I have a friend ..Raul Berrios who is there he can teach you conga bongo and thai chi .........He is playing around Stockholm, with a trio or a quartet, he also plays dumbek and odd time rhythms. HE IS MY BEST FRIEND!....email his son -Gabriel first to reach "mi pana" [email].....forzman_metal@hotmail.com....the[/email] last number I had of his is .....004646253410.....I believe it's his cell phone....just tell him you spoke with me , Okay?..... "JC" Johnny Conga....
BTW WELCOME TO OUR FAMILY OF DRUMMERS!.....you willl earn a lot here. Go thru the site, lot of info....tell us a bit about you.....peace....and let me know if and when you reach Raul......."JC" Johnny Conga....
Thank you What a nice welcome! I will certainly check out this forum often!
Maybe I will contact your friend!
I am a 42 yr old music loving telecomm engineer that started to play the conga just a few months ago. Why? I don't know really--a sudden inspiration combined with a good deal in a music shop, maybe! Of course, I have listened a lot to Santana, Weather Report and such jazz/rock with latin influences, and have considered conga a cool instrument.
But the main reason is perhaps that life is short and I wanted to take the opportunity to do something new and fun!
So now I have added congas to the list of instruments that I play--poorly but enthusiastically!
I also play guitar and keyboards poorly.
I bought Poncho Sanchez Conga Cookbook which is excellent to get started to learn basic rythms. Then I also play along to a Poncho concert DVD. Fits well to the rythms I just learned!
I live in in an apartment, but I have very tolerant neighbors. One of them even lent me his djembe!
They think it is fun that I play congas--except once when I had to demonstrate my new skills to friends after returning from a party at 1.30 in the night !
So I am not, and never will be, a professional musician or even a very good amateur I am afraid, but I will have fun. And learning a new instrument opens up a new musical world and you suddenly hear congas everywhere! My CD collection is growing as a result!
I make steady progress, but of course I had to go through many basic things myself that a teacher maybe could fix in a short time: proper tuning, proper slap sound, etc.
So a few hours of basic training would be very nice to get the basics right.
Hi Conga Aficianado....here is Raul Berrio's number i just got it from his son in Stockholm, so forget the first one I sent you.... 46-704-103982....that is his cell phone....I just called it but he didnt answer ,just his answering msg....Let me know when u hook up with him. You will not be dissapointed,a make a great friend with him too.....he is a beatiful person, and a "giver"....."JC" Johnny Conga...