Melorhythms

"Melo-Rhythmic Essence and Hot Rhythm in Nigerian Folk Music", by Meki Nzewi, The Black Perspective in Music Vol. 2, No. 1 (Spring, 1974), pp. 23-28 DOI: 10.2307/1214145 https://www-jstor-org.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/stable/1214145

"I use the term melo-rhythmic to refer to a rhythmic organization melodically conceived and melodically born. This kind should be recognized as having a different orientation than the kind in which the rhythm of a music has a more independent derivation and function. In West African folk music the rhythms of the percussion instruments are firmly rooted in the melo-rhythmic essence, not in the abstract depersonalised percussion function typical of Western percussive style." (p. 24)