AFRO Percussion

[Roka]

Hi, is it possible that AFRO Percussion were made in Thailand ?
Last days maybe ?
I just found AFRO bongo and the label says "Made in Thailand"

[Isaac]

Afro Percussion was a small company originally from Belgium I believe.
They were bought by Pearl and continued with a very high quality.
Eventually they became more mass produced in Thailand. They were
quite strong and decent drums, but a bit heavy.
The marketing people at Pearl decided to
drop the Afro name. After slow sales, their marketing "geniuses" came to the conclusion
that Afro might be considered a racist brand name so they dropped it
... and they became the new Pearl Percussion
instead that we still see today. Maybe promotional workshops
may have been the answer. That was the genius of Martin Cohen & LP - to continuously
educate the players and thus bring in new players.
Pearl had previously triend to introduce their percussion, but had no
success, even though their products were good. Sometimes it's just
a perception problem, since Pearl had only been associated with drumsets.
There's no surprises with the Thailand made products - all the same wood
with a consistent sound. The only problem is the quality of the skins
as with most commercial made "brands". If one happens to find early
Afros, you're getting a much better product. At one time both
Orestes Vilato and Armando Peraza were endorsees, but dropped out
when the quality went down.
~ ISAAC

[Mike]

Isaac & Roka,
From what I learned about AFRO, I might add some more details.

Actually Afro started their business in the Netherlands.
It´s quite an interesting story, even a lesson in
globalisation: A central name in the history of AFRO is the drum inventor and maker John van Meulen.
He opened his own business "Supercussion" company in the Netherlands in the 80's after splitting up with Martin Cohen with whom he previously had collaborated in the 1960s. That makes him somewhat the European counterpart to Martin Cohen. The instruments are somewhat a blueprint of LP generation I instruments, especially in bongos, which I am a proud owner of - terrific instrument! And he it said to have learned manufacturing bongos simply by looking at Cohen´s drums!!

Supercussion bongos with Mule skin on macho (from brother Isaac of course ;-)

SUPERCUSSION bongos refurbished.JPG (10.28 KiB) Viewed 47179 times

John co-founded the Afro company, still seated in the Netherlands and building hand-crafted instrument with fantastic sound.
Here is a pic of my brass AFRO timbales - note the old badge, later they changed the design:

But Afro unfortunately switched to mass production in Thailand lateron which led to an adaptation to global atrocities like rubberwood & water buffalo heads . Still they were nice instruments. I have a a 32" tall AFRO conga from the early 1990s which sounds pretty good and is sturdily built with 10mm lugs, a thick cow hide and a heavy shell - they compare to old Matadors in sound!

Yes, finally AFRO was swallowed by PEARL some years ago. Like Isaac has pointed out, the pretext was a racial slur of the brand name or so, but in reality it was a business transaction I believe. Pearl emulated practically every construction detail of the AFRO instruments of course.
John van der Meulen continued giving his expertise to Pearl Percussion too, e.g. he invented the ganzeiro and the shekerine
or gadgets like this one: http://www.mikedolbear.co.uk/images/NAM ... arl_30.htm

You can read about this and more also here:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3720&hilit=Afro+Dutch

I hope this has shed some light on the history of this company.

Johnny Conga owns a full set of those good old Afro congas, and brother Raymond also nows a lot about AFRO instruments.

My 2 cents
Mike

P.S.: Roka, does it say "Afro ELITE" on the badge of your bongó? It should be of a rather fine quality then!

[Roka]

No, just AFRO and those hands

[Mike]

Roka,
maybe you can post a picture of your bongos?

It would be easier to tell if they belong to the Afro Elite or Primero series.
The Primero series has traditional rims, as far as I know.
The 7+9" Afro Elite bongos I once had were rather heavy and not handy to hold due to their
comfort curve rims, and I also could not get the sound I wanted out of them, so I sold them.

BTW where did you buy your Afros secondhand? They are not around any longer.

[Mike]

I just found AFRO bongo and the label says "Made in Thailand"

Once again, that does NOT mean that they are bad bongos,
but it depends a bit on the manufacturing date, the model
and of course the skins!
So just tell us a bit more about them, please.

A while ago, I detected these Afros at ebay and got a tip NOT to buy them:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=927&hilit=+afro+primero+bongos

Do yours look like these, Roka?

[Roka]

Looks a bit different and remindes me some cheap bongo like aspire, etc

[Mike]

That looks like an "Aspirized" version of the Afro Primero bongo series.
Skins might not be the best, to put it mildly. For a beginner, they might be OK.
If I were you I would ditch this one and try to get a better set. Which does NOT mean it has to be all the more expensive.

Used Matador bongos are quite good, for example, or every now and then you might get hold of a vintage beauty like my Supercussion bongó (see above) at ebay for only 40€!

[Roka]

Thanks, Mike. I own MATADORS, so I think I will wait for a better catch

[Mike]

Thanks, Mike. I own MATADORS, so I think I will wait for a better catch

Yep, that is definitely the way to go.
If you can, try upgrading the skins - the factory skins of the Matador bongos are usually pretty awful
(but there are exceptions ).
Mule skin, e.g., will improve the sound considerably!

[Raymond]

The story about Afro is practically true....John Van Muellen, who I know personally and is a percussion freak, continues to be a direct consultant for Pearl...All current Pearl products have John's input. The new Mahogany congas and bongos by Pearl are John's creation completly as well as other Pearl products. John' has input into the production in Thailand of the current Pearl products.

I am aware of the compromises due to the mass production. Nevertheless, the quality of John's input continues to be there in the current Pearl products.

John? He is the nicest guy you could meet and very knowledgeable about percussion in general, regarding production of instruments and playing. Is fascinating to listen to him and the stories of him constructing latin percussion instruments in Netherlands..withough ever been outside of Netherlands...You have to hear the story about his first instruments...a set of timbales.... (LP's first instrument was bongos and John's timbales...)

My five cents....

Saludos!

[Mike]

The story about Afro is practically true...
John? He is the nicest guy you could meet and very knowledgeable about percussion in general, regarding production of instruments and playing. Is fascinating to listen to him and the stories of him constructing latin percussion instruments in Netherlands..withough ever been outside of Netherlands...You have to hear the story about his first instruments...a set of timbales.... (LP's first instrument was bongos and John's timbales...)
My five cents....

Saludos!

You bet! Your experience is worth more than that, Raymond!
Must be great to know such an innovative and respected drum builder and inventor in person.
Yes, I do also think like you - the quality of the instrument could be maintained despite mass production
- my current "new" buy is just another proof.
Maybe I was a bit harsh in my statement about Pearl. The thing is, I find it awkward that almost every trail to the former Afro company has been eliminated on the Net! It is therefore close to impossible to gather information on Afro percussion products.

I would really like to hear "the story about his first instruments...a set of timbales" as you say! Like to share it?
Remember? A while ago you helped me to ID this set of pre-Thailand Afro timbales:

And after the research it emerged that those are from the 1980s - handmade in Holland, as the badge says.
Plus they do have a great sound.

Thanks for your post indeed!

Cheers
Mike

[Isaac]

Raymond & Mike,
Thanks for your valuable information about John Van Muellen.
I had mistakenly thought he was from Belgium, not
Holland. - One of my favorite countries.

Pearl has indeed improved
gradually...but Thai rubberwood will always sound the same
no matter who's brand it is. It's pretty reliable and predictable.
The idea of wrapping it in a veneer of Mahogany
improves it a bit at a reasonable cost that most of us can afford.
Possibly a win-win situation for the players and the company.
If that's John's idea it's very commendable. He sounds like
someone who cares. I hope I can meet him one day.

ISAAC

ps. There was once a thread on the Pearl Folkloric series...Are they still around?
Does anyone have any experiences to share about them?

[umannyt]

...but Thai rubberwood will always sound the same
no matter who's brand it is....
ISAAC

Isaac,

This was precisely my humble point in one of my much earlier posts in another thread for which I got shot down by a fellow Forum member and was surprisingly told "ad hominem" to "grow up", not to mention other condescending remarks.

I'm glad that someone with your experience and knowledge in both playing and making congas and who's in regular contact with the well-renowned craftsman Cali Rivera has just affirmed my point. I feel that my point has just been vindicated.

Best,

[Isaac]

Any instrument, regardless of the wood ( or fiberglass )
is a gift that allows us to be a conduit for music.
In the end that's what counts.

But to sound less "New Agey" -
I will quote an old saying
I once heard from an Advertising man -

"There's taste for the Masses,
.... and
Taste for the Asses"

Have a great weekend and play some music.

ISAAC