Afro-Cuban · bembe · 6/8 compound

Bembé (6/8 bell + 6/8 tumbao)

129 bpm Loop: all
8ths

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Bembé: the Afro-Cuban 6/8 feel. The percussion layer is the seven-stroke bell pattern Scivales labels "6/8 clave (3-2)" — the bembé bell, which also underlies the 6/8 feels of guajira, Abakuá and most Latin jazz "Afro" sections. Over two bars of 6/8 (twelve eighths) it falls on eighths 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12: long–long–short–long–long–long–long. The five-stroke 6/8 clave is this bell minus two strokes.

The piano and bass are bars 1–2 of Scivales's 6/8 tumbao example (Ex. 10): a single-line figure on F then Bb, with the bass avoiding beat 1 just as it does in 4/4 — the "bombo" moves to the second and third eighths.

Listen for the two-against-three: the bell can be heard as four dotted-quarter beats (12/8) or as six quarter beats (3/2); good players hear both at once. In this DSL at is in quarter notes, so a 6/8 bar is 3.0 and the tempo (129) is the quarter, i.e. dotted-quarter ≈ 86.

Practice: clap the bell while the foot taps dotted quarters, then quarters.

Sources

  • Scivales, Play Latin Piano Like a Pro, ch. 22 Ex-113-7 (6/8 bell)
  • Scivales, ch. 24 Ex-119 (6/8 tumbao, bars 1–2)

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