New Latin Percussion congas

[bongosnotbombs]

Boy, if Mongo was alive he would sue their ass. Falta de respeto!

If Mongo was alive he'd pound those flimsy drums flat! No way those souped up Aspires could stand up to Mighty Mongo!

[RitmoBoricua]

Remember back in the day them drums were not any studier than the LP Rumba and I am pretty sure they did not mount thick mules/cow heads,
them drums were on the flimsy side too, specially the ones with no hardware.

[Anonimo]

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

[Isaac]

If only the beginner conga players would actually go back, and have a listen
to the music of those masters in the ads; that would make these ads truly worthwhile.
Otherwise they are misleading, ( it's advertising, what else is new ) and
I hope the younger prospective buyers will dig a little deeper.
Distorting the true history is especially annoying to us , but part of normal advertising.
The aim of any company is to survive and get market share by all means open to it.
They seem to doing a good job hanging in there, while other industries
around us are collapsing. They should be mindful of their integrity, however.

I suspect, as Leedy mentioned also, this line is a direct competitve response to Gon Bops entry level congas also
with black cosmetic bands. There's nothing special about those Gon Bops either.
GB is also banking on the nostalgia factor...and I suspect that they're not selling a whole lot of them.

If they're at a lower price point they'll be bought by schools, and definitely in the
"good enough" category for beginners. I wish I had some of these kicking
around, back when I was a teenager in high school. I had a cheap mexican tackhead conga then.
A year later, I ordered some LP traditional hardware and mounted my first rawhide on it.
Steve is absolutely right, when looking at our overall economic environment, not
everyone has disposable cash for the best congas.

We are mostly connaiseurs of only the best of the best here..,but that's not
where the wider market. Let's face it...some people can be conga snobs.
If LP or Meinl, GB, etc had to depend on us
here, they'd be out of business. They're mission is to survive
and continue growing their market share. It's a business like any other....
except healthier and more fun than most! It's not weapons, oil, booze,
chemical, pharmaceutical, banking or tobacco.
There are plenty of bad guys you can go after, without kicking
the instrument company that put the most congas out there.
If you don't like an ad campaign,
or entry level product, hold out for what you do like,
or let their marketing people know.

We have to encourage the young players to
start on anything they can get there hands on....and learn.
If the learning sticks, in a few years they'll merit an upgrade
to a higher end instrument. This will only happen if they study and
learn. The best instrument is no substitute for knowledge
and creativity. Can you teach a beginner a slap or a tumbao on these
LP "rumba" drums. You bet.

Withought a serious educational branch of marketing, we're going to see the diminishing awareness of the conga
as a serious instrument in the future. I sadly have seen high school band rooms that
have congas collecting dust. They're also strapped for money now.
The state of Music Education should be addressed in a new thread, in my opinion.
It's under attack.

Isaac Gutwilik
musician / graphic design / public relations

[RitmoBoricua]

[quote="leedy2Note all they are using are the died [/quote]

I say LP and the distributor of them drums are just a bit out of line with the advertisement.

[RitmoBoricua]

Let's face it...we're conga snobs.

Not everbody here is a conga/bongo snob.

[Omelenko1]

To use photos of legends that have passed without the consent of their heirs is going too far. Rosita, Mongo's niece, is incharge of his estate and legal affairs, I will try to point this to her. Mongo had a standing civil suit againts that company, they could not use his name and/or photo in any of their advertising. They got Mongo, Marcelino Valdes (not Guerra), Mangual, Carlos Vidal, all founding fathers of the drum that have passed. Candito and Armando are their contemporaries but are still alive, why not use them. Once again they exploit the Latino, knowing that probably no legal hassel wil come to them on account they are all dead. I will contact Rosita, the administrator of Mongo's affairs. Maybe he would get better royalties than he did with "Afro Blue".

[Anonimo]

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

[RitmoBoricua]

In my opinion is very distasteful to use images in some cases of deceased people
that had issues with LP for whatever reason when they were alive. Ethically there
is somehting very wrong with that. I know Jose Mangual Sr. later in life endorsed LP
products but did Mongo ever endorsed LP products? It seems to me Mongo endorsed
other company products (http://meinlpercussion.com/percussion/m ... k-in-time/)
(http://meinlpercussion.com/no_cache/per ... 78/#item78). So it's
little deceiving of LP to have that photo of Mongo with LP drums.

[Anonimo]

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

[RitmoBoricua]

I am aware that quite a few people have had beef with LP's founder over the years.
IMHO is a hell of a thing to have somebody that knew nothing about the culture,
music and instruments made a fortune on other people's back and ideas but then
again what's new.

[Anonimo]

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

[RitmoBoricua]

I remember when LP logan was "The Originator" or something to that effect. I bet quite a few of the old timers socks went up and down a couple of times when they read that slogan.

[Anonimo]

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

[RitmoBoricua]

Yea that slogan came up when they were bootlegging LP drums and not really bootleg but what was happening they were steeling drum shells from warehouse and selling them in black market and putting other hardware Buy the Original LP

I remember that back in the 70's LP drums were very popular and in demand big time.
Yeah I can see people stealing the shells and selling them in the black market back in
the day. No doubt good solid drums. I always liked LP drums.