FOCUS Page 16 Drumming patterns

Drum patterns. Anuak musical experience is usually accompanied by the drum. Drums seem to be an integral part of the musical experience if not the song itself. The rhythm of the songs seems to be in the beat pattern. Pulsations are strong often times accented with the stamping of feet or with the clapping of hands. Tempos are generally brisk with the Agwaga displaying greater drive and speed than the Obero. In the drumming for the Aguaga, Obero, and dancing songs, the lesser drums, the two smaller drums, maintain an even interlocking pattern. Above this, the drummer on the large drum improvises or seems to improvise within the accepted patterns of the genre. The drummer playing the larger drum adds triplets and cross rhythms using his hand stick, and elbows to punctuate and add rhythmic and tonal interest.