congaplace.com

Hello everyone again .I told you I would put up another piece ,so I have ,as I was enjoying my new camera.
This is to demonstrate the good use of the harmonic note found in good congas.
I studied bougarabou, and this note is used a lot.some people refer to it as the overtone, and are always in the pursuit of dissing drums with this sound.personally I feel it is an added bonus used in the right way.listen for yourself and tell me what you think?
thanks for looking in advance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qku9SRze6bs

it would be good to have a discussion about this one.

vincent

Vincent, I love the way you've put this rhythm together.
And though I'm one of those who generally "disses" overtones in conga sound, I can appreciate when the tones are used well. In my opinion, the type of sound really is secondary to the musicianship of the player. It's how the player uses what they've got.
Again, nice work.

Dave

interesting clip, thanks for posting.

Vincent,

Absolutely, absolutely love it and what you do with those VP's. Great groove I would love to emulate on 3 or 4 tubs.

Thanks for comments. Dave I totaly agree with you about how you use what you have.I think the note is there so why not use it in the best way.My tradition is neither African or Afro/cuban,however I have studied both and see how one relates to the other-- and not.The bougarabou which is basically a conical conga is played now in 4 or 5 drum set up.
the harmonics on the two top registar drums are used as much as the open notes. the tuning is in 3rds and 5ths ie D, F#,A,D2. the harmonic of the A is F#2 and of theD2 is B2 staying in the major scale of D.I know in Rumba the tuning is in 4ths so the harmonics might be irritating.
I have noticed that tuning each drum well to itself ie the harmonic note is the same as you go around the drum is vitaly important for this kind of playing.skin uniformity is another important factor ,which is why I used the fiberskyn on the left drum. Hey ho all good fun.
Vincent

Very nice. I enjoyed this. Thanks for posting.

Beautiful!! Very good sense of timing and fluid movements.The combination of tones are so well done,balanced and creative.The only negative side is the short video,I could listen that for hours.

Thanks for sharing!!