Bob Brozman

["Rick Walker" <looppool@cruzio.com>]

Qua wrote:
"Maybe the American drumming changed after the colonizers arrived.. as a 
form of resistance.     no colonizers around to hear the drumming (perhaps 
less march like) in its orig .form   ;-)"

Actually, Qua, from my understanding and research,  the answer is probably 
not.    There is a lot of variety in Native American drumming (hundreds of 
different
tribes, some separated by 3,000 miles) but most of the traditions that I 
have heard (and I really went looking in the early 80's to learn as much 
as 
I could
about that diversity) are consistent with Northern Hemispheric Shamanic 
traditions which are , essentially,  non synconpated
in style.

 The reasons for this is that , frequently,  the constant shamanic rhythms 
(in either constant pulses,  two beat, four beat and
sometimes 'shuffled'  three beat patterns) are played quickly and have a 
lot 
to do with entrainment that causes theta wave production
in the brain (waves associated with lucid dreaming and 
creativity)....................they are a form of trance induction that is 
very, very different
from the paradigms of central and west african trance music which is very 
syncopative in nature.

The forms of trance states in the two large paradigms (and to talk about 
African rhythm or Shamanic rhythms in one sentence is just plain foolish 
so 
forgive me the generalizations) have a really different quality.   Having 
been through traditional Peyote Ceremonies as well as Voudoun rituals,  
the 
trance states and 'possessions'
are vastly different in a way that's hard to describe.    Roughly put (and 
I'm NO expert),  northern shamanic trance states seem to be more internal
and mental and Voudoun, Condomble, Santeria and other forms of trance 
states 
involving spirit possession are more external and physical.

As I said,  I'm no expert in these matters but I've read a lot and 
experienced a lot from different trance drumming traditions (including 
Raves
where large quantities of people were on E) and this is my general 
impression.

Actually,  I really disagree with a lot of things that Bob Brozman 
theorizes 
about in this fascinating interview.

I've performed with him and made many recordings with him and he's a 
fantastic musician and a very thoughtful and
intelligent human being but he is also very dogmatic about the subject of 
how
colonial and colonized musics effect each other.

I also have had just as much experience as Bob,  interacting, 
professionally 
and musically with
people from different ethnic musical traditions from the colonial and 
colonized worlds  and I think the interaction of these different paradigms 
are vastly more
complex that he presents them.      This is the subject of a much longer 
post that I'm working on now but I just wanted to go on record to
say that.