Egg shakers on Congas?? - A strange idea.....

[Fish]

An idea arising from my bands most recent jam is using egg shakers on congas. I think the best way to do this is to hold an egg shaker in one hand and tap it on the head in such a way that you get the sound of the shaker and the sound of the conga simultaneously. Some of the tone of the drum is unavoidably lost and obviously the amount of variety you get with slaps, bass, heel-toe etc. is impossible to attain. However if you use the other hand normally I believe it keeps the rhythm interesting enough for the audience. Perhaps use your weak hand with the shaker to emphasise parts of the rhythm which the strong hand plays.

Any thoughts?

Fish

[tamboricua]

Hi Fish, hope all is well! This is a common practice among the Bantú (Congolese) traditions transplanted in Cuba. Especially among the Makuta and Yuka traditions. The solo lead drummer ties to his wrist a metal or gourd rattle called, Nkembi.
Obtaining both, a shaker and the drum sounds when performing. Los Muñequitos de Matanzas has adapted this technique to the rumba format, where the quinto player wear this Nkembi tied to his wrist. Check out the back cover of the CD Congo Yambumba by Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, where Jesús Alfonso is shown wearing the Nkembi.

Hope this helps!

Saludos, Jorge Ginorio

http://www.rhythmweb.com/jorge

[Bill Losh]

Hi Fish,
My Bata drum has bells tied on the rims of both heads that jingle when the drum is struck. The band I play with has only one song that I would play a Bata on. So that I don't have to mess with the Bata, I fake the sound by playing the conga and macho (bongo) heads while wearing homemade bell bracletts 4 bells each. Try it you may like it and you can still play your drum with your hands. I saw a kit drummer for Laura Love play snare with his hands with goat hoof rattles loosly wraped around them so that they would strike the head also. Awesome sound. I think the trick is don't wear the gimmick out, do one or two songs with a trick and then go back to playing normally or you've given away the magic.
Anybody got any more tricks?

[Fish]

Thanks for the tips all,

I'm glad to hear that it is a traditional practice (or at least based on one) - I try to strike a balance in all my music between traditional playing and innovation and particularly in coongas where the tradition is very deep. The fixing of the shaker to the wrist seems like a good idea since it enavles playing with both hands - I'm planning to investigate it later.

Another (silly) idea for egg shakers involves their eminently throwable nature. If you can learn to juggle them I think it could sound quite good. I can only juggle two but you get both the continuous shaking noise as they flies through the air and the sharper noise as you catch them. My band is planning to have a (long!!!!) percussion section in one of our songs and the theory was that we could throw egg shakers to each other at various times (we actually own two each but throwing is more fun). I know its showmanship, I know its trivial but its fun and people love it.

Fish