Just Tata guiness opinion???

[joaozinho]

I saw a documentary named" lucumi",whith the great Tata guines.He said that if you dont learn the drums after the age of 10 you will NEVER have the skills and the fluid movements in your hands.I Have the deepest respect for the Maestro Federico Aristides Soto Alejoà, and of course that is good to begin early,but there are good musicians(Funny I dont remember anyone)who begins later.So what should I think from Tata declaration.????


sorry for my poor inglish

[davidpenalosa]

There are many professional congueros who began after the age of ten. I currently don't make my living playing drums, but I began at the age of 21 and it has brought me so many wonderful things.
-David

[JohnnyConga]

I started at the age of 6 on bongos and went to Congas at 14...ps...Im 61 now and still playing "JC" Johnny Conga

[Thomas Altmann]

At 17 I started playing drum kit. (Tony Williams joined Miles' band at that age!)
I added miscellaneous percussion at about 22, played timbales in a Salsa band for the first time when I was 25. I became a conga player at 27 and didn't become seriously involved in bongos before I was 31.
I started playing batá when I was 34. I had started practicing chékere a couple of years before.
Today I'm 55, and I play all of these instruments; not as good as someone who would just focus on one of them, and certainly not as good as somebody who started, let's say drum set at the age of 2 in New York (like Buddy Rich), or congas at 6 in Güines (like Tata) or at 5 in San Juan (like Giovanni H.).
And I still play the drum set, too.

Honestly, I'm missing the time when children usually learn all the stuff that is appropriate for childhood, as much as I wish I had had a regular education at a conservatory later. I might be a better reader, for instance. But on the other hand, when you start learning an instrument at the age of 17, you know what you are doing; you are much more conscious of yourself, your life, and the world around you. And I find that, not having attended the conservatory, I have developed a much more direct, immediate relation to my instrument and to the music I play. I know I still have some artistic qualities that are slowly vanishing from the globe, and I surely sound different from today's conservatory-schooled drummers. In short: I think I'm glad that I did what I did, and I wouldnt want to make anything differently, if I had the chance.

I am professional now for 31 years, and I have played some real good performances in my life (and some not so good; but at a decreasing rate). I don't think that anyone gives a s--- about how old you are as long as you play the way you are supposed to. And neither do I believe that starting at an early age is what guarantees your professional success; success depends on other factors.

Thomas

[ABAKUA]

Is this the same documentary about the young boy 'Lucumi', which jams out with Tata on the rooftop of Tata's Havana apartment, which ends with Lucu playing 5 congas with 3 bataleros behind him (one of which is Pancho Quinto)?
If so, I also have this documentary and Tata does not mention anything of the sort.
Tata would always say its never to late to start playing. Although yes, the earlier you start the better.

[joaozinho]

Is this the same documentary about the young boy 'Lucumi', which jams out with Tata on the rooftop of Tata's Havana apartment, which ends with Lucu playing 5 congas with 3 bataleros behind him (one of which is Pancho Quinto)?
If so, I also have this documentary and Tata does not mention anything of the sort.
Tata would always say its never to late to start playing. Although yes, the earlier you start the better.

Hello Abakua!!
yes that's correct,it is that documentary.In fact you dont heard Tata saying that,is the narrator of the movie that atribues those words to Tata,and of course it must be true,otherwise Tata would agree whit the scene? Of course that there is no age for learning,and the early the better,I think is p art of is carismatic personnality,make some exagereted declarations.

[joaozinho]

I started at the age of 6 on bongos and went to Congas at 14...ps...Im 61 now and still playing "JC" Johnny Conga

Hello Maestro!!
the first time I learn the tumbao was whit one of your videos,thanks so much!!!!

[pavloconga]

I saw a documentary named" lucumi",whith the great Tata guines.He said that if you dont learn the drums after the age of 10 you will NEVER have the skills and the fluid movements in your hands.I Have the deepest respect for the Maestro Federico Aristides Soto Alejoà, and of course that is good to begin early,but there are good musicians(Funny I dont remember anyone)who begins later.So what should I think from Tata declaration.????


sorry for my poor inglish

I have that video, I have watched it may times and I don't recall either the narrator or Tata saying that.
Whatever is the case, I think it helps if you start early, but not everyone can start at that age.
You must do the best with what you have and what ever age you started at.

[niallgregory]

I also have the dvd and cant recall the statement being made by tata or the narrator ? It dosent matter one bit when you start in my eyes , im 37 and im just starting to play bass . I know for a fact if i dedicate some time and my energy to it i will achieve my goals .I might not become jaco but i will get out of it what i put in . I have been playing drums of some sort since i was teenager , first drumset , then samba percussion , then congas , then drumset again in my last 20 ,s . It all feeds into each other imho . The techniques might be different but the better i get at one instrument it has a positive influence on the otheres . Sorry for going off topic . Start playing or doing anything at any age u want .you get what you put in !

[joaozinho]

the documentary that i saw is whit a french narrator,he clear said that in the scene were Tata is playing whith the young boy "lucumi" at the rooftop in Havana,but is strange that nobody sax or ear the same thing???

[pavloconga]

That's the reason - the version in French probably differs somewhat from the version in English, which is the one I (and most likely others here) have.