March 11, 2020

#047 Lagos Hustle

15 minutes

The soundtrack in this week's episode is called Lagos Hustle. It’s a fast energetic groove piece with a West African rhythm and a vintage feel. The instrumentation includes nyatiti, a stringed African instrument which I hacked by played with a guitar slide instead of plucking. My recommended usage is for bustling, urban and African moments. I wrote the track out of inspiration for 1970s Nigerian electronic music pioneer William Onyeabor. The track is currently the intro theme for the WhatsApp-distributed voice note show What’s Crap on WhatsApp. Let’s break it down!

IN THIS EPISODE

02:07 African instrumentation: The odd-sounding lead melody was played on a nyatiti. It’s usually plucked, but I preferred to use a guitar slide, mostly because the instrument is impossible to get in tune! It also felt good to break the rules, of course. Kalimba offers a supporting role. Having two uniquely African instruments dovetails nicely. Search my library for kalimba, mbira

04:19 Beat: I wanted the beat to break the rules of house music, so multiple kicks were included inbetween the standard four-to-the-floor rhythm. The shakers are played in 3/4 time, making the rhythm a polyrhythm. The tambourine contains a subtle gqom rhythm. The hats were recorded live by my drummer friend Django Flaherty.

07:02 Synth: the synth had to sound a little dated. But I’m no analog purist, so I settled for some weird envelope values to differentiate it from a piano or electric keyboard sound. The important thing was just to make it like something that resulted from experimentation, not like a tried and trusted “70s synth sound”. That seemed more true to the spirit of this era.

08:16 Singing and mouth sounds: some gentle singing doubles the main nyatiti melody. Singing is a bigger part of most African cultures than Western ones, and I find that having some vocal element in a track always makes it more exciting somehow. Rhythmic mouth clicks are something I use quite often in African-inspired music. They’re a part of the Xhosa and Khoi languages here in South Africa. If you like the sound, search ‘click’ in my library

10:10 Bass guitar creates an interesting groove. Bass counts as a rhythm instrument in most groove music, meaning that note length and timing are pretty important. The guitar part is a simple counter-melody which fills the gaps in the bass groove, so they’re never really playing at the same time.

11:48 Why would I call this a Nigerian-influenced piece? It was inspired by a documentary I watched on William Onyeabor, a truly fascinating character. There’s a 30-minute documentary on him in the show notes. But this is not a soundalike, more like a spinoff.

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SHOW NOTES

William Onyeabor documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiaRp0M2fxE

Voicenote fake news debunking show 'What’s Crap on WhatsApp' https://www.volume.africa/whats-crap-on-whatsapp

SOUNDS & DEVICES USED

Nyatiti, kalimba, electric guitar, bass guitar, voice

Native Instruments Flesh by Tim Exile

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ABOUT THIS SHOW

You’re listening to How I Make Music, a weekly podcast for the musically curious to go behind the scenes of composition for audio storytelling. Hey, I'm John Bartmann. I’m a composer from South Africa. My soundtracks, moods and themes have been used in podcasts, audio dramas, and also in commercial film, TV and radio. Every Wednesday, we break apart one of my own compositions and investigate the stories and insights into how it was made and its effect on listening ears. How I Make Music helps you better understand how to make, select and use music to create gripping storytelling.

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