Bongos Not Bombs

One thread per person please. Feel free to share with us your photos and video clips from your gigs, jams, rumbas, etc etc. No random clips or images, this is a section for our members to post up and promote their own projects and adventures.
Forum rules
One thread per person please. Feel free to share with us your photos and video clips from your gigs, jams, rumbas, etc etc. No random clips or images, this is a section for our members to post up and promote their own projects and adventures.
Lets keep it positive.

Re: Bongos Not Bombs

Postby congamyk » Sat Feb 28, 2009 6:11 am

wow fantastic photos... really would love to hear the group in the first photo!
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Re: Bongos Not Bombs

Postby bongosnotbombs » Sat Feb 28, 2009 4:06 pm

congamyk wrote:wow fantastic photos... really would love to hear the group in the first photo!

yeah that was a fun little band, sadly we broke up, the lead guitarist quit, and the other guitarist was his
best friend. We had fun, a couple of small gigs. I learned that leading a group is a lot of work even for a
band that small.
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Re: Bongos Not Bombs

Postby KING CONGA » Sat Feb 28, 2009 4:48 pm

Thanks Geordie, no doubt having a blast :mrgreen: Does this type of gathering/event take place on a regular basis? where in San Francisco is this place?
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Re: Bongos Not Bombs

Postby bongosnotbombs » Sat Feb 28, 2009 6:07 pm

KING CONGA wrote:Thanks Geordie, no doubt having a blast :mrgreen: Does this type of gathering/event take place on a regular basis? where in San Francisco is this place?

This rumba happens every other sunday, 1st and 3rd sundays, at 22nd at Valencia 2-6.
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Re: Bongos Not Bombs

Postby bongosnotbombs » Fri Mar 27, 2009 2:49 am

Had a fun little session down at Ocean Beach today, Iyesa, Abakua, Rumba Columbia, a little Bomba, Bembe Agwe, of course.

This nice man came by and paid us a compliment, then he asked us what we were going to play next, "Abakua" I said to be polite, "a rhythm belonging to a secret society in Cuba"......Well he grabs the bell and starts playing. Turns out the man was Marcus Gordon, one of the very first players of bata in New York and David Penalosa's teacher at one point. He used to play with John Amira as well.

Hey, how was I supposed to know? :oops:

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I'm the "golfer", James and my friend Matt from NY.

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Marcus Gordon
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Re: Bongos Not Bombs

Postby davidpenalosa » Fri Mar 27, 2009 3:20 am

Thanks for posting that! I've been thinking about Markus a lot lately. I've got to contact him and catch up.
-David
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Re: Bongos Not Bombs

Postby taikonoatama » Fri Mar 27, 2009 4:19 am

Yeah, that was funny today. Dude was just checking us out, grooving on things, and during a break comes over and asks what we were going to play next and after Geordie told him Abakua (and politely explained to the guy what it was), the guy asks if he can play bell and we hand it to him and he plays the standard Abauka bell and I knew right off the dude knew what was what, and then he starts singing in Efik (well, I couldn't swear it was Efik, not being fluent in the language myself :wink:, but he was singing (wonderfully) in an African-sounding language) and I was thinking, who the hell is this guy? Seems like I would have seen a guy this good and knowledgeable on the local scene, but I hadn't. After we stopped playing I introduced myself and asked him his name. "Marcus." A light bulb turned on in my head. "Marcus??? Marcus what?" "Marcus Gordon." Ahhhhhhhhh... now all of this makes sense. I've heard his name mentioned by many people over the years, always with great respect. Grew up in NYC and an integral part of the group of American drummers who learned bata from recordings in the 50's. Moved to San Francisco in 1969 and was an pioneering force here on the Afro-Cuban folkloric scene for many years as a teacher and player. Was the founder (or one of the founders) of the annual SF Carnival in the Mission District (has done a lot of Brazilian percussion and was the Carnival director for 15 years). Real warm and down-to-earth guy - we talked with him for quite awhile. Sadly he's had some problems with one of his hands and hasn't been able to play for some time.
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Re: Bongos Not Bombs

Postby davidpenalosa » Fri Mar 27, 2009 5:46 am

James,
Those pics made my day! Marcus was definitely singing Abakua songs. He turned me onto the inner-workings of bonko, quinto, bembe and most importantly, bata. I don't know how I could have done it without him.
-David
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Re: Bongos Not Bombs

Postby ABAKUA » Fri Mar 27, 2009 2:02 pm

Man thats a cool encounter. 8) Thanks for the pics, I can almost hear the rumba. :)
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Re: Bongos Not Bombs

Postby bongosnotbombs » Sun Jul 05, 2009 5:30 pm

A couple shots from a performance at La Pena Cultural in Berkeley.
This night was an evening of mixed performances. Basically La Pena
has several music and dance classes and this was a night of performance
with each of the classes having a spot.

This is Sandy Perez's Afro-Cuban class. We are being helped out by the great
dancer Jose Francisco Barroso who sang and danced, and by Pili from Isla Percussions
helping out with bell. Sandy is directing from in front of the stage in white.

I'm on the end playing the requinto. We performed Palo, Iyesa in 4, Iyesa in 6 and
Comparsa. I played high drum for all the rhythms.
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Re: Bongos Not Bombs

Postby bongosnotbombs » Sun Jul 05, 2009 6:17 pm

.........
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Re: Bongos Not Bombs

Postby ABAKUA » Tue Aug 11, 2009 1:00 am

Shit yeah! 8) You are so fortunate to have such a fantastic source like Sandy accessible to you.
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Re: Bongos Not Bombs

Postby bongosnotbombs » Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:15 am

A recent jazz gig at a coffee house. The Skin on Skins just have that classic look to them.
and the mellow sound of the cherry wood is so perfect for jazz.
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Re: Bongos Not Bombs

Postby Tonio » Tue Aug 25, 2009 3:28 am

SOS' Lookin' sweet G man !

The cherry SOS would be perfect for Jazz. Looks like you had a good time! :D

What was the set up/tunes? I see 2 guitars there I suppose you basically had to hold it down eh?

T
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Re: Bongos Not Bombs

Postby bongosnotbombs » Tue Aug 25, 2009 4:04 am

Tonio wrote:SOS' Lookin' sweet G man !

The cherry SOS would be perfect for Jazz. Looks like you had a good time! :D

What was the set up/tunes? I see 2 guitars there I suppose you basically had to hold it down eh?

T

That's one of those new fangled 5 string bass guitars to the left of the picture. The congas are really
suited to the laid back sound these guys have . Front man was playing sax and flute.
We did some bossa (negro orfeu), afro-blue and bebop. We also have a featured poet we back on one of the
numbers.
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