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KING CONGA Videos & Photos

PostPosted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 6:51 pm
by KING CONGA
During my recent trip to Arizona I had the pleasure of meeting Onile, Tony. One of the nicest guys you could meet, he received me and my cousin with open arms, even cooked a wonderful Puerto Rican dish, "pernil" and "arroz con gandules", Chacho!!! pero que platillo :P he said "It's pretty much traditional in our cultures that when folks bless us with their company, that we provide food and drink" say no more hermano you wont get any argument from me :lol: . As I walked into his house the first thing that caught my eye was his set of portable pearls on that awesome custom made stand, I could not help but to be in awe as I laid my eyes on the rest of his arsenal :shock: , all in the living room, Matt's, Islas, LP Patatos and 1 JCR/Mat, all of those wonderful tambores, each one just begging to be played. Once he said "go ahead Tocalos", it was open game, I took some long strides to the Matt's. sat on the throne and just felt them, the first live set of Matt's I've ever seen, or touched, wow, pero que tambor!!.
After chatting a good while, drums drums and more drums, he went into his room closet and pulled out one out of the three "FATS", man what a beautiful drum.
After the drool and the awe's he played on the Islas for me, pero chico!!!!!, man can that guy play, he really knows his stuff. He is also a teacher of the drum, man If I lived in AZ I would be taking lessons from him all the time. I could literally feel his love/passion for the drum and the Afro Cuban Culture. Man I was just soaking it in as best as I could. Another thing that greatly impressed me about Tony was when he said "the best challenge that we can accept in this life is to pass the torch (knowledge, skill set)", this to me spoke volumes about his heart, character and interest in teaching others.
You might be wondering why that Patato is upside down, that's the quinto, Tony told me that that conga had fallen one too many times, notice the small bottom, and he did not want it happening again.
Tony, once again, y con todo corazon hermano, gracias por todo, the videos, the manteca de corojo, but especialmente tu hospitalidad. Bendiciones.
Juan

Re: KING CONGA Videos & Photos

PostPosted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 9:34 pm
by onile
Alafia Abure King Conga!
Espero que todo este bien contigo y la familia!

Wow! That was a very nice write up of our visit together, Thank You!
It was actually my pleasure to have you and Sergio over. I'm glad you enjoyed the food and, obviously the drums. I had a blast myself, jammin' and sitting down talking with both of you guys. Please say "hi" to your primo for me whenever you get a chance, and don't be a stranger yourself mi amigo Juan!

I am really diggin' the jazz CD you gave me, some great tunes on it. Whenever you're in town again, give me a holler and we'll get together again for a jam.

I hope that you and your family have a very blessed and joyous holiday!

La bendicion!

Onile!

Re: KING CONGA Videos & Photos

PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 1:54 am
by congamyk
Image

A GREAT conga Christmas!
Great post, enjoyed reading it.
Brother Onile is a tremendous asset to this website.

I haven't seen a Fat Congas® brand in awhile.

Re: KING CONGA Videos & Photos

PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 2:58 pm
by debbie
Brother Onile is a tremendous asset to this website.

i totally agree, he's always been incredibly helpful whenever i had any questions/queries! a very nice set of pics, glad you all made such a good connection.

Re: KING CONGA Videos & Photos

PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 5:15 pm
by windhorse
Inspirational!! Thanks for that post!

Re: KING CONGA Videos & Photos

PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 5:41 pm
by Congadelica
I love snipetts like this , Thanks for sharing your meet with Onile . and wow what a collection .
I notice you have a Isla Poplar tumba the lighter coloured one , Im guessing this is for Guiro ?

M

Re: KING CONGA Videos & Photos

PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 8:14 pm
by onile
Alafia Abure Congadelica!
I hope that you are having a wonderful holiday season in your corner of the world!

As for the lighter tumbadora sitting next to my Islas, well that is the JCR that wasn't completed by Cali, so it was sent to Matthew to finish, and was I glad he did. In fact, I have the other two JCRs with Matthew at this moment to have them matched up to this one.

Many blessings Abure!

Onile!

Re: KING CONGA Videos & Photos

PostPosted: Thu Dec 10, 2009 10:41 am
by GuruPimpi
King Konga - waw, very nice post, you are a lucky man! Nice to get across this kind of post after a long time here and see how the good vibes between congafreaks are still around! ;)

Onile you are great! After sending you a PM I found this thread...
If I'm in Arizona or you in Slovenija - we meet! ;)

Take care and Groove On!

PimpS

Re: KING CONGA Videos & Photos

PostPosted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 11:55 pm
by KING CONGA
This is a link to a video of an event for which I put together a Latin Jazz group to perform.
It was a two hour set, truly the most fun I have ever had playing.
The whole experience was awesome, from finding the musicians to the rehearsals, arranging the group, man I’m still on cloud 9 :mrgreen:
I needed an extra percussionist and so 3 weeks ago I started to teach my friend Ed to play the Guiro and different cow bell patterns, he did exceptionally well for his first time.

Sorry for the quality of the video but it's the only one that I have come across so far.
Please tell me what you think.
Cheers
K.C.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ7E8tUe2xU

Re: KING CONGA Videos & Photos

PostPosted: Fri Sep 27, 2013 4:39 am
by KidCuba
Sounds like you had a great time, sorry I couldn't make it out. Been busy with work and the family. Congrats on a successful gig!

Re: KING CONGA Videos & Photos

PostPosted: Fri Oct 04, 2013 2:23 pm
by KING CONGA
Here is another link from our Sep 21st event showing a partial video of our Latin Jazz Ensamble playing Watusi Boogaloo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJPd7So ... ata_player

Re: KING CONGA Videos & Photos

PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2015 3:30 pm
by KING CONGA
My new Babies. Sound Great!!! After comparing the Originals to the Patatos I found that the Patatos are lighter and do in fact have a louder projection , they are also a little more comfortable to me for sit down playing being that I am 6'2" tall.