, “The African Imagination in Music”; Toussaint, “The Geometry of Musical Rhythm”; David Locke, studies on agbekor.