Abstract
The boundaries between what is categorically different and within-category variation are subtle, subjective and a might be part of the “secret sauce” that makes variable microrhythmic phrasing a hallmark of the swag in hip hop, neo-soul, alternative jazz and the likes. On online platforms, tutorial content for “using microrhythms” proliferate, and in the academic sphere microrhythm has become rhythm research’s mare incognitum. Here might not be dragons, but here there be dopeness…
At the inaugural Rhythm under the microscope conference in Vienna in 2024, Kjell Andreas attended a workshop hosted by drummer Jango Nilsen (Ansgar University College) in which the number 5 as rhythmic building block was unpacked. When the second Viennese microrhythm gathering was announced for autumn 2026, Jango contacted Kjell Andreas to inquire about maybe expanding the workshop context to encompass drumming and rapping together. It was what one might call an “easy yes”. This food & paper is an adaptation of the workshop material.
Basic groove concepts like swing and beat subdivisions will be prodded at theoretically, before we turn to specific artistic (and participatory and pedagogical) explorations of conceptual ideas based on 5s, anisochrony, “feels”, cross- and polyrhythms. First and foremost it’s a playful musicking session – and then we’ll see what it leads to from there.
Bio
Kjell Andreas Oddekalv a.k.a. Dr. Kjell a.k.a. Heile Norges Kjelledegge a.k.a. Kjelli Tuna is a rapper-scholar/scholar-rapper working as a postdoctoral research fellow at RITMO and the Department of Musicology. Dr. Kjell is also an active recording/performing emcee/singer/multiinstrumentalist in Norwegian hip-hop group Sinsenfist. His research revolves primarily around the analysis of rap – its musical structures, its arrangement and production, and its aesthetics.