Dexterity and speed in bongos playing

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Dexterity and speed in bongos playing

Postby Beatnik07 » Thu Mar 04, 2021 3:33 pm

I am wondering how much speed and dexterity are critical/required to qualify as a capable bongos player, and to be able to competently play afro-cuban music with bongos.

These examples below are quite varied and I am sure there are plenty more, but all emphasize an extraordinary ability for speed, precision and dexterity. I suspect that these abilities are gained through life-long intense practice (for which, in my case the boat has long sailed away).

So here is a truly candid question:
to reach and achieve speed, precision, dexterity with bongos (maybe not like these examples, but as much as possible along these lines), is that required for being considered a good (or decent) bongos player ?



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Re: Dexterity and speed in bongos playing

Postby Chtimulato » Thu Mar 04, 2021 6:34 pm

Hello.

My answer is no.
Bongó players are like drummer or guitar players. You don't need to be a "Lucky Luke of the bongó" to be a good bongosero. Since you live in France, you'll understand the joke and the allusion. :)
For our foreign friends, it's a well-known comics character here, the cow-boy "who shoots quicker than his own shadow" :

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Charleroi_-_Parc_%28station_de_m%C3%A9tro%29_-_Lucky_Luke_-_l%27homme_qui_tire_plus_vite_que_son_ombre_-_c%C3%A9ramique_-_01.jpg/1920px-Charleroi_-_Parc_%28station_de_m%C3%A9tro%29_-_Lucky_Luke_-_l%27homme_qui_tire_plus_vite_que_son_ombre_-_c%C3%A9ramique_-_01.jpg

These guys' technique comes from intensive practicing, of course, like Anthony Carillo, but if you look at or listen to Dandy, Clemente "Chicho" Piquero, Yeyito, Papa Kila, Chucky López, you know that they are masters too.

I don't mean that the the guys you're quoting are bad musicians, but they appear more as "sportsmen with stamina" to me.
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Re: Dexterity and speed in bongos playing

Postby Siete Leguas » Thu Mar 04, 2021 10:27 pm

Personally, I don't find particularly pleasant to listen to musicians playing their instruments extremely fast. It might be impressive or whatever, but it usually kind of stresses me out and I can't enjoy the music.
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Re: Dexterity and speed in bongos playing

Postby Thomas Altmann » Thu Mar 04, 2021 11:19 pm

Speed: - optional; however, it's a good thing to be able to handle any tempo that may come up, which does not necessarily mean being a speed wizard.
Precision: oh yes!
Dexterity: You'll have more fun playing if you feel you could do anything that comes to your mind.

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Re: Dexterity and speed in bongos playing

Postby jorge » Fri Mar 05, 2021 3:22 am

Not my style. They do have well practiced techniques but they have lost the traditional magical and beautiful sound of the bongo and the role it plays in giving the song its sabor. They sound more like timbale players trying to get something for free by applying those roll techniques to the bongo. Same thing happened with congas a couple generations ago and only a few of the best (eg, Changuito, Anga, Geovani Hidalgo, Joaquin Pozo) managed to retain some degree of sabor and clave without going totally techno. Try playing clave along with each of them and, if you can even hold the time, you won't hear the typical clave/macho bongo interplay that makes bongo de son (and even some salsa) so tasty. More like random pops, sometimes with some hint of rhythm to it.
A different way to do speed, which I like better but which is harder to learn, is to keep the accents within the clave feel and use the rolls and "fancy shit" to give more flavor to the sound.
Listen to Orestes Vilato's bongo solo on Patato's San Francisco tiene su propio son.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx1dbd0Tpqc

His speed is impressive, considering the sound he gets from the bongo is so clear and you can hear all the important hits over a band. Can't say the same for the firecracker guys. With Patato, Orestes and Changuito, canta Fito Reynoso, Rebeca Mauleon on piano, John Calloway on flute. But in addition to Vilato's speed, the sabor and precision of his playing all contribute to his mastery.
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Re: Dexterity and speed in bongos playing

Postby jorge » Sat Mar 06, 2021 4:45 pm

Antolin Suarez "Papa Kila" was one of the best and most influential bongoceros from Cuba, played with Arsenio and later Chappottin. A few years ago Fidelseyeglasses posted a great sampling of some of his work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68CiSTQydYI

Note the distinct absence of "fancy shit" including rolls and flambuoyant fireworks. Obviously old school but his playing was respected and admired by just about everyone.

Note at 16:16 he threw in a beautiful rumba of Conjunto Guaguanco Matancero, also from the '50s. Although it is quinto instead of bongo, it is not off topic since it continues the themes of superb phrasing that complements the song as a whole, perfect placement of tasty accents, super precise timing, and great restraint and control amplifying the feeling. These are basics that tend to get lost when things get overly technical with many of the modern "masters".
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Re: Dexterity and speed in bongos playing

Postby Beatnik07 » Mon Mar 08, 2021 9:41 am

Thanks for all these thoughtful replies !!!

It alleviates a bit the pressure on newbies like me to acquire or emulate this type of playing.
it's already difficult enough to master accents, ghost notes, keeping the rhythm, and last be not least, learning those martillo variations !

:)
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