Syncopation, Dancehall & Coldplay
How an African rhythm became the centre of mainstream Pop
There is a rhythm that you might not know the name of but would have heard hundreds, if not thousands of times before. Like many rhythms in Pop music today, this rhythm has its roots in Africa but can be found all over the world.
This rhythm? It’s called Tresillo. See if you can hear it at the beginning of Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’.
What about in Coldplay’s ‘Clocks’?
Sound familiar? It should be. The Tresillo forms the basis of many of today’s pop songs. It’s so catchy, simple and effective that it’s almost harder to hear a song and not recognise it. From Sia to Muse to The Cat Empire, musicians of all sorts use this rhythm. Why? To take a note from Steve Jobs; it just works.
Tresillo, the Spanish word for ‘triplet’, occurs when there are 3 microbeats played during the space of 2 macrobeats. In traditional African music, the Tresillo is played as 3 evenly spaced microbeats in a triple-meter pulse, i.e. 6/8. But over time, the Tresillo has been appropriated into Western music. The 3 microbeats are no longer evenly spaced and are more often played in a duple-meter pulse, i.e. 4/4
We know that the Tresillo easy to find in today’s music, but what exactly is its purpose? Well, to understand how the Tresillo tesselates with music and why it’s so common, we first have to understand the concept of syncopation.
Part 1: Syncopation
Syncopation is not a rhythm per se, but a style of rhythm. If you want the needlessly complicated definition, syncopation is:
“A disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm, a placement of rhythmic stresses or accents where they wouldn’t usually occur.”
But that definition is a little too wordy. I like Hal Galper’s definition better.
Syncopation is merely playing music in such a way that it feels light, bouncy and with movement. One instrument, e.g. the drums will emphasise the pulse, while another instrument, e.g. the keys will overlay complex rhythms at the same time, complementing the rhythm of the drums. Syncopation is the vessel for a ‘musical conversation’ between instruments. And this conversation makes people want to move and dance.
Take ‘Billie Jean’ for example.
When the bass and drums start, there is no syncopation; both instruments are playing a constant stream of 8th notes. There is not much ‘conversation’ as they’re playing the same rhythm.
But when the keys come in? Boom! Syncopation. The rhythm of the keys offsets the bass and drums, complimenting them. Suddenly the song has momentum and movement as the rhythms tessellate.
For a visual representation of syncopation, here’s the part of the melody of ‘Kids’ by MGMT.
The first half of melody just plays on the downbeats in unison with the drums, sounding very ‘ploddy’ and without movement. But the second half of the melody occurs on the upbeats, playing against the drums. The act of these notes occurring when the pulse does not creates syncopation.
These are just my examples of syncopation, but it’s easy to find it almost anywhere. Pull out a song at random from your own music library, there’ll be syncopation in there somewhere.
So, what does syncopation have to do with the Tresillo? The Tresillo is naturally syncopated, having a mixture of downbeats and upbeats. Listen again to ‘Shape of You’. Does it feel light and bouncy? Does it make people want to dance?
So this rhythm, the Tresillo, permeates a lot of the music we listen to through its natural inclusion of syncopation. But where exactly did it come from, and how did it develop to what know today?
We start our journey many centuries ago in Africa, the origin of most western rhythms.
Part 2: Timeline & Development of the Tresillo
The Tresillo originated from sub-Saharan Africa. When African people were brought to Cuba on the Atlantic Slave Trade, they brought this rhythm with them. The fusion of African rhythms into Cuban music created, you guessed it: Afro-Cuban music. As well, the Tresillo fused with a specific type of music and dance known as the Cuban Contradanza. This is the earliest known recording of the Contradanza.
During the 18th and 19th century, the Contradanza, now being influenced by the Tresillo morphed with a Cuban dance style which would gain international recognition: The Habanera. The Contradanza would often refer to the dance, whereas the Habanera would refer to the rhythm that accompanies the dance.
Now, we find the first significant development of the Tresillo: distinguishing between the Tresillo and the Habanera. Note the difference in the rhythms below.
Eventually, the Tresillo and Habanera as discovered by American audiences at the beginning of the 19th century. As Ragtime and early Jazz were developing in America, composers such as Jelly Roll Morton, James Johnston and Scott Joplin began using these rhythms in their pieces. Here’s the Habanera in one of Joplin’s early rags.
The Tresillo soon found its way into New Orleans’ Second Line; party music played by parading brass bands. The Tresillo fit perfectly with this music, as Second Line is known for its rhythmic, highly syncopated and upbeat nature. As mentioned, syncopation makes people want to dance. Does the Tresillo and Second Line make people want to dance? Just ask this kid.
We now find the second significant development of the Tresillo: distinguishing between the Tresillo and the Second Line rhythm. Note the differences below.
You can hear this exact rhythm in the clip. Take note of the snare drummer on the left.
From Ragtime & Second Line, grew Jazz and early Rock and Roll, each style of music bringing the Tresillo along with it. And American audiences of the early 20th century just couldn’t get enough of it. The Tresillo was complex enough to be interesting, simple enough to dance to and syncopated enough to make people want to dance. But this isn’t where development of the Tresillo stops. What happened next?
Let’s head down to the Caribbean.
Calypso, a traditional style of Caribbean music had already existed up until this point, eventually spawning Soca music. While these styles of music used rhythms similar to the Tresillo, they hadn’t yet reached American audiences.
But do you know what Caribbean music did reach American audiences
Dancehall.
In the 1970s, Dancehall was born in Jamaica, and along with it came the Dancehall rhythm (or ‘riddim’). Take a listen to ‘Dem Bow’, an early Dancehall track that popularised the style.
After the popularity of Dancehall took off, it inspired the creation of Reggaeton in the 1990s in Puerto Rico. Reggaeton eventually gained notoriety in the U.S and Europe through artists like Daddy Yankee and Tego Calderon. Eventually, it was common for elements of Reggaeton to occur in mainstream Pop songs, including those by Drake, Bieber and Dua Lipa
We now have the third significant development of the Tresillo: distinguishing between the Tresillo and the Dancehall rhythm. Note the difference below.
But wait, we’ve seen this rhythm before, haven’t we? It’s the same as the Habanera rhythm. But with one slight modification: The Dancehall rhythm emphasises the Tresillo
Here’s a visual timeline of the Tresillo compared to its 3 significant developments.
Having originated in Africa, developing over centuries through Cuba, Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica, before exploding onto the American market, changing the way we now listen to pop music. Today, these rhythms are found everywhere in all kinds of music. Why? Because the Tresillo is timeless. Musicians know they can use this rhythm to pack out bars, stadiums and arenas because people just won’t get sick of hearing it. Again, it’s complex enough to be interesting, simple enough to dance to and syncopated enough to make people want to dance.
The perfect mixture.
So where are we at today? Where can we find this globalised, syncopated phenomenon that revolutionises every style of music it touches? What has been the ultimate use of the Tresillo?
Come on, you knew this was going to end with Despacito.
If you’d to listen further to any of the music included in this article, be sure to check out the companion playlist I’ve compiled below. Happy listening.
