While researching the Kampala-based record label Hakuna Kulala, I came across a track that caught my attention with its synth sounds which seemingly mimicked African djembe, talking drums and other percussion, such as woodblock. The polyrhythms on the track were another element characteristic of African music.[1] However, those similarities are not surprising at all, considering that the artist’s name is Afrorack and the piece is called “African Drum machine”.
Afrorack is both the name of the first Africa’s built-from-scratch modular synthesiser[2] and the artist name of Bamanya Brian – the Uganda-based musician who created it.
The Afrorack synth consists of a clock divider, low-frequency oscillator, envelope generator, sequencer, voltage control oscillator, filter, voltage control amplifier, white noise, analogue cowbell, snare, hi-hat, and closed and open hats.[3] Toms, clap, wood block, and other percussion. Another section is an analogue reverb unit, which Brian mostly uses for smoother transitions between sections of a song. An additional element to his set-up is a controller from Arturia called Beatstep Pro, which serves as the first step in Afrorack’s workflow.
His songs are based on live-recorded improvisations on his DIY synth. He starts with a patch kick drum and then begins to layer and modulate the sounds on top of it by changing pitch control, envelopes, and filter in real-time.[4] A singular analogue music instrument, not even run through any digital audio workstations, may not seem like a lot but having this limit shows just how much one can do with enough creativity. Not to mention that limitations helped Bamanya’s musical career progress from just a strong interest in music[5] and electronics to performing at various music festivals. He decided to assemble his now-famous synthesiser out of a lack of money and resources in Uganda to afford any foreign modular synth.[6] By building his own instrument, he got a chance to be in charge of which sounds he would get and to create the ones that would be the most suitable to celebrate African music.
To summarize the ethics behind his work, there is something he said in spring 2018: “Our heritage does not come from Detroit, Chicago or Berlin – but from our own musical traditions. I am convinced that the next electronic music revolution will take place in Africa”.[7]
[1] Anku, W. (2000). Circles and Time: A Theory of Structural Organization of Rhythm in African Music. Music Theory Online, [online] 6(1). Available at: https://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.00.6.1/mto.00.6.1.anku.html#:~:text=The%20drum%20ensemble [Accessed 15 Nov. 2023].
[2], [6] Kirn, P. (2020). Afrorack and Africa’s first DIY modular synth make some wild, delicious grooves. [online] CDM Create Digital Music. Available at: https://cdm.link/2020/01/afrorack-first-african-modular/ [Accessed 15 Nov. 2023].
[3], [4] Afrorack (2019). Africa’s first Home made Modular Synth. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov2sEfUv1XY [Accessed 15 Nov. 2023].
[5] Perrier, M. (n.d.). Arturia – Bamanya Brian AFRORACK. [online] www.arturia.com. Available at: https://www.arturia.com/stories/brian-bamanya [Accessed 16 Nov. 2023].
[7] Pan African Music (2022). The Afrorack, first experiments on DIY modular synthesizers. [online] PAM – Pan African Music. Available at: https://pan-african-music.com/en/afrorack-album/ [Accessed 15 Nov. 2023].