i’ve been trying to make a sample/loop of this incredible Ethiopian pop song from the 1970s for the past 6 hours. and not getting anywhere. the thing is, i can’t tell if i am behind the beat or ahead of the beat. i can’t seem to get in between the beat, and maybe that’s what I need.

the beat is eluding me, yet i am completely mesmerized, transfixed even. but this time thing is so beyond me.  i get so close to it, but then am suddenly way way off.

that’s the problem when you do everything by feel, with no sense of mathematics.

i do have a sense that the original undigitized musicians were not really thinking mathematically. nor were they stuck on a grid. as i often am when i am trying to find patterns. rhythmic patterns. melodic patterns. color patterns. geometrical patterns. behavioral patterns. psychological patterns. my grid doesn’t know how to adapt to any possibility. it is still learning.