9.5" Requinto I had made while in Cuba.

[ABAKUA]

Sup gente, here are some pics of my 9.5" Requinto I had made during my time in Cuba.
I did not want a finished 'brand' drum, I wanted a dirty, little back street, rustic requinto for rumba, something I would expect to find in a rum fuelled heavy rumba straight outta Havana Vieja. And thats what I went on a mission looking for. It had to be made of quality though, while maintaining its rustic Cuban authenticity.
We found such an artisan in Havana Vieja, he builds bata, tumbadoras etc out of his workshop/home on level 3 of a solar, bordering Los Sitios & El Cerro, Havana Vieja.

Below: My Requinto, along with the bata set my bro Tonio picked up (from the same fabricator)



Tonio's tambores Bata:




And below attachments are more of my requinto.

The pitch of its scream is unbelievable. You get that super high pitch bell tone like pop. The slaps come out like a whip cracking!

No alma in it for now, the guy didnt have the right steel for it, no drama, I can have it made here easy.

Pictured here with my LP's for height comparison etc.

Pictured here with my LP's for height comparison etc.

[PRDRconguero]

Very nice drum Abakua. Out of curiousity, how are drum prices at little shops like that in Cuba? Did getting it back home break your wallet?

[ABAKUA]

I paid 80 CUC (Cuban Convertible Peso ie Tourist currency) which roughly makes it to $86 USD or 63 EURO
Originally he wanted 120 CUC but between myself, Yunier (Conguero for Adalberto Alvarez) we haggled him down to 80.

For the Bata set, Tonio paid 270 CUC ie $291 USD or 214 EURO. Originally he wanted 300 CUC.

You gotta remember the average working wage is around 15 - 25 CUC per month. (or equivalent amount in Moneda Nacional - ie local National Cuban Currency - valued much lower than the CUC)

Top line professional musicians, in the big name bands average around 26-30 CUC per gig.

I went with the idea of bringing a drum or set back. So was prepared for something.. What I did was exchange one of my suitcases for a large conga bag which Yunier had, perfect swap cause he had a tour to Sweden not long after I had to leave, which he needed a suitcase for. So i stuffed the bag with clothes around the drum wrapped up and chucked all my fragiles inside the drum then refit the skin and hoops etc.. Was a little over the 23kg limit, It came in at 28 kg with requinto, clothes etc
That was even after giving away a whole heap of clothes and stuff I took to give away there.

Between that bag and my suitcase (which was also over in weight) I paid 120 CUC in excess baggage weight. Roughly $130 USD
My carry on bag was to the brim and killing me with its weight! but I snuck through un noticed!

Exchange rate based on current rate of 1.25 CUC per Euro. The average rate while over there was between 1.16 - 1.20 CUC per Euro.

[vinnieL]

Very nice requinto Abakua

[Omelenko1]

I imagine there are no trace of Vergaras left en la Habana. Any Coaba SONOCS that you came across? Hablame de las ricas mulatas con que vacilastes!!!!

Dario

[ABAKUA]

Vaya bro! Oye, the guy that made this drum owned a 14.5" Vergara super tumba, a 13" and had a few in repair there also. He had a 10" and 11.75" which were for sale also, but i was never going to be able to afford bringing them back.
Dirt cheap also.
Plenty of SONOCS, and Requena's easy to find. Many vintage drums in perfect restored order, some even in mint original condition, some wearing teh battle scars of many a heavy rumba.
AY MIMA, las mulatonas... por Dios...

[seisporocho1]

Great find Abakua! That's such a treat. By the way, I particularly like the Batas too. They are exactly what I'm looking for. The wood combo pattern is just awesome. Congrats on what sounds like a great trip!
6x8

[ABAKUA]

A few extra pics, these were taken the day I picked it up from Los Sitios. Shot in my room in Vedado.

[Bongobilly]

Hand made beauty's for sure! If it's OK with you i would like to post the pictures on my Facebook.

[ABAKUA]

Last weekend I took out my baby for its first open Rumba since being in Cuba.
Every Sunday there is a gathering called 'Rincon Cubano' (Cuban Corner) where its free entry, family environment, peña styles, Cuban & Latin American food, drinks, music, sometimes a live act, but open rumba all the time. I was invited to play quinto for the birthday rumba of a local Babalao's son.
Man, what a screamer of a drum. Forget about mic's!! this baby over powers everything! Tremenda Candela!
Hope to have pics soon, will post them up once they are sent to me.

[KING CONGA]

Sounds as if you have yourself a winner there ABAKUA. Do you think that you might be able to make a video of you playing this screamer and post it for us?
By the way, are you going to follow up with Matt about the other quinto?

[ABAKUA]

Sure, I should be able to make a short vid.
As for the Matt Smith one, I will be contacting him over the next few days to finalize shipping etc.
Had been holding off cause I had to find a new job upon returning from Cuba, payday is monthly and its only just hit.

[ABAKUA]

Here are some pics taken from the rumba @ Rincon Cubano last Sunday... Pls excuse the shitty quality of the pics, I guess someone had too much rum! hahahahaha.

[Mr. Conga]

ABAKUA BEAUTIFULL GOODIES U GUYS BROUGHT BACK FROM CUBA....TALK ABOUT AWASOME SUVENNIERS..

EXCUSE MY SPELLING..

I AM THINKING ABOUT GOING TO CUBA MY SELF TO PICK UP SOME GOODIES..CAN U.S CITIZENS GO JUST LIKE THAT TO CUBA, OR THE IMMIGRATION LAWS WITH THE U.S ARE STILL BAD?

ABAKUA CAN U TELL US IN WHAT TOWN YOU BOUGHT YOUR REQUINTO AND THE BATAS..AND FROM WHAT MAKER..
DID YOU BRING BACK ANY CONTACTS INFO FROM CUBA, WHEN EVER I TRAVEL AND I MEET ARTISANS, OF INSTRUMENTS I ALWAYS TRY TO GET THE CONTACTS INFO, I WANT THE SAME BATA SET.

I WISH ON YOUR REQUINTO THEY WOULD HAVE JUST STAIN CLEAR GLOSS IT, TO SHOW THE BEAUTY OF WOOD GRAIN, AND STAINLESS HARWARE, NOT BLACK..
I WANT THE MAKERS NUMBER SO I CAN ORDER ONE WHEN I HAVE SOME MONEY, AND GO PLAY SOME RUMBA WITH THEM!

[buckoh]

Mr. Conga, I just spent 2 weeks in Havana and can answer some of your questions. I entered Cuba through Nassau. Once in Nassau I flew on AirCubana to Havana. You have to book that flight through Nash Travel in Montreal. You'll need a US passport and a visa for Cuba. Nash Travel arranged the Cuban visa for me, I already had a passport. My traveling buddy went in through Cancun (for the first time out of 8 trips) and he won't do it that way again. Mexico only allows 25 cigars whereas the Bahamas and the US will allow 50. You cannot take anything into America that says "Made in Cuba" on it. I removed the cigar bands but, they were never brought into question. I also brought in a kilo of Cuban coffee beans without the original bag. I went to a lutiere (drum maker) and had a set of one piece bongos made for 100 CUCs (about 115.00 dollars). It didn't turn out to his satisfaction but, I did buy 13 nice nickle steel lugs for 2 CUCs each. I had all carry on luggage but AirCubana uses small planes and they check it for free. When I left, I flew back to Nassau and there the Bahamians do the customs check. I only had to fill out a form for the US customs and they did not hand search the bags. I think everything gets x-rayed. I did not list the cigars or the coffee. The Bahamian inspector surely felt the cigars and coffee because he rummaged around my bags. The only thing that interested him was a small paper mache` rumba doll inside of a dirty sock. The US customs guy asked me where I stayed and I told him that my best friend owns property on Eleuthera (true!). You shouldn't admit to being in Cuba. Things are more lax now but, it's against the law. If you want info on where to stay and what to do, PM me. We really never left Havana. We had a nice room in the barrio of Havana Vieja for 35.00 CUCs a night and breakfast for 3.00 a day. These were friends of my buddy and they took good care of us. Their son turned us on to some good Cuban cigars(tabac) for an excellent price. No counterfeits, real Cubans. There's more counterfeits sold to tourists than genuine ones. The Cubans are wonderful people and they certainly know how to have fun. We had some favorite hangouts and got to know some musicians. Every bar has a band and they don't play blues or rock 'n roll. Strictly autentico Cubana! I sat in at the Bar Monserrate and also at the Rumba Callejon de Hamel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKp4MACz ... re=related My buddy knew the lady dancing here and she cleared me to sit in on quinto! Buck