There have been relatively few changes to the basic design of the conga. Going back to the ancestral drums played over centuries in Africa, the idea is simple: a vibrating membrane (an animal hide) ...

In 1917, Ramon Santamaria Rodriquez was born into poverty in Havana, Cuba. Nicknamed “Mongo” (a tribal chief in Senegal), he began playing the conga drum at an early age and as a teen, Mongo ...

IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more. Raul Instrumentos de Percussão was ...

Eric Frazier was born in Harlem, New York City. He was raised in Brooklyn, New York in a family of eight children. He ran track and road races for 27 years. His love of the physical culture and ...

He brought Afro-Cuban influences to American ensembles and dazzled audiences with his virtuosic multiple-drum technique. By Neil Genzlinger “When you talk about percussion, particularly the evolution ...

Bony Benavides has been drumming since she was in middle school in Colombia. Women conga drummers, or congueras, are making their mark in the traditionally male-dominated field of percussion. That ...