Requena bongo's

[skinslapper]

I read a nice article Requena 'Bongo's


any my complain, nag but here are facts that you should know about the Cuban bongo known as Requena . One of these is a copy the other an original
""A bit of history on Candido Requena, Candido Requena at the age of 35 was a bongo player that played with a Casino De La Playa back In 1930 later with Conjunto Kubavana. He is was also responsible for the making of one of the most popular design in the Cuban bongo that is still used today by many company's. He also made numerous conga drums for friends and fellow drummers of that era which later were copied due to the quality of his designs also. It is also said that in the 50's when Candido passed away many artisans copied his design in bongos which are readily found today and name to be Requena when in fact they are not but well made copies.Artisan's made perfect copies which are found today but a true Requena is very hard to find. Requena Bongos were made to perfection very much like other manufacture Gonzalo Vergara an other manufacture. The difference one from the other one used Walnut the other use Ceder wood.Both made solid shell bongos.

Artisans like Luis Gonzalez , Raul Travieso Scull , Bienvenido Guerra , and a few other's Manufactured same design and many were sold at stores among one, In Havana Cuba Solis music. After Candido Requena passed away they put disclaimer notes on drums made by other artisans and named them there own, Yet the design was created by Candido Requena, A very similar situation between JCR and Caribbean Rhythms. In 1959 all this came to an abrupt stop with change in government but still a few original and copies model managed to get to this country by way of artisans that left Cuba and Manufactured them here in US.

How you can tell its not a true Requena ? Note lobs on a true Requena were no more than 2'' long copies come with lobs 3-4 inches long and spread out farther out. Plus one other aspect Requena made solid shell and the copies all made of stave. All Requena original bongo came with markings of serial like numbers on each drum. All the copies came with disclaimers from The Solis music store and if you note no name that says it was made buy Candido Requena. Candido Requena bongos had a logo inside drum in a form of an pair of glasses marked inside the drum.

It has been a well kept secret of this talented artisan, Also believe that Carlos Patato Valdez and Candido Requena to be ones the first to add hardware to a bongo and conga drum after a conversation on drums and how to better the tuning system. Candido Requena also believed back in that era that the size of a bongo should have been 6 1/4 and 7 1/4. You will find odd sizes made of stave from 5' to 5 3/4 on smaller drum to larger drum in a 7 to 8''. All these odd sizes were made by artisans after Candido Requenas death and know to be out there as to Requena Bongos just for the design.

Candido Requena made very few bongos himself the same concept with the conga drums that he made. Finding the few that in reality were made by Candido Requena is a treasure hunt. Many copied his design, this why you find so many with slight differences in hardware. Many were made with larger lobs than others due to that manufacture did not have the correct specks of his designs. Today the Bongos are found in novelty tourist stores In Spain ,Venezuela and in Mexico








Sorry the pictures i've taken with a camera from the monitor ...

[Psych1]

Usually considered good form to identify the "original" author - even though we can probably guess.

Seems like a mixture of good correct history and misinformation written for a malicious purpose.

[RitmoBoricua]

Usually considered good form to identify the "original" author - even though we can probably guess.

Seems like a mixture of good correct history and misinformation written for a malicious purpose.

Probably trying to convince some poor soul to pay $900 dollars for some bogus bongos with bent rims
or with a very bad decal drawing on the shells.Don't trust too many things from that camp, lots of
malicious and bogus information. I do not know why bother to re-post it here, most of us know better.

[Omelenko1]

I brought Candido Requena and Gonzalo Vergara information to this forum over 10 years ago, it was information provided to me by elders such as Mongo, Alfredo Farach and Diego "Mofeta" Iborra, who knew both of these artisans personally and dealt with them often. Now all of the sudden you got so called "experts" stating all kind of allegations without presenting facts and documentation. Who knows what's up.

[bongosnotbombs]

Sounds like the source is leedy/cuco/fuastino cruz, a questionable resource at best.

[RitmoBoricua]

I would not be surprised if we see somebody claiming to have
the first bongo Candido Requena made and bought it from this
famous NYC collector and saying it got to be true because the plate
on the center block said so........ LOL

[Thebreeze]

A lot depends on if it was kept in a Safe.

[RitmoBoricua]

A lot depends on if it was kept in a Safe.

thanks for the reminder, yes the magical safe that prevents aging
and deterioration.....

[FidelsEyeglasses]

"Candido Requena bongos had a logo inside drum in a form of an pair of glasses marked inside the drum".

I'd love to see that "logo", has anyone ever seen the logo referred to, or does the original poster of this thread have an actual photo or example of the "glasses" logo?
Additionally, the three photos shown at the bottom of the original post in this thread... is the original poster saying those are actual Requena's or those three were made by "other" makers (no captions corresponding to the three photo's)?

[Psych1]

My Requena collection. No eyeglass logo. No doubt as to who made at least 2 of them.

[bongosnotbombs]

very nice collection!

[FidelsEyeglasses]

My Requena collection. No eyeglass logo. No doubt as to who made at least 2 of them.

Very Nice collection.
I had a pair exactly like those tack heads, unfortunately I sold them on Ebay 7 years ago.