Students playing hookie - Where are all the good students

[blango]

By the way JC, the best open rumba in the USA is without question here in the bay area.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s63Vxa2blo

...one of many bi-weekly ripping sessions. This track is thin on the coro, usually we have the whole place singing!!!

According to cats in NY, there are too few singers to get it going on a regular basis.

Id love to hear if thats not the case, please do share what you experience on the east coast.

Tony



Edited By blango on 1198168062

[caballoballo]

Is no way I am going to pay a $100 for an hour no matter who is teaching . Down here you get classes at the Escuela libre de musica ( free school of music ) which is a goverment institution without having to pay that outrageous amount a week,enrollment may be about a $100 per semester.

[bongosnotbombs]

I recognize some of those guys on the video, I also posted about La Pena a while
back.
http://www.congaplace.com/cgi-bin....;t=3580

In regards to Micheal Spiro and his $100 classes check his resume.
http://www.michaelspiro.com/html/resume.html

he is also the author of this excellent book.



Edited By bongosnotbombs on 1198170413

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... DT374C.jpg

[JohnnyConga]

I would agree with u Blango, to a point cause if u have never been to NYCity to see Puntilla and the other "ton" of rumberos in NY, u missed it!.....remember Cuba is IN New York!...just like Cuba is in the BAy area...Johnny Conga...

[JohnnyConga]

Yo Blango here is the Rumba of NYC...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLfclMB1j9A

the NEW young Lions of Cuba in NYC..... Johnny Conga...

[blango]

Yes, Spiro is all that, and a really nice person too.

JC,

yea, i hear you. I missed it!

The cat that built the first set of bata in the bay area, Marcus Gordon, tells stories of those days in NY. It must have been incredible, and i bet there are regular kickass rumbas, just not out in the park etc. dont you think?

Tito Garcia and I are trying to work out a trip for Maestro Rios to the bay area. Health permitting, i understand he wants to come. We'll see what comes of it. I know Ill work my ars off to help him anyway i can on this end!

Tony

[blango]

Barry,

Cliffs site...

http://www.afrocubanchops.com/cliff.html

T

[Congadelica]

Yo Blango here is the Rumba of NYC...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLfclMB1j9A

the NEW young Lions of Cuba in NYC..... Johnny Conga...

loved this JC thanks for the heads

[yambu321]

BLANGO,

SANDY PEREZ AND FRIENDS, RUMBIANDO IN THE BAY AREA, WITH ISLA PERCUSSIONS CONGAS;

SWEEEEEEET!!!!



Edited By yambu321 on 1198200189

[yambu321]

JOHNNY CONGA,

MIRA NEGRO, ESE VIDEO DE RUMBA EN NUEVA YORK ESTAS POR LA MACETA. MUCHISIMAS GRACIAS MI HERMANO!!! ESO SI FUE UN GRAN EXEMPLO.

PERDONA ME SI NO LO ESTOY ESCRIBIENDO BIEN.
COMO DICEN EL LA ISLA, YO SOY NUYORICAN!!!

CON MUCHO RESPETO,
CHARLIE "EL COQUI" VERDEJO



Edited By yambu321 on 1198201185

[windhorse]

Yo Blango here is the Rumba of NYC...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLfclMB1j9A

the NEW young Lions of Cuba in NYC..... Johnny Conga...

Beatiful!!!! Still listening to this one!
I love it!

Thanks!

[JohnnyConga]

BTW in the rumba from NYC are also Puerto Ricans playing, I don't have the numbers of how many Cubans & Puerto Ricans playing, but in NYC WE PLAY TOGETHER!...AND HAVE LEARNED FROM ONE ANOTHER TOO!....of course since my days of Rumba in Central Park the Rumba has evolved to what it is today, more complex and more conversational....also let me tell u that this rumba video is a small example of Rumba in NYC we have 5 different boroughs and there is Rumba in each of them ,and we're talking hundreds of rumberos and players...Johnny Conga...PS we had a rumba in the Bronx that lasted for 27 years every friday night at a friend of mines place, up until he passed away.....

[Quinto Governor II]

$100.00 an hour! At these prices, here's my 100 cents worth. Do the Cuban Masters charge that much? If not then Spiro is certainly not justified in charging that price. As much as I love the art form, I would kindly say 'no thank you' to an offer of that kind, even from a Cuban Master.

[jorge]

By the way JC, the best open rumba in the USA is without question here in the bay area.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s63Vxa2blo

Tony and others,
I can't speak about the open rumbas in the bay area, I haven't been to any. In NYC, the best OPEN rumba we have is still the Central Park rumba. Of course, it is only from May to September and, like all real rumbas, it is inconsistent, but on good days, some of the best rumberos in the world are there. Unlike performance rumbas with Puntilla, Raices Habaneras, Ilu Aye, Pedrito Martinez/Roman Diaz, and others that are closed performances not open rumbas, at the Central Park rumba if you can play you can play. That rumba is totally open, although if you cross the clave, drop a beat, play a wrong part, drag the time, or otherwise mess up, or if you want to play slow (eg, yambu or columbia matancera) or a rhythm they don't know, you will very quickly be asked to give up the drum, often very assertively and not very politely. In NYC, like most other places outside Cuba, we do have a shortage of good guaguanco singers. Sometimes some of the singers in the park are really excellent. Most of the time, the singers in the park are more from comparsa and abakua traditions, they do know some songs, but don't pay much attention to intonation or tight harmony. On the other hand, sometimes we have 20 or more people singing coro in time and relatively in key, louder than the drums, and it sounds awesome.

JC, there is a new element in the NYC rumba, ademas de los cubanos y los boricuas, han llegado los dominicanos. A generation after Tito Sandoval (still playing and dancing rumba) and Ralph (who used to play quinto in Central Park), Bembsito and Jonathan in Ilu Aye are seriously talented rumberos who are Dominican. Ilu Aye has brought elements of dominican palo into the rumba, and there is more influence from gaga and other dominican/haitian folkloric rhythms.

Tony and others, how open are the rumbas in the bay area that have really good singers, eg, Fito Reynoso, Erick Barberia, John Santos, Jose Luis Gomez, and some of the others that live out there? If you can play, can you sit down and play, or is it pretty much limited to a small group of drummers that are part of the performing group?



Edited By jorge on 1198252598

[ralph]

yo Jorge,

Que paso con la rumba de Sports Bar?...Me dicen que por ahora solo hay la rumba en Manny's Grill...