AFRO Percussion

[umannyt]

Any instrument, regardless of the wood ( or fiberglass )
is a gift that allows us to be a conduit for music.
In the end that's what counts.

ISAAC

Hear, hear!

[umannyt]

But to sound less "New Agey" -
I will quote an old saying
I once heard from an Advertising man -

"There's taste for the Masses,
.... and
Taste for the Asses"

Have a great weekend and play some music.

ISAAC

Isaac,

Absolutely luv it! I'll definitely steal this quote from you and that Advertising man! LOL!

You have a great weekend yourself,

[Mike]

Isaac,
The now "vintage" Afro conga you might have read about here viewtopic.php?f=14&t=4318 might be mass-produced, but I must say the sound is amazingly mellow and dry - not what you would usually expect from
a rubberwood a.k.a. Thai oak shell.
In other words, the "taste for the masses"should be differentiated into "upper" and "lower" level..
Speaking congas: I mean LP Aspire or Performer series are by far less valuable in sound and quality drums than, say,
LP Matador series or the Afro conga I have just bought. Even the quality of the skin - integral part, as we all know -
is quite different in this case compared to what you often find. Still - a skin upgrade would improve the sound still for sure.
Agreed, Siam oak+buffalo heads produce a somewhat predictable sound - but not necessarily a bad one... Not always.
Being no conga pro whatsoever, I might be one from the mass, but important for me is this: Using this conga (which cost me only 140€ incl. MEINL stand!) as a complement to my four-conga setup, I can play on five congas now, i.e. I will be trying to practice Anga´s incredible patterns from ´Angamania´! I just enjoy plaing.

At the end of the day (or rather the beginning of the weekend ) I do like your statement very much:

Any instrument, regardless of the wood ( or fiberglass )
is a gift that allows us to be a conduit for music.
In the end that's what counts. (...)
Have a great weekend and play some music.
ISAAC

I can only say thanks, the same to you, Isaac & Manny T.
God bless & take care

Greetings
Mike

[percussionist]

hi i am a percussionist and i perform on afro percussion now for 22 years now its my kind of percussion instruments especially the fiberwoods series has a great sound and the elite series form afro are incredebility perfect for me would not perform on no other brand afro percussion for me numero uno

[KING CONGA]

hi i am a percussionist and i perform on afro percussion now for 22 years now its my kind of percussion instruments especially the fiberwoods series has a great sound and the elite series form afro are incredebility perfect for me would not perform on no other brand afro percussion for me numero uno

First let me say, welcome to the forum percussionist. It's always nice to have new members and i am sure that you will greatly benefit from some of the information here. Can you tell us how old your drums are, could you post a picture or two?

[percussionist]

my afro congas are over 20 years old and still going strong love the sound i have wood congas and the fiberwoods as i said before my brand will not perform on any other brand only afro whats called today pearl percussionist from the netherlands

[martin werkman]

here a picture from my afro,s,

greetings

martin werkman

http://www.myspace.com/martinwerkman

my afro conga,s

[holafejem]

Hi all

I recently got a 32" tall 12.5" oak afro tumba.. Does anybody have infos about these series? Just curious

http://img69.imageshack.us/i/145609.jpg/

[Ernesto Pediangco]

I just found AFRO bongo and the label says "Made in Thailand"

Once again, that does NOT mean that they are bad bongos,
but it depends a bit on the manufacturing date, the model
and of course the skins!
So just tell us a bit more about them, please.

A while ago, I detected these Afros at ebay and got a tip NOT to buy them:

post-2-30559-809a_1_b.JPG

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=927&hilit=+afro+primero+bongos

Do yours look like these, Roka?

WHO tiped U not to buy them ? U were mis led. All Asian Bongos made of same materials are the same more or less. These Afros had strong hard wares, and Valje looking shell design but stronger,deeper shells and the same heads as Lp, Pearl ,Tocas ( WTF ~ put on good heads & these bongos are equal to any thin out there ! ) Afro was sold...became Pearl But these Rims are better than the oversized Pearl comfort curve styed rims and not as widely separated. I prefer these to Pearl or Lp, The LP sound edges SUK & Swallow since they are sharp & hard on hands & on skins. Lp lovers are brain washed by consumerisim & peer preasure non sense. This model also came w/ a larger hembra that people rave about but only makes a difference if you are a player w/ large hands. In a blind test, only a Dogs ear may notice the difference because larger heads have mpore over tone ring. I want these Bongos ! I like that there is no chezzy gold tint or chrome plating peeling off ! Hook Me UP ?

[Ernesto Pediangco]

Afro Percussion was a small company originally from Belgium I believe.
They were bought by Pearl and continued with a very high quality.
Eventually they became more mass produced in Thailand. They were
quite strong and decent drums, but a bit heavy.
The marketing people at Pearl decided to
drop the Afro name. After slow sales, their marketing "geniuses" came to the conclusion
that Afro might be considered a racist brand name so they dropped it
... and they became the new Pearl Percussion
instead that we still see today. Maybe promotional workshops
may have been the answer. That was the genius of Martin Cohen & LP - to continuously
educate the players and thus bring in new players.
Pearl had previously tried to introduce their percussion, but had no
success, even though their products were good. Sometimes it's just
a perception problem, since Pearl had only been associated with drum sets.
There's no surprises with the Thailand made products - all the same wood
with a consistent sound. The only problem is the quality of the skins
as with most commercial made "brands". If one happens to find early
Afros, you're getting a much better product. At one time both
Orestes Vilato and Armando Peraza were endorsees, but dropped out
when the quality went down.
~ ISAAC

I love the info & comments Issac ! I agree the Asian made Afros were a good product as Asian made companies all share standardised materials & sizes. The Orestes Vilato endorsed Timbales were very COOL, a % lug design w/ great shells & hard wares But I did not like the mounting stand set up. It took decades before LP & Pearl caught up to the Vilato model ! The Afro & Pearl side lug plates on Congas share the hole template as Meinls have. A 3 rd hole had been added but is cause of concern since 3 in line holes weaken the drum shell & cause cracks. I am looking for Afro / Vilato Timbales to retire my beloved Rogers " Morales" model to preserve them. Gon Bops & others are going to a 5 lug but The Afro shells match my Afro / Leedy Hybrids I built w/ 6 lugs per shell. ( picture enclosed )

Ernestos Hybrid timbales.jpg

[Ernesto Pediangco]

here a picture from my afro,s,

greetings

martin werkman

http://www.myspace.com/martinwerkman

l_6d88c9986271b5860ba998ee1cc28e57.jpg

NICE ! I remember Afro's from Asia had better matched & slightly thicker heads than Lp & sounded more traditional sounding than the thin Lp sound & did not use the white strethed till dull heads that Lp & Meinl used for a while. These Afro Fiberglass shells must sound great ! Good for you ! I have a set of Afro wood quinto & conga w/ black powder coated hard wares. The Quinto is strong enough for a thicker Mule skin & it is excellent sounding ! Now I will either change the conga head to match or trade them for bigger bellied Meinl Conga /tumba set & change those Asian heads to JCR mule skins or L & H mule skins.

[Ernesto Pediangco]

I just found AFRO bongo and the label says "Made in Thailand"

Once again, that does NOT mean that they are bad bongos,
but it depends a bit on the manufacturing date, the model
and of course the skins!
So just tell us a bit more about them, please.

A while ago, I detected these Afros at ebay and got a tip NOT to buy them:

post-2-30559-809a_1_b.JPG

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=927&hilit=+afro+primero+bongos

Do yours look like these, Roka?

These Bongos were great, as good as ANY Asian made & I'd play these before I'd ruin my hands on Lp's sharp edged bongos. The crown rims are strong, the shell is an enlarged version of Valjes shells. All they need is better quality heads !