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Liberté * Independence

Not traditional

Liberté was the name of a small ballet group, Ballet Liberté. This group, from a district of Conakry, took this name for the National Festival in the year of independence from France, 1958. They made two rhythms called Liberté, a ternary one and a binary one. This one is similar to Tiriba

Level: intermediate
The Liberté contains some 6/8 off-beat patterns, which are a huge challenge for people who are used to hearing mainly Western music. Fortunately the overall feeling of this rhythm is on the beat. The difficult parts are firmly sandwiched between main beats, which is why I have greaded it as a rhythm of intermediate level instead of advanced.

Exercises
The most challenging aspects of this rhythm I have given special exercises. The call is unusual and partly offbeat and therefore I have created an exercise mp3 with the call and a bell, to give you a feeling for it. Also a bell is included with the call in the other mp3's.
 

And here is an exercise to learn to "hear" the main beat within the off-beat notes. Some people find it easy to "hear" a downbeat as a kind of echo after the two slaps. So rather than thinking of the slaps following the main beat, you think of them as leading up to the main beat. Other people find it handy to step, walk, tap their feet or dance to 'feel' the rhythm. See if you can find ways like this that help you to internalise the rhythm.
 

Note: Press control while clicking to loop the sample.

Lastly, study the kenkeni. It's rhythm is exactly opposite to our Western feel for skipping. Actually, the word skipping itself vocalises what the kenkeni bell sounds like

Studying with a metronome
This rhythm has some off-beat elements and that makes it challenging. Go out and buy a metronome if you don't have one yet. There are affordable electronic metronomes available. Use it to study these patterns!

Note: If you see things like 4b.tt4..s. then you must install the Yankadifont in order to see the music!

 Three douns