Mike,

I have been listening more to the bass & percussion of songs on the radio lately (Oz, Triple-J radio, alternative modern pop/rock in all its variations, so not much mainstream *really* commercial music).

A few years ago I bought an Egyptian doumbek and had some lessons, and also spent 2 separate weeks at a Camp Creative summer arts camp playing an African djembe in a fantastic drumming class with an Oz man called Chinta. There were African dance classes run by his female partner Chese and so we worked with the dance class towards putting on an item in the final concert - great experience, but unfortunately they live about 10 hours drive up the coast form here otherwise I'd be still learning.

So, ever since I have been becoming more aware of the fundamental importance of the percussion in making or breaking a song. I'm also aware of the basic percussion nature of a lot of African or African-inspired melodies or bass riffs. Only this morning, while listening to a song called Donna on a 10CC Greatest Hits CD I found myself listening mostly to the bass riff which changed every few bars from from a sort of Fats Domino bass to a faster rhythm and then another rhythm - all within only a few lines of the song. It made a simple song into something interesting & more complex.

Helen