Cococun Gba Gounke. Colomach. Soundway. 1974.
Our physical responses to polyrhythms function at a level so deeply ingrained within the prefrontal cortex that they’re beyond the reach of streamlined western capitalism. The polyrhythmic drumming of Nigerian rock is a cerebral event; it awakens and holds the attention of our brain with all the sensual insistency of an alarm. In western pop music, we’re accustomed to hearing guitar, piano, or voice mixed up front so that the melody will cushion the abrasion of rhythmic aggression. Nigerian pop by contrast transfixes us with the mollifying stimulant of percussive energy. Melody invites the comfort of consumer driven fantasy, while rhythm beats back against the demonic advancement of our worst impulses. From 1974, Colomach’s Cococun Gba Gounke finds the altitude at which human excitement is pitched, and transmits from those heights of ecstasy what is essentially a passionately modulated vision of a balance of both worlds. Polyrhythmic drums overlaid with an electric, psychedelic g...