Berimbau wrote:I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying this thread!!! It would be nice to hear about some of the oldtimers who were crafting tumbas in the 1940's and 1950's, when the Cuban conga revolution really went international. Many questions still remain unanswered, so let me toss them to the wind in hopes of an answer.
1.) What happened to the initial popularity of the conical shaped conga drum from Santiago?
2.) Why did the barrel shape win out?
3.) Who really did create the first "tunable" conga?
4.) How were the tumbadoras first exported and marketed internationally?
5.) Does anyone in this forum know anything about guys like the Vagara brothers or Echotone's Frank Mesa? I do know that while it was still legal, Mongo bought some Vagara tubs back from one of his final Cuban trips. I've heard that was the model for the original Gon Bops.
6.) In the wake of the export of Cuban music and instruments there seems to have come a number of local reinterpretations throughout Latin-America. When did such local drum traditions as Puerto Rican bomba or Brasilian atabaques get displaced by Cuban tumbadoras?
Saludos,
Berimbau
Greetings Berimbau.
re: question #1 "What happened to the initial popularity of the conical shaped conga drum from Santiago?"
The "conical shaped Conga drum from Santiago" you are referencing is not a "Conga" nor is it a "Tumbadora".. it is called a "Bokú" (plural = "Bokúses", some people say Bokú's).
Before the so called Mambo and Cha cha chá "craze" of the 1950's, or the early to mid 1940's "Rhumba/Rumba" craze, there was the "Conga" craze that swept into the U.S. from Cuba in the 1930's and quickly became popularly inserted into American movies, often seen as a "Conga line" (a long snaking line with the hands on the hips of the person in front). You can see it in many 'Three Stooges' movies.. particularly the ones done in the 1930's, through the early 1940's.
The "Conga" is the rhythm (and dance movement) that the "Comparsa" plays. ("Conga de Comparsa")
The "Comparsa" is not a rhythm, but it is the collective ensemble/group that performs in the parades in the streets throughout Cuba, particularly in Santiago and in Havana.
(despite what we have all seen for years on the back of records calling the rhythm of a song a "Comparsa")
The percussion "section" of the Comparsas can be often referred to as "Tumbas".
To make a long story short... it became common to call the drums "Conga" drums using the derivative word "Conga" from the dance of the same name. (particullarly by Americans)
It's common to think of Desi Arnaz playing his "Conga", when he was really playing his "Bokú" (and he couldn't really play).
I'm not going into the origin of the word "Conga", but stating what I have come to know as how the "drum" came to be called a "Conga" drum. "Tumbadora" is the Spanish derived word for it.
Here are some photos of "Bokú" drums.
The first two photos I have scanned from Vol.III of Fernando Ortiz' five volumes:
"Los Instumentos De La Musica Afrocubana" (1952)
The third photo are modern tunable Cuban "Bokúses" most likely made in the late '70's, early '80's.
The fourth photo is Hollywoods darling, *Desi Arnaz.
(*from a wealthy and socially prominent "gallego" familly, son of the Mayor of the town he grew up in).
And the last photo... a simply beautiful trio of tumbadoras... with a "classic" Cuban shape, most likely made in the late '40's or very early 1950's.
There is a member of this board "taikonoatama" ('James'?), who is the proud owner of a Cuban tumbadora made by 'Candido Requena'.. look at that drum, then at the drum in the center of the trio photo below... this is the "Classic Cuban" shape.