a JazzShuggah song: Tigran Hamasyan - Entertain Me

Visual explanation of the song : Entertain Me by Tigran Hamasyan.
This song uses the same logic developed by Meshuggah, i.e.: the riff is truncated after 4, 8, 16 or 32 bars of 4 beats (and with the snare on the third beat of each 4 beat bar).
For a deeper analysis, check the full video in my main channel about Meshuggah : • MESHUGGAH et la MUSIQU...
Video created by Paul Lascabettes.
Contact : [e-mail]
#TigranHamasyan #EntertainMe #Mathémusique

[@pratikmali9277]

Omg it helped me so much to understand thanks for the analysis… For the last part, its similar the part where you colour coded as blue so its 5 5 5 5 3 3 3 3 3 But the first “3” is played differently than the rest so the last four 3s is giving me four vibes… he does this 3 times and after that there is quintuplets 4 times and it’s one long note at the end… there may be the influence of tihai there but it’s not exactly a tihai because for a melody to be tihai there must be an accented note at the end the repeating melody and that accented note of the third cycle in melody must lie in beat 1. For eg if the pulse cycle is like 1ena 2ena 3ena 4ena 1ena….. and so on Tihai can be abcde- where “e” is the accented note, “abcd” are some notes and “-“ is a rest, so it’s formatting is abcd e-ab cde- abcd e…. 1ena 2ena 3ena 4ena 1….(for comparison) So here e lies in 1

[@music_representations]

Absolutely!!! Thanks a lot for the explanation :)

[@kashhnotfound]

woah

[@vlrze]

nice! the "5" parts sound like 3-beat measures. so its like a 3/5 polyrhythm?

[@pratikmali9277]

@@vlrze it’s not 3/5 polyrhythm it’s quintuplet swing.

[@JoshuaNichollsMusic]

@@pratikmali9277I disagree. I think you can clearly hear 3 equally spaced subdivisions by the drums for each note played on the piano, which would make it a 3:5 polyrhythm (just for the 5’s, then its a normal set of 3/16 notes for the 3’s). Quintuplet swing would sound more uneven, like the 4 sets of quintuplets at the end. That has a very different feeling to the first part of the phrase.

[@alihijazi4451]

Dude, this has no business going THIS HARD. The breakdown got me headbanging at 2am alone in my apartment lol

[@selladore4911]

real

[@theangrycheeto]

me right now

[@peanutrbuckle9123]

“Has no business going this hard” 75IQ

[@Marzvpool]

I've been looking for jazz metal for 6 hours and I finally got it

[@esclrocks]

Listen to T.R.A.M., you'll like it

[@zactogepi6824]

Never thought that I would headbang to a jazz song

[@The_RedVIII]

This is like watching the hardest Guitar Hero song.

[@udomatthiasdrums5322]

yess... i love meshuggah and Tigran Hamasyan!!

[@Phunkophil]

Dude, if anyone can play this while counting it out in your head. Mad respect. At 1:28 something in my brain just breaks and I can't. Trying to go by feel, but that's still pretty damn hard.

[@sillynaplord3827]

I'm confident I could play it just following the pulse, but yeah I can't even imagine being able to count it!

[@Masood.Hassani]

Tigran usually Do somekinda beat box while playing but yeah we're talking about humans for sure :')

[@UkuleleAversion]

@@Masood.Hassani My tired brain just read "somekinda" as a new word. Thought you were talking about some konnakol-like rhythmic language that I've never heard of 😂

[@UkuleleAversion]

It's less difficult than you'd think. I'm a trash musician and I can follow the groove alright at a slower tempo. The hard part is not killing your right forearm from the relentlessness of the main riff. Useful tip: say "uni-ver-si-ty" or "ta-ki-te-ta-ka" for quintuplets. "Hipp-o-pot-a-mus" is way too hard for me to say fast but you may want to try that or "loll-o-brig-i-da".

[@miserirken]

Just follow the cymbal. It's on 4/4 for most of the piece (except the very end). And yeah, it just adds to the complexity of the whole piece, at it became a polymeter 'cause of that.

[@AmalieL323]

Улёт😊 Спасибо 🙏

[@SigmundKhebab]

2:57 the 3/16 pattern throughout the piece modulates to 3:2 (feel 3/4), and it has a nested tuplet with 6:2 and 9:2 (feel 3/4 8ths 3/4 triplets)

[@SigmundKhebab]

I just noticed the 9:2 is actually 5 pulses instead of 6... So it has a 12:6 and 15:5 feel. Or 2 bars 3/4 to 1 bar 5/4 with triplets. Easier to notate as tempo change rather than modulate to nested tuplets

[@JoshuaNichollsMusic]

I don’t think it’s a metric modulation - note the 4 sets of quintuplets at the very end, they are the same tempo as the rest of the song. I think it makes more sense to think of it as the same pattern as the rest of the song 5 5 5 5 3 3 3 3 3, but the 5’s are played with a 3:5 polyrhythm by the drums. The 3’s are just played as normal groups of 3 x 16th notes.

[@mikepostdrums]

Great video to visualize and understand what's going on. What a track! Some people in the comments asked how you count this while playing.. I can assure you Tigran isn't counting this, eventually you will just get the feel of a grouping of 2, 3, 5 etc. Count during practice if you have to, internalise the grouping or pattern, then let go. Counting = head, feeling = body.

[@rickhapstley3866]

Merci pour m'avoir fait découvrir Tigran, c'est monstrueux ce qu'il fait !

[@Amebinasbirulina]

I don't play any instrument and I know nothing about music, but here I am. I don't know how I get here... But this shit is awesome! My brain is trying to recover

[@BoolFalse]

amazing video man.. thanks for this hard work !! it's more like a JazzTOOL song.. Hamasyan is a musical genius !!

[@pam1974argentina]

I bless your crazinesssss... Thanks from Argentina

[@UkuleleAversion]

@Music Representations The coda continues to use the 5,5,5,5,3,3,3,3,3 configuration however a triplet is played within the space of the 5s. This is repeated three times. Then they played a series of four 5s without the nested triplets. Interestingly, this is the first section of the song that fully abandons the 4/4 framework uniting everything. The beat total for this section is 125/16 (35x3+5x4) which does not reduced to 4/4.

[@JoshuaNichollsMusic]

I would argue it actually maintains the 4/4 structure, as your count doesn’t include the last note played (the BOWW at the end). You could analyse it as 8 bars of 16/16 notes: the pattern as you described gives you 125/16 notes, the last note could be analysed as a dotted 8th note (3/16) that is tied into the next bar (which would technically start a new cycle, but as its the end of the song you can definitely get away with it). So even though the actual duration of the last note is more than 3/16 notes, you could say that it still completes that cycle in a conceptual sense. Hope that makes sense!

[@djentisnotagenre]

Absolute legend. Super helpful data!

[@aaronbarrett2615]

hell yeah dude, this was a great visual

[@con7rl670]

Amazing as always.

[@whackamole]

Mate this is legit. Well. Done.

[@vanandgasparyan1430]

Awesome work!!!

[@themarcoman88]

In the end it is the same 5*4+3*5 but the drummer plays 3 over 5, so it sounds like a metric modulation and after this is played 3 times it is just 5 for 4 bars

[@gypsyjazzmanouche-sebdo]

Super boulot mec, bravo 💪

[@ltousch]

Je ne sais pas comment tu fais pour décortiquer tout ça. C'est un travail de dingue que tu fais là !

[@music_representations]

J’y passe beaucoup de temps haha

[@mkwilson1394]

holy. crap. I get the groove! You rock.

[@massimo.pericolo.w]

ur my fav channel 😭

[@rifqiadjie323]

This is really helpful. Thanks!

[@GordonAitchJay]

This is dope as hell!

[@tiddly5]

the end (as i understand) is the same as the blue bit with a 3:5 rhythm playing for each chunk of five, and then only the first beat of the very last group of three playing very cool visuals! makes it very easy to understand

[@amadogandema3294]

quelle dinguerie j'en bave

[@StninkyBoi]

Anybody else notice that the groove throughout the song is broken down from 256 and the groove changes at 2:57?

[@UkuleleAversion]

Nobody did because that's not what happens. The groove is almost identitical, the only difference is that the drums and synth (using reverb or delay?) are nesting triplets within the 5s. Also, it's finished early on the fourth repetition with just the four quintuplets that start the riff.

[@manuelmagrini2105]

Greta work!

[@BenedictusEsDomine]

Brilliant!

[@thecrazzxz3383]

J'aime bien !

[@swiatlowiekuiste]

Crazy stuff!

[@-212-]

Merci !

[@user-qc7gj6ui8c]

Pazzesco sembra lo stile dei miei brani anni 90..giuro😂😂😂da nn credere

[@emmywillow6599]

the end of it is kind of a janky metric modulation thing instead of 555533333 we change to 666644444 (but they treat it more like 333322222 in eighth notes). It ends by going back to the 5s for four times and then one last hit to end it.

[@153bigfishes]

Cool, got my sub 👍

[@redshift9227]

For sure without those bass notes on the piano it would be very hard to keep track of all 35 beats consistently

[@Goettel]

You made it easy listening. Mostly ;-)

[@OscarMSmithMusic]

What do you use to make these? You're videos are great!

[@enijize1234]

Im out here trying to tap this right foot to the quarter notes and not lose that sweet melody

[@donwald3436]

It does my head in lol.

[@sola_is_chilling]

i think this might be the most complex song time-signature wise

[@arielkatz50]

Clearly it’s in 4/4

[@whirl.__.nix.__3840]

Tthhiiissss iiissss sooo coooolllll

[@jaydensydes3478]

i thought i was good because i could play this on drums, then i discovered what he's doing on piano.......

[@tomcallmusic4295]

Nice work! I’m finishing up my doctoral dissertation on jazz and metal and was hoping to use a still from this video in a section discussing djent rhythms, is it possible to get written permission from you to do so?

[@Alan_Gutierrez]

David Bennett brought me here

[@benlockhart8721]

I think at the end it's using a pattern of 6+6+6+6+4+4+4+4+3 but I'm not sure about the final bar

[@TheObedism]

His Armenian roots really bleed out in this song. It’s so foreign and refreshing to listen to.

[@I_need_some_air]

Dear Music Representation, can you breakdown the time signature of Tigran's new single "The Kingdom" next?

[@GavabundoFagundes]

This sounds like the ending of Meshugah Sum

[@deanrich666]

Animals as leaders be like:

[@mattlogan1]

actually this is tigran hamasyan

[@dedompler]

@@mattlogan1 yea no shit, you realize tosin and tigran have performed together on vortex right

[@SigmundKhebab]

Virgil Donati be like: Frank Zappa be like: Brian Fernyough be like: Bela Bartok be like: Frederic Chopin be like: (Unverified heretical artists in their bedrooms during the dark ages be like:) Random dude groovin in the desert on his congos be like: Olmecas in the Amazon on their space flutes be like: Homosapiens praisin' the Sun God be like: Placodermi population growth statistically analysed be like: Protein folds containing snowflake shaped fractal patterns be like: Gamma-rays blazing waves through the cosmos be like:

[@sommerohallock]

FINALLY SOMEONE SAID IT

[@Gabykk]

Si toutes les compositions algorithmiques étaient fournies avec ce type de visu mais imagine à quelle point les gens seraient scotchés sur ce genre. en tout cas je kiffe. Petite question : comment génères tu ces visualiseurs ? C'est un programme ?

[@music_representations]

Oui mais je fais tout le code moi même donc c’est assez long à faire :)

[@Gabykk]

@@music_representations quel crackito

[@MaxBerson]

I'm not convinced that Meshuggah didn't write this.

[@francobuzzetti9424]

please someone reach out to Tigran and let him know he's just making piano prog metal

[@caseymclane1972]

He knows! Tigran has cited Meshuggah as one of his main influences and has collaborated with the likes of Tosin Abasi on his most recent album

[@enijize1234]

Please someone reach out to Tigran and ask him to surrogate father my children

[@428yt4]

I can tap along to most of this fairly alright but when green+yellow hits my brain breaks

[@kamilble2441]

G e n i u s

[@flyingsteaks]

iirc at the very end they modulate to the 5

[@Bebopopotamus]

I always count this song 11111111111111111111111111111111111

[@selladore4911]

i dont envy music majors

[@SlyHikari03]

1:00 is the only part of the song where i can actually feel whats on screen.

[@marcuskruse1]

Who wants to have a go explaining this for me?

[@Mollusck.]

🤯 (cet emoji a été créé pour ça)

[@bh4261]

To whomsoever is headbanging to this try to listen to DRIP.

[@tgfjrfjfgjgfj]

Donc c'est quoi la Time signature ? 4*5+5*3+7 Mais oui c'est clair

[@music_representations]

4/4 :)

[@tgfjrfjfgjgfj]

@@music_representations ah bon ? Mais qu'est ce qui est représenté alors ?

[@music_representations]

Si on doit vraiment choisir une signature rythmique ça serait peut être plus simple de choisir 4/4 pour éviter de changer tout le temps (puisque les riffs rentrent dans 16, 8 ou 4 mesures de 4 temps et que la caisse claire est sur le troisième temps de chaque mesure de 4 temps). Mais je trouve ça plus simple de représenter la pièce avec les arbres rythmiques c’est pour ça que j’ai fait ces illustrations :)

[@tgfjrfjfgjgfj]

@@music_representations Ah d'accord, je pense que je te suis mais je suis pas sûr de bien comprendre. J'ai un peu de mal avec ça

[@quentinbonami1769]

@@tgfjrfjfgjgfj C'est l'arbre rythmique des phrases musicales. Il y a toujours un backbeat en 4/4 et les ruptures se font sur du 4/4. Donc... C'est probablement 4 temps à la noir. Meme si on a envie de compter plus rapidement... :)

[@ECL213]

4/4

[@allegoria222]

👀 🤤

[@ERRORRubiksZeraBrand]

U an cyrrently confused so hard right now, this is the truly most, confusing song ever in my entire life, i can't believe how i heard that one at 1:43, and the sheet music? well 256/16 time signature, definetly on the start 0:00. AND I'M NOT FINISHING THIS

[@duality053]

Bro what 💀

[@ayberkgungor1554]

this is not normal.

[@Jinjr322]

WTF

[@ernie5229]

This might have been something if it had an explanation.

[@dedompler]

it's literally right in front of you, count along or drum on your desk. do something interactive with it because otherwise it will never click

[@prepcoin_nl4362]

The explanation is that it's based on a rhythmic cell technique similar to Carnatic classical music. Basically, you have a series of fixed durations that we'll call rhythmic cells and then you just use and combine them as you see fit. So the opening for example, there are two cells, 5 and 3. So let A = 5 and B = 3. Then The whole opening is [[Ax4 Bx5]x7 ABB] x2 The next section continues to use the same cells and the third breaks adds a third cell, C = 2, which we can see as starting from breaking 5 into 3 + 2. And that's pretty much all there is to it. They seem to have employed the general strategy of always using cells such that the total of each section adds up to a multiple of 4, and each section before the piano solo has half the hypermeter of the previous section (i.e. 256, 128, 64). Whether that was from a lack of imagination or the drummer just really wanted to play in 4/4, I don't know. Frankly, this technique is ubiquitous in prog metal/rock and in early 20th century classical and there are much more impressive and interesting examples of it than this piece (though it's still cool)

[@Thallingsworth]

You're amazing. If you ever want to collab for videos, Please PLEASE hit me up!

[@quentinbonami1769]

Merci !