bongosnotbombs wrote:If there was a required tuning for congas wouldn't conga rhythms be written to
reflect that as timpani music is? With the tumba written on the G line, conga on C, etc?
bongosnotbombs,
First of all, whoever said that there's required tuning for congas? Where in what I wrote did you read that? I made it very specific in my last response to taikonoatama that all the tunings I mentioned are "suggested" (not required) general tunings.
bongosnotbombs wrote:I can't think of a single reason why a conga would ever need to be tuned to a certain pitch like G for example.
I'll give you one: Raul Rekow, current conguero of Santana, tunes his quinto to a "D". Again, not as a requirement but as a harmonic preference. Why? Because many of Santana's music begin in the key of "D" or "Dm". My cover band plays, among many others, Santana music. I like my congas (I use up to 4) to sound like Raul Rekow's. Therefore, I tune my quinto to a "D" as well.
Here are a few more other reasons: Sue Hadjopolous (one-time percussionist for Joe Jackson Band), Scott Crago (substitute drummer/percussionist for The Eagles), conguero for Malo, conguero for Tower Of Power, etc. I've listened and studied many of the songs that had them and they all seem to have their high drum tuned to either a "C" or a "D". In addition, they all have at least a lower drum that's tuned a 4th or 5th below.
bongosnotbombs wrote:What happens when the next song is played in a different key?
Then your keep tuning as they are. It's unreal and ridiculous for the rest of the band to expect you to change the tuning of your congas to match the key of each song. The rest of the band knows and understands that the purpose of congas is more to add rhythm rather than melody to a song, unlike with guitars, bass, keyboards and horns which carry several full scales of notes.
It's exactly the same as with kit drums. The components of kit drums are tuned to certain pitches/keys. In fact, DW marks the specific key that a drum is suggested to be tuned inside its shell. Now, no one expects drums' tuning to be changed just because the next song is played in a different key, right? Again, it's unreal and ridiculous.
Note that I'm talking mainly from the genres of music that I and my bands play: Pop, Disco, R&B, Funk, Rock (including Latin Rock) and even some Jazz (Fusion). These genres evidently have different traditions as far as conga tuning is concerned than those for folkloric Afro-Cuban music. To insist that one follow the other's tradition and vice-versa is myopic thinking.
Now, I wonder how Johnny Conga tuned his congas when he used to play with Sergio Mendes & Brazil '77 and when he sessioned for several famous pop, disco or R&B artists for many years.
How about our Salsa-playing brothers and sisters on this forum? How do you guys tune your congas? Just curious.