What do you think style is? But don't think that Voduns and Shamans use just any old rhythm. They are very specific and calculating.Originally posted by webdog:
You can't be serious! Now it's sin based on a certain speed and pressure applied to the drum? You should join the Sanhedrin!
So style is everything. If you're dancing, you will move in a certain manner to a certain rhythm, and everyone else will move in the same manner though the specific movements will all be different.In Haitian Voodoo as in Africa the drum is holy. The drummer is seen merely as the servant of the drum -- he has no influence within the hierarchy of the religion, but through his drum he has great influence on the ceremony. Each loa [demonic spirit] prefers a fundamentally different rhythm, and the drummer knows them all and all their variations. He can often invoke possession by what he plays, though a drummer would never play a rhythm that would go contrary to the ceremony’s structure as set by the hungan or mambo.
(Ventura, HTLSM)
The "speed and pressure" for any instrument is chosen by the composer. It is a calculated, intelligent choice for the purpose of eliciting a certain response in the listener. It is an act, and we're told quite plainly that anything we do will be judged as either good or evil.