It Took Seconds

Five minutes and fifty-one seconds: I know nothing about this track - “Keteke” by Jean Pay Ramazani - other than it’s from an album called Africa Connection Vol.1 - Zaire Choc - and that, like everything else on that album, it’s sublime. I want, like most dilettantes, to explore, understand and differentiate African pop music more. More germane to this project, I think one aspect of that will be understanding the structure of its songs, and that includes their length. Song length is part of the grammar of pop: dealing with anglophone pop, of whatever style, I have an unspoken understanding of what a long or short song is within that style and the kind of use that implies. I don’t have that sense of grammar with African music and it’s as much a barrier as the language and context.