Artist:  Said El Artist

Album:  The Belly Dancers Drummer

 

• -sounds like it was recorded in a tile bathroom
• -very repetitious
• -what’s with the bass guitar?  A drum solo is better with only percussion instruments.
• -like synthesized smooth jazz with a dumbek
• -repertoire limited
• -there is only one drum solo on “The Belly Dancer’s Drummer” album
• -the drum solo’s only redeeming quality was that it had a build at the end and it had an ending
• -sounds like background music—your mind drifts off
• -the problem was not just with the rhythm but with the tone
• -continuous repetition of riffs that were boring
• -on the same level the whole time
• -his rhythms were flat lining
• -the sound engineer put a 70’s echo to this
• -we were bored after 2 minutes and the solo is 6:17 minutes long
• -he’s trying to get an Americanized sound

 

Artist:  Hossam Ramzy

Album:  The Best of Hossam Ramzy

“The Master”

 

• -stilted
• -sounds like an elementary school recital
• -no repetition in the beginning, it’s all 1’s
• -one would have to choreograph to this
• -the only riffs he is repeating are the boring ones
• -half way through the drum solo we were wondering when it was going to end
• -seems he’s teaching drum solo by going through the rhythms/sounds like an elementary drumming instructional/ from exhibition playing of one of each to instructional
• -this is not for dancers
• -CD says, “the best and most danceable”
• -no build at the end
• -disjointed, not smooth, and at times he is off beat
• -he goes from 1’s to 16’s (repetitions) with nothing in between
• -he sounds chaotic - because he’s off beat and tries to mask it with over-instrumentation

 

Artist:  Nourhan Sharif

Album:  Nourhan Sharif Presents Arabic Rhythms for the Advanced Dancer Vol. Talata 3

Tracks:  12 and 13

 

• -this starts with old, classical rhythms from 1000 A.D.—32+ count rhythms
• -you would never do a drum solo to these/this is just an exhibition of the old, classical rhythms
• -you would have to be a very good dancer to dance to these.
• -absolutely no build—teaching solos only.
• -It’s a drum solo because there are only drums playing, but it’s not a dancer’s solo

 

Artist:  Al-Ahram Orchestra (?)

Album:  A Tribute to Nadia Gamal

 

• -sounds like the drummer was on Ritalin
• -reminds me of “The Flight of the Bumblebee”
• -for “energizer bunnies” this would just be a nightmare-we would try to hit every beat
• -the beginning was as if it was shot out of a cannon

 

Artist:  Gamal Goma

Album:  Shake Me Ya Gamal:  Hot Tabla Solos

 

• -it dove right in
• -no slow build up and no peak of any kind
• -predictable transitions
• -monotonous
• -all the same rhythm
• -straight line
• -the rhythms used were very predictable. Typical riffs, but not a typical progression

 

Album:  Jalilah’s Raks Sharki 1

 

• -traditional rhythms
• -rhythmic intricacy
• -it metamorphoses
• -predictable, and yet each section is totally different
• -these rhythms are all traditional
• -the tone varied
• -you could anticipate the changes but you couldn’t predict what the drummer was going to do
• -never have to completely jump from one rhythm to the next
• -this is a dancer’s drummer
• -revisited themes, which makes it easier for the dancer to intuit
• -has feeling

 

Artist:  Issam Houshan

Album:  "The Dancing Drum"

 

Tabla solo 3.  Close to perfect drum solo:

 

• -started with traditional, predictable riffs, continued with variations on a theme, gets faster, gets slower
• -variety of tone
• -dynamic changes
• -long riffs
• -short riffs
• -little surprises
• -time for a long shimmy
• -good build
• -clean ending
• -gives you a lot of variety to work with so your show is interesting to watch

 

Good build and a clean ending are the two basic things you need to look for.

 

A good drum solo interpretation should have:

 

• -intuitive flights of fancy, but they need to be structured
• -repeat-- what you do on one side, do on the other
• -repeat with a variation
• -no choreography but loose structure  

“Tent Music”

 

• -there is a difference in the timing between the natural reverberations in a music hall vs. electronic echo.  Natural reverberation is better for primitive instruments.
• -focus on the instruments
• -find inspiration in the essence of a good drum solo: variation of rhythm, variation of amplitude, slow vs. fast, syncopated vs. even rhythm, soft vs. loud
• -it’s the dynamic changes that make a performance interesting

 

What Makes a Bad Drum Solo

 

• Cardinal Sin:  Off Beat
• Lack of Variety - monotony
• No build/drama
• Unintuitive rhythm changes
• Inappropriate length - too short or too long (figure 9 minutes will loose people's interest, even if you are the best dancer in the world)
• Rhythms not repeated. Ideally, a dancer likes 4 sets of a rhythm, unless it is long and complicated.

 

There needs to be a beginning, middle, and end!  There is supposed to be some kind of auditory crescendo. If there isn’t one the dancer needs to make a physical crescendo.

 

Look for waves of sound, dynamics—that’s what builds suspense. You have to have suspense!