congaplace.com

Not sure if this is right forum but I was looking at some bongo playing and ran across this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFOGLc4sbKk&feature=related

Bamboo/Bambu

Can somebody explain what and how this bambu instrument work ( 2nd player from the right ) ? Makes for a very unique item and the musician later that plays the 2 items as a bongo on cajon is quite interesting also.

Simply Bamboo Cane.
I notice he drops the bamboo to accent where a kick drum would normally strike. In the second clip he also does this while playing cascara on the stand during the verse. He substitutes the place of a timbalero. To me its appears a blend of Changui and Son.

"Caña" means Cane in Spanish.

I have never seen these bamboo son instruments before, but the titles tell us what they call them:
bajo de cañambu and bongo de cañambu. I also noticed the maracas de cañambu. Amazing, very creative approach to the son.

This instrument looks very similar to the instruments used in "Tamboo Bamboo" from Trinidad (the roots of the Steel Pan). They would take various lengths of bamboo and pound them at different times (hocket). Here's some info i found on the web:

http://www.nalis.gov.tt/music/TAMBOOBAMBOO.html

and a modern version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyA6mzejofw

It's called a guitar... (kidding)