Hi JC,
I hear you, but rather than a real disagreement between us, I think the confusion is between what type of rhythm the song is and what rhythm the conga player is playing. In Aqui el que baila gana, I agree that what Manolo is playing on congas we today would call tumbao. But the song itself is a songo. Besides the fact that Juan Formell and Changuito called it a songo on the album cover, the use of a modified bateria, with placement of the kick accent on the bombo and the snare part, the piano montuno, the bass line, the lack of bongo and the overall style all are more songo than salsa, son, timba, nueva onda or any other named rhythm. Changuito was experimenting with triggered drums, which give the song a different sound. One of the things I didn't like about Manolo's playing in the early 80s was that the patterns he played in songos were more like a stylized tumbao than the rumba style of Joel who preceded him as the tumbador of Van Van. Should we call that conga part songo or not? Seems to me it is his style of playing songo, even though it is a stylized tumbao. So you may be right with regard to the conga part, but regardless of what some of us here think, there is more to life (and to the songo) than the conga part. Or maybe not...
Check out Manolo here. Changuito's solo was so long Manolo stopped smiling for a minute there. Still songo, but Manolo's tumbao on congas really swings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je5bChxa ... re=related