In Modern Drummer’s ongoing introduction to Jonathan Joseph’s book Exercises in African American Funk: Mangambe, Bikutsi, and the Shuffle; This month we will continue with Jonathan’s explanation of a unique African groove, Mangambe. We will continue to explore some interesting ways we can augment the groove. Mangambe is a popular musical style of the Bangante people of Cameroon. Last month we included some simpler versions of Mangambe. Then we combined it with a traditional shuffle, added a ghost note pattern, started to move the right hand around, and added the left foot. This month we will add some half-time funk, continue to move the hi-hat pattern to the ride, continue with ghost-note pattern 1, and keep adding quarter notes with the left foot. Slowly the Mangambe groove is getting denser. Advertisement Let’s start by folding in some of the Mangambe-style bass drum rhythms into a half-time funk groove, using the […]

June 2023 Issue