Congas

[Shrdlu]

Every now and then, a Blue Note session is listed as having a guy who plays "Conga" - e.g. Ray Barretto with Lou Donaldson.

It might be helpful to go into this in a bit of detail.

Congas originate in Cuba, where they are called tumbas. There are several sizes. Starting in the middle, with the two most common ones, we have el quinto, with a head 11" in diameter, and la conga, with an 11.75" head. These are the two that Barretto and others play on jazz sessions. The listing should read "Congas", not conga. The next most common size is la tumbadora, 12.5" across. In the opposite direction, el requinto has a  9.75" diameter head. This is a very versatile instrument. Finally, the largest one is la super tumba, 14" in diameter. I have all four "Latin Percussion" "Galaxy Giovanni" congas that they make (all of the above except the largest). Here is one

http://www.lpmusic.com/products/congas/lp/galaxy-giovanni-signature-requinto

I have asked Latin Percussion to make a super tumba in this range. I messaged them about it, and the guy who replied thought it was a good idea, but nothing has been done. I don't like the look of the model that they do make.

I also noticed that a guy on one album was listed as playing a "chekere" (sic). The shekere is merely one of dozens of percussion sounds, and it would be appropriate to list the player as playing "percussion". He would probably bring several pieces of equipment to the session. This is what you might expect

http://www.lpmusic.com/products/hardware/stands/percussion-table

There is a red and white shekere on the right. I have a very similar setup here. I have this shekere

http://www.lpmusic.com/products/Shakers/Shekeres/Jim-Greiner-Pro-Shekere

Latin percussion is a lot of fun and I've thoroughly enjoyed acquiring the various instruments.