Beat Making.....

Been busy making beats these past few days. Just cranking things out to have as bases for future recordings and hopefully for future tunes. Base (pronounced bah-zi) is a word that I am borrowing form portuguese that means anywhere from a basic drum loop to a fully mixed instrumental. There isn't really a word in English that means the same thing. Track is a bit more general and can mean a song with vocals in it, but it also leans toward being a more finished piece. Base is like a foundation. It can be built on.

so, I've been busy making bases. I finally got a copy of Reason 3.0 (was using 2.5 before) and have been really enjoying some of the new features. I like that you can change a sample in the browser window while the beat is playing and it'll let you hear the sample you're auditioning. Man, that saves time! Also, the mastering suite is very nice for my work flow. It makes bases sound better more quickly. That's especially cool when I'm out showing my work to people I don't know that I want to work with.....

Like today. I met with Mahsin who plays qanun and darabouka. He said he liked a few of the bases and so we'll be meeting tomorrow to record some stuff. He's still pretty reserved with me, so sometimes, I don't exactly know how or what he's thinking. Anyway, he's down. So, we'll just let the music do the talking.

Today I hung around the music academy. Mostly just sitting making beats with my headphones on and saying hello to almost everybody that passed by. I guess people will get used to seeing me around. I'm still trying to connect with musicians.

I think the musicians at the academy have a bit of an aversion to electronic music and especially to bongo flava and modern taraab. (I promise I will eventually post some examples!). the modern taraab is a very diluted, pale comparison to "traditional" taraab. Everything that I've heard sounds like a conglomeration of preset synth patches and no acoustic elements and singing on top. Usually, the singing is quite nice. I don't understand the llyrics, but as far as I can tell, it's usually about love......

Bongo Flava can encompass hip hop, rnb, reggae and ragga and can be rapped, but is more likely sung. From what I've heard so far, it's super electronic. Pretty much nothing acoustic (aside from voice). Mahsin told me he thinks it's all bad music. Why? Because it's not original and the lyrics are all the same and they're not saying anything. so, what does he like of hip hop? He likes american "real" hip hop. Like what? Lil Bow Wow! Oh my god, I couldn't quite believe it. Well, to each his own. this guy is an amazing musician. Somehow, Lil Bow wow is good and ALL Bongo Flava is bad because it rips off american hip hop and rnb.........

I also saw some hip hop yesterday at the ZIFF. I met Sweet Ray there. A young female rapper. She pretty much stole the show. I talked to her after the show (she only did one song) and we traded numbers. Her song was about AIDS. Her english wasn't that much better than my swahili, but I got the idea that she wants to make people aware of AIDS and its dangers. My intro to Zanzibar hip hop......I'll be meeting up with her later this week.