conga cds?

[davidpenalosa]

To me, rudiments are an add-on to what I would call a "tipico" solo style that is largely based on quinto playing in Rumba, or on Bembe caja / Abakua bonkó style in 6/8. Even early bongo playing, like Papa Kila and Yeyito, or Changüí bongo-adlib takes from these sources, especially from Rumba.

I agree completely Thomas. I think of it as the "drum language". That "language" is often obscured by those drum rudiments that are a part of modern conga solos. To me, Changuito is very tasteful because his rolls are embelishments of that language; he just fills-in the spaces between the fundamental strokes. Some younger players who have not learned the fundamental phrasings sound like they are just doing rudiment exercises.
-David

[davidpenalosa]

... you have a piano player who digs people like Luis Perdomo and turns the guajeo upside down while you are soloing. I used to be annoyed by that and asked my pianist to kindly stick to his pattern, but I'd be happier if I could cope with it.

I taught my piano player how to seemlessly shift his timba montuno patterns and then suffered when he mastered that technique. Because I unconsciously followed the pattern like Pavlov's Dog. I had to focus so that I would not get led astray and get out of time by unwittingly displacing my tumbao. However, I'm philosophically opposed to shifting a piano montuno during drum solos.
-David

[Thomas Altmann]

David & group:

"Drum language" - exactly. The more you listen to a particular style of drumming (in this case: Afro-Cuban conga tradition), the better you become in identifying syllables and words, and learn how to build sentences. I use to teach impro-"patterns", fragments, and offer various directions to develop them into more complex structures. Combined with a corresponding listening program (which should not be a mere duty!), the student will be able to gain the facility to play with the material (hopefully). This last step remains an effort of the individual drummer/drum student; if he can't make this last step on his own, he just failed anyway.

Changuito: What can I say; one genius of modern percussion, not just Cuban percussion. A great drummer. I had the chance to take lessons from him on conga, timbales, and drum set for one long day. I got his videos from DCI. I'm still trying to get hold of more of his routines - or rudiments as he calls them. As a matter of fact, I was almost addicted to his concept of playing for several years until I decided to get back on my own alley and rather be an inferior drummer, but be myself. I think the turning point for me was when I heard a (rather bad, interrupted and abridged) recording of a percussion performance that he did in Berlin. There I heard all of his stuff in the context of his musical mindwork. And there it still made another kind of sense, gained a more musical quality. It was just the man I was listening to, not mere patterns or routines.

So the only way to keep up with the great drummers is (oh, didn't we know that before?) - sing your own song. Respect them, love them, try to imitate them in their honor, but make your own contribution at the end, even at the risk that it won't become as earth-moving as theirs. They want to hear from you (from you)!

Now, how does this attitude go together with a traditional approach?

- For the musical artist, there are endless possibilities from the vast number of rhythmic figures and combinations, of sounds, and all musical parameters, which you can play at any time. However, sooner or later we realize (hopefully) that only a portion of this vast repertory is useful in a given musical context, in a way that it blends harmoniously with its milieu. To find out what sounds good and makes sense, studying the respective tradition is a good and natural guideline. Remember that most, if not all of those drummers that we admire today, have done that. Traditionalism doesn't necessarily mean you are imprisoned in an eternally defined artistic area with unalterable rules and second-hand worn up material. It means knowing and loving what has come before us and going from there, as opposed to cluelessly and arbitrarily producing something out of nowhere, which deserves no other attribute than just "new".

Greetings,

Thomas

[Johnny Conga]

I heard last week that "Changuito" has lost one of his legs to Diabetes....I haven't been able to confirm it as of yet......."JC" Johnny Conga....