EUGENE SKEEF

On the issue of “groove” for now let me leave you with this phrase in Zulu: “Yigubhe!” This translates literally as “Groove it!” Back in the day we used to shout this out as a way of letting the groove settle deeply like an actual dug-out feature of the rhythm. Another phrase that comes back to me is, “Ihushise phansi!”, which refers to the act of letting the rhythm be grounded, in the same way that a long garment reaches the ground. Even in the most advanced forms of polyrhythm as articulated by the peoples of the African rainforest, with melodic/rhythmic cycles moving seamlessly like Tai chi clouds, there is a state one could describe as an overall groove that unites the individual cyclical riffs, which themselves can be understood and felt as a kind of groove – and all of these are held together by the composite vibe (literally “vibration”), which would not give you that tingling sensation in your spine if it wasn’t “grooving”.

However, that whole thing of clapping on the “two” or playing the snare on that beat is a feature of African American music. It adheres to the notion of the lowest common denominator of the beat in a way that wasn’t necessary to overtly express or state in traditional African music – because in Africa, before the arrival of the Europeans, everyone in the community knew where their personal beat occurred in the community cycle, and they would groove to it.