Polyrhythm

The other day, I praised Joe Farrell's Follow Your Heart for its "very subtle use of polyrhythm."  The use of polyrhythms (different time signatures played at the same time) is common in African music, and even when not subtle, the lack of subtlety does not make it any less artistic.

Here's the late, great Fela Kuti giving a PhD dissertation on polyrhythms.  Listen to the introductory bass line - that's in 7/8 time, played as 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 4.  After 12 bars, the guitar joins in, but playing in 3/4 (1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3).  The beauty of Afro-beat music is that instead of conflicting, the two rhythms actually compliment each other and the other percussion behind these beats bounces around from one rhythm to the other, wedding the two together.  But the real brilliance of this music is that next the keyboards jump in and manage to walk the tightrope between the two sets of beats, not following any one rhythm, not ignoring the other.  They miraculously manifest the "harmony" of the rhythms, and then the horns and vocals are added and create space and rhythm not previously apparent.  Where this music enters the realm of the genius is that all this happens in just the first three minutes of the composition, before the tenor sax is even heard from and the call-and-response vocals begin, and the next 21 minutes is devoted to riffing off of this polyrhythmic miracle and simultaneously elevating the piece both to fine art and a searing political indictment of Nigerian politics.  And here you once thought Bob Dylan displayed genius with protest music.

Oh, by the way, all of this is a live recording from 1983, performed without the safety net of studio overdubs and manipulation, and that intro bass and guitar polyrhythm continue throughout the whole piece without ever once missing a beat.

This is an amazing example of polyrhythmic Afro-pop music, with Fela himself on soprano, piano, organ, and lead vocals.  And all this is made no less amazing by the fact that this performance is widely regarded as one of Fela's worst recordings.