I BET NO ONE KNOWS WHO MADE THIS CONGA

Let's discuss about the origin and history of this beautiful instrument...

I BET NO ONE KNOWS WHO MADE THIS CONGA

Postby MACHO123 » Fri Apr 17, 2015 1:51 pm

I THINK THE ONLY ONE WHO MIGHT KNOW IS OMELENKO. WHO MADE THIS CONGA;

FullSizeRender (5).jpg


VERY INTERESTING HISTORY BEHIND THIS ONE! HERE'S A HINT;
-IT'S NOT A JUNIOR TIRADO.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THE PERSON WHO MADE THIS CONGA ALSO TAUGHT JUNIOR HOW TO MAKE HIS CONGAS. WE ARE ALL INSPIRED BY SOMEONE. YOU CAN SEE THAT THE HARDWARE ON JUNIOR'S DRUMS ARE SIMILAR TO THIS ONE.
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Re: I BET NO ONE KNOWS WHO MADE THIS CONGA

Postby MACHO123 » Fri Apr 17, 2015 3:38 pm

ANOTHER HINT;

-THE GENTLEMAN IN QUESTION ALONG WITH HIS BROTHER (ESPECIALLY HIS BROTHER) WERE HEAVY HITTERS IN CUBA AND AROUND THE WORLD AT THE TIME.
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Re: I BET NO ONE KNOWS WHO MADE THIS CONGA

Postby jorge » Fri Apr 17, 2015 4:06 pm

Probably Quique Rodriguez, Arsenio's brother and tumbador in some of his bands. Was it a tackhead originally?
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Re: I BET NO ONE KNOWS WHO MADE THIS CONGA

Postby MACHO123 » Fri Apr 17, 2015 4:48 pm

WOW JORGE YOUR CLOSE. IT WASN'T A TACK HEAD ORIGINALLY EITHER. DID QUIQUE GO BY ANOTHER NAME? I KNEW THE SECOND HINT WAS PRACTICALLY GIVING IT AWAY.
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Re: I BET NO ONE KNOWS WHO MADE THIS CONGA

Postby RitmoBoricua » Fri Apr 17, 2015 5:04 pm

MACHO123 wrote:BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THE PERSON WHO MADE THIS CONGA ALSO TAUGHT JUNIOR HOW TO MAKE HIS CONGAS. WE ARE ALL INSPIRED BY SOMEONE. YOU CAN SEE THAT THE HARDWARE ON JUNIOR'S DRUMS ARE SIMILAR TO THIS ONE.


According to this article (http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/arch ... qHTWV;;297)
written by Eddie Bobe some years back by the time "Natalio Tirado Ruiz "Junior" Master Drum-Maker"
joined Arsernio's Conjunto, Junior was already making conga drums in Puerto Rico. Perhaps Arsenio's
brother helped him refine his drum making skills. I have heard that while in Puerto Rico Junior was
greatly influenced by another Master Drum Maker named "Ismael Ramos". My question to you machito;
is this something that "Junior" personally told you or is it just something that you have heard from other
people besides Junior. Inquiring minds would like to know. Take Care.
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Re: I BET NO ONE KNOWS WHO MADE THIS CONGA

Postby jorge » Fri Apr 17, 2015 6:36 pm

I never met Quique but Gene Golden used to play with him a lot and always called him Quique when he talked about him. Googling Quique Rodriguez Arsenio's brother, there is a great picture of him playing with Arsenio in 1969 on Mark Sanders' website Fidelseyeglasses.
http://fidelseyeglasses.blogspot.com/20 ... -vivo.html
Unfortunately, the audio links don't seem to work on my computer, I would have loved to hear him play the Abakua and Yoruba music Mark posted.
Junior told me he used to play with Arsenio but he never told me how he learned to make congas. I would believe Eddie Bobe's account, Eddie knew Junior much better than I did, and making congas is something learned over a lifetime and from more than one source.
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Re: I BET NO ONE KNOWS WHO MADE THIS CONGA

Postby MACHO123 » Fri Apr 17, 2015 8:29 pm

DAMN. I JUST WROTE A WHOLE POST SUBMITTED IT AND IT DIDNT GO THRU. IT WAS ABOUT 4 PARAGRAPHS LONG :shock:

ANYWAY I'LL TRY AGAIN.

THE ANSWER IS:

RAUL TRAVIESO. EL HERMANO DE ARSENIO TREAVIESO RODRIGUEZ SCULL. EL SIEGO MARAVILLOSO.

YES RITMO YOU'RE RIGHT, JR WAS ALREADY MAKING CONGAS WHEN HE STARTED PLAYING WITH ARSENIO. HE MADE THE FIRST ONE IN 1960. HE STARTED PLAYING WITH ARSENIO'S CONJUNTO IN 1962. AND YES, HE WAS INFLUENCED BY ISMAEL AS WELL, BUT TO WHAT EXTENT. IF YOU LOOK AT RAUL'S DRUM, HIS AND JR'S HARDWARE IS VERY SIMILAR. ESPECIALLY THE SIDE PLATES. THE ONLY WAY TO TELL IS TO FIND A PIC OF HIS FIRST CONGAS MADE IN P.R. MAYBE I SHOULD'VE NOT USED THE WORD TAUGHT, ALTHOUGH IF SOMEONE IS IN THE PROCESS OF MAKING SOMETHING AND SOMEONE ELSE HELPS THEM REFINE IT, IN MY OPINION, YOU'RE LEARNING SOMETHING NEW, THEREFORE, THAT PERSON HAS TAUGHT YOU SOMETHING.

IM NOT TAKING ANYTHING AWAY FROM THE GENIUS THAT JUNIOR WAS. IN FACT, I HAVE NOTHING BUT THE UPMOST RESPECT AND ADMIRATION FOR WHAT HE ACCOMPLISHED WITH HIS BARE HANDS. TRULY AMAZING. AND TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION RITMO, NO JUNIOR DIDN'T TELLL ME THIS. GOD KNOWS I WISH HE HAD. THIS SAME QUESTION WAS POSED TO ME BY A FORUM MEMBER WHOM I HAD THE PLEASURE OF SELLING THE MINT VALJE BONGO I POSTED HERE TO. HE SHOWED ME THE PIC AND ASKED ME THE SAME QUESTION. I THOUGHT IT WAS AN EARLY JR. I WAS SHOCKED WITH THE ANSWER AND THOUGHT I'D SHARE IT WITH YOU GUYS TO GET SOME FEEDBACK. IN 1969 I WAS BORN RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER FROM HIS SHOP BUT NEVER HAD THE PRIVILEDGE OF MEETING HIM. I WAS RAISED IN A STRICT RELIGION AND SALSA MUSIC AND DANCE WAS FORBIDDEN ALONG WITH A BUNCH OF OTHER STUFF.

I STARTED PLAYING BONGOS THEN CONGAS TEN YEARS AGO AND FOUND A GREAT TEACHER 5 YEARS AGO AND MAKING GREAT PROGRESS. I HAVE TO LEAVE WORK RIGHT NOW SO I HAVE TO CUT THIS SHORT BUT GOD BLESS JUNIOR TIRADO AND MAY HE REST IN PEACE.
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Re: I BET NO ONE KNOWS WHO MADE THIS CONGA

Postby jorge » Fri Apr 17, 2015 8:58 pm

Well you made me do some more googling. Raul "Cesar" Travieso Rodriguez and Israel Moises "Quique" Travieso Rodriguez were 2 of Arsenio's 13 brothers. According to this post on Mark Sanders' website, that drum was made by Raul Travieso Rodriguez.
http://fidelseyeglasses.blogspot.com/20 ... iguez.html
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Re: I BET NO ONE KNOWS WHO MADE THIS CONGA

Postby RitmoBoricua » Fri Apr 17, 2015 11:14 pm

No problem, Machito. Is getting harder and harder to properly document
the history of some of our legendary figures, too many "stories" floating
out there. I bet Junior learned a great deal during his tenure with the
great master Arsenio Rodriguez. The first junior conga I ever saw was
back like in 1986; a friend of mine from Williamsburg, Brooklyn used to
bring his mahogany junior to our drum jams. Take care and keep on
drumming............
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Re: I BET NO ONE KNOWS WHO MADE THIS CONGA

Postby MACHO123 » Sat Apr 18, 2015 12:37 pm

That's correct Jorge. Raul Travieso is Raul Travieso Rodriguez. The same way Arsenio Travieso Rodriguez Scull is Arsenio Rodriguez. The fathers last name was Travieso and his mom's Rodriguez Scull. Arsenio dropped the Travieso surname and just used Rodriguez.
This was a lot of fun. At the end of the day it's just a trivia question. And like Ritmo said, a lot of stories out there. Like the one about Patato inventing the modern tuning hardware for the conga. We just have to do our own research
Ike Ritmo did. Just like I did when I was posed the same question. I did so to check its accuracy. It's the only was to pass down the correct information and also keep these people "alive" and relevant in history.
Thanks guys for participating. Till the next one. Take care. Que siga la Rumba!!!!
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Re: I BET NO ONE KNOWS WHO MADE THIS CONGA

Postby MACHO123 » Sat Apr 18, 2015 1:29 pm

Jorge,

I clicked on that webpage for Mark's website. Just so everyone knows. I got the pic and story from a forum member who happens to be a student of John Amira. I sold him the mint Valje bongo I posted on the Instraments for sale section. That's how we met. I'm actually going to call John today to schedule some lessons.
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Re: I BET NO ONE KNOWS WHO MADE THIS CONGA

Postby blavonski » Sat Apr 18, 2015 8:17 pm

Thanks for the History lesson...
I couldn't hear the audio on FEG site either. Maybe it has to do with the age of the post, don't know.
Also, in the intro to that post Mark mentions that he didn't know what type of wood the drum was made of and that it was very light in weight.
Judging from color and the graim pattern as well as it being light in weight, I would assume that it is made of type of Cedar, specific to the Caribean.
Cedar is extremely stable and highly resistant to water and sun light as well as insects and it's easy to work.
Good Vibrations,
Mr. Blavonski
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Re: I BET NO ONE KNOWS WHO MADE THIS CONGA

Postby MACHO123 » Tue May 12, 2015 12:56 pm

Hey Blavonski;

How are you man. I'm sooo curious as to what happened to that Cuban requinto you were restoring and had in that vinegar bath. Did you get to finish the project? If not, how far along are you? If you are finished with it, can you post some pics of it. I wish I was restoring it with you. It looks like a very challenging project which is right up my alley. Are you selling it by any chance?
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Re: I BET NO ONE KNOWS WHO MADE THIS CONGA

Postby blavonski » Tue May 12, 2015 6:44 pm

Saludos Macho123,
I'm doin' good, thanks!
The Quinto or Macho Tumbadora as some would call it, is also doing good and I plan to glue it up this weekend.
I was hoping to get a cow skin from Cuba, but the person I know who was planning to travel home to visit had to suddenly change plans.
At any rate, here is a very unexciting Pic of the staves before repair work on them.
I'll post a Photo when there's more of a Tumbadora to see.
Attachments
DSC05062.JPG
Good Vibrations,
Mr. Blavonski
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Re: I BET NO ONE KNOWS WHO MADE THIS CONGA

Postby MACHO123 » Thu May 14, 2015 3:14 pm

Great job Blavonski. So the vinegar bath did work. Which glue will you use. I use Titebond lll with great results. If you have any questions that I might help you with please don't hesitate to reach out to me. I would have loved to be involved with that project. Bringing it back to life is an incredible feat. Good luck. Can't wait to see the finished product.
About the skin, you don't have to go all the way to Cuba. Manito Percussion has an array of beautiful skins. He's my skin supplier for Bongos and Congas. He's a great guy to deal with and HE always answers the phone and takes the time to speak to you and answer any questions you might have concerning skins and anything Conga. His drums are out of this world. I have a set on order right now and he's custom making some Bongo hardware for an HR bongo that I bought 15 years ago with the PR flag painted on it. I removed the paint to reveal a beautiful wood grain and decided his hardware would look awesome on the Bongo. I'll post pics when I get it back next month. Take care and until next time my friend.
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