Angamania on VHS

[congastu]

I was looking at getting Angamania from Amazon recently, but was put off by the possibility it wouldnt be compatible with British VHS.
Did anyone this side of the water get the video and if so did it work ok?
Thanks in advance, stu

[mjw]

Hiya - I got it a while back direct from MIM - i believe that they give the option of PAL on the order.....

http://www.mimfilms.com/miguelangadiaz1.html


Hope that's of use.


A word of advice - although the video shows some fine playing, I didn't find it to be very useful as a learning tool, compared with Giovanni's 'Conga Virtuoso'.

It'd be interesting to hear what other people think.


Cheers!

[congastu]

Thanks, MJW !!!

[Johnny Conga]

As I have stated in a previous post,though Anga is a very proficient percussionist, he is not a "teacher". Basically he is "showing" you his skills ,but not showing how he got there. That seems to be a problem with some "musicians videos". "You might be able to play but it don't make you a teacher", my quote. Teaching first requires a "method" besides an outline of what you teach . Even Giovanni has not shown how he got there besides the rudimentary stuff he "shows". We all know it takes "practice" to get there. Gio's answer is "ten minutes". But I love him anyway!.....just to sit and watch him play is a learning experience.....but there are others on the way up and there moving fast.....you'll hear about them very soon.....if you haven't already.....There is so much to learn today. In my day we didn't have videos, or cable,or satellite,or PC"s, so for you guys out there today you have a bit of an advantage to learn, but for me "ol skool", and I am a product of the "first skool" from the "ol skool", was just as good a learning tool for me as you guys have today. But "personal instruction-mentor" to me is the way to go if you can find that mentor that can "teach" you. My 2 congas...JC JOHNNY CONGA... :;):

[congastu]

The whole subject of teaching and the appropiate tools is an interesting one. My own teaching calendar has gone crazy this year [Im actually taking a break come august to concentrate on the performance side a little bit more] and what I find is that the more you teach the more you learn.
What I am seeing more and more is that different kids respond to different methods: for some, counting works; others learn through phonetics and with some learning rhythms as phrases does the trick- in some cases it even helps to describe things through the medium of dance. "Different strokes for different folks". As a result, I really try and hold myself back from saying you must do this or that and, instead try to stay "you can think of it in this way" etc,etc.
Now, a lot of kids in my youth orchestra come from fairly rough backgrounds- some are as young as 7 or 8, and already gangs, guns and violence are part of their life. Sometimes a bit of "old skool" discipline goes a long way, but sometimes its counterproductive- all they need is a bit of gentleness. The hard part is to balance these two in a way that shows you as being fair and balanced with all. However, the one thing that is universally true is that if you can go in and INSPIRE them, give them all your passion and energy for what you do, make them see how enjoyable it can be, you are winning.
When my old teacher, Tito Guevara, lent me his Hidalgo videos I didnt get on to everything at that time, but it showed me the possibilities and I was INSPIRED. Equally importantly , I could now start to visualise ways of playing that I couldnt get from just listening. On djembe and drum kit, its perhaps easier to break things down that you hear, but things like heel-toe movements and positioning of quinto/conga/tumba means that conga rhythms often have a lot of "disguise" and videos can really help with this. Now Tito was a great teacher... but there are only so many Angas and Hidalgos and if you want really want to reach that level, seeing and hearing can only help.Id heard Anga quite a lot before I actually saw him- but when I did something clicked- all subliminal things like how he sat, how he held himself, expressed himself, the movements of his hands.
I suppose what Im saying is that we constantly learn from those around us, whether they are our peers, tutors or even students and some of this might be lost if you put all of yourself into just the one teacher or just the one method. The more tools you have, the better youll express yourself!!
As for Angamania, I hope above all else that it is inspiring!
Peace and love
Stu