Gahu: A Dance of the Ewe Tribe in Ghana by Steve Reich

Reich, Steve (1974). "Gahu: A Dance of the Ewe Tribe in Ghana 1971". Writings about Music.  The Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Canada.



p. 29

.....I couldn't really remember them until I could understand exactly what was going on rhythmically between the drum and the bell patterns.  This process of understanding was greatly aided and accelerated by re-plying the tapes of my lessons until I could finally write down with certainty the relationship between any given drum and the bell pattern.

p. 30

.....In Ghana the name of a piece of music is also the name of the dance which is performed to that music.  The two are inseparable.

p. 32

The basic pattern is played by the first atoke who, together with the second atoke, never changes his pattern throughout the piece.  The second atoke is free to add 2 sixteenth-notes in place of his single eighth-note on any or all beat.  the two gong-gongs each have a first pattern only two quarter-notes long, so that two of their patterns equals one atoke pattern.  Both of them begin their patterns in different places, and neither of them begins on the the first beat of the stoke patter.

This, in simplified miniature, is the essence of African rhythmic structure: several repeating patterns of the same or related lengths and each with its own separate down beat.

p. 33
.....I have not transcribed the songs because, basically, I was not really attracted to them.  The accompaniment was what I found to be unique, beautiful, and quite different from anything in Western music.  Since I am a composer/performer and not a musicologist, I am passing along the information I believe may be of particular interest to others in situations like my own.

A writing by a composer, interesting how much it always distinguish from the one by a theorist or musicologist (also how differently a composer learns about music from these other two).

The piece mentioned previously "Drumming (1971)" do capture the essence of what Reich himself stated--several repeating patterns of the same or related lengths and each with its own separate down beat.  When studying the piece, it is noticeable that the pulse shifts because of this techniques.  However, the relationships are limited by the materials.  Patterns are often perceived within 1:2:3:4:6:8 proportions.  Being a minimalist style's piece made it easier for the listener to following the changes.