In this video I am showing how to play the Mali style Sunu rhythm composition on two drums “ballet” style which means the drums are not sideways, they are standing up vertically. When I studied with my teachers, master drummer Aruna Sidibe and Brulye Doumbia they taught me this way. They can also be played sideways of course.
I am showing the pattern from a front view, a rear view and then we are breaking down the rhythm, and I show how to practice coming into it repeatedly. I include a click track with a triangle hitting the first beat of the four pulse so you always know where you are and where the rhythm starts and ends.
One difference I have implemented in this video (over what was taught to me in Mali) is I am using a drum stick on the rim of the drum instead of using a bell or the traditional Mali style of using the bell in one hand and a ring on the finger of the same hand, a very beautiful technique but one I have not mastered. it is called the “clutche”