Rhythm: A Dance in Time

by Netherlands) Tropenmuseum (Amsterdam, Elisabeth Den Otter (Editor)

Rhythm is produced in "natural" as well as "cultural" ways. Natural rhythm is not controlled by man, no more than we can control the ebb and tide of the ocean, the rising and setting of the sun, the seasons of the year, or our own life cycle, heartbeat or breathing. But what man does with his body may become a cultural fact: the way we walk, work, dance, sing, make music and decorate objects. In music, rhythm is the organization of time in units. In visual arts rhythm refers to the arrangement of regularly recurring motifs. Rhythmic cycles in the music of the Islamic world are illustrated in the correspondences between the art of sound and the other arts: poetry and musical rhythms are related to geometrical patterns and calligraphy. In South Indian music, the analogies between rhythm, woven patterns and symbolic figures are striking. Weaving patterns reveal themselves as they emerge from the loom or unfold before the discerning eye, just as a listener delights in the patterns gradually perceived by the mind, and not merely received by the ear. The symbolic meanings of motifs and colors are an expression of the relation between man and the cosmos." Rhythm, A Dance in Time" explores all these aspects of rhythm: rhythm to be heard and rhythm to be seen.

196 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001