La Conga De San Agustin

One of the older congas in Santiago, San Agustin frequently performs at Estadio Guillermón Moncada, the local Baseball stadium.  They are also know for their innovative adaptation of timba and son to the conga ensemble; when they perform in this "concert" format they use the name El Charangon de San Agustin (a reference to the Cuba's best known Charangon, Orquesta Reve).

Below is my transcription (and transposition to the Key of C) of their "theme" which can be heard here.  Another version, from this album with a slightly different melody can be heard here.

There are at least two slightly different versions of this coro:

VERSION ONE: (FROM CALLES Y CONGAS)

Vamo a bailar
Vamo a gozar
Con el tamarindo de San Agustin

VERSION TWO: FROM THIS ALBUM
Vamo a gozar
Con El Pin Pin Pin
Con el tamarindo de San Agustin

The "main groove" in the conga Santiaguera (a.k.a. "Conga Oriental") rhythm is known (to those "in the know"!) as Pilón.  I will deal with the two variations, Columbia and Masón, in a later post.

This post has updated patterns based on a study trip to Santiago de Cuba in 2019.
Many thanks to maestros:

Lazaro Bandera Malet, musical director, La Conga de Los Hoyos

Richard Lineonel Ferrara "Kiki", musical director, Conga Paso Franco

Raul Lopez Martinez "Raulito", director, Conga San Agustin

If you've read my other posts you probably know that I'm a bit obsessed with the Conga Santiaguera.  But there are several other types of comparsas (carnival parade groups) in Santiago.  One of these is the Comparsa tipo Paseo or simply “Paseo.” 
 
The style of music the paseos currently play is very similar to the Conga Habanera (known as the “comparsa” rhythm to many musicians). The ensemble includes percussion and horns such as saxes trumpets, etc.
 
According to Mililián “Galí” Galis Riveri’s book La percusión en los ritmos afrocubanos y haitiano-cubanos, since the 1920s, the paseos have used two bass drums: the tambora (a larger bass drum) and tamborita (smaller drum, similar in size to a large tom-tom).  Both of these are played with one hand and one hard mallet.  A brief demonstration of these drums’ patterns can be viewed here. Transcriptions are available in Gali’s book.
 
Gali also points to the Paseos’ addition of cowbells and tumbadoras (conga drums) in the 1930s as a result of “influence of the Havana and Matanzas comparsas” . 
 
Recordings of the paseos are pretty rare but here are some examples from a 1987 Egrem recording:
 
Vienen los pinos
 
El Zapato Angó
 
A Gozar con el Comercio
 
Galí’s book is one of the most comprehensive sources of Afro-cuban percussion styles I’ve seen.  It includes rare transcriptions and descriptions of little known styles such as Tajona and Tumba Francesa from Oriente, as well as other drumming styles from Central and Western Cuba such as Gangá, Eguado,  Bembé Obakosó, and Bembé Kuelé. 
 
 
Main source :
Galís Riverí, Mililian.  La percusión en los ritmos afrocubanos y haitiano-cubanos. Santiago de Cuba: Ediciones Caserón, 2015. Print.

Finally im posting chapter one!

This "book" is somewhat inspired by the George Lawrence Stones legendary snare drum exercise book "Stick Control."  I dont claim for my stuff to be on that level! But the approach is similar in that im looking at lots of different combinations of left, right, palm bass tip etc.

These exercises really helped me develop songo and tumbao variations on three and four congas.

The purpose of these exercises is to develop the dexterity to play and improvise on multiple drums, mostly in the salsa, son, songo and timba styles.  Conga players must develop a strong “marcha” or tumbao which involves hours of working on our “Palm-Tip” or “Heel-Toe” technique.  These exercises help us to develop the ability to easily vary our patterns, while maintaining the correct feel. 

Most of the patterns involve “Palm – Tip “ with the weak hand and combinations of slaps, tones, basses, and muffs with the dominant hand—but ideally we want to be flexible enough to play just about anything with either hand.

Please leave a comment !! Chapter two coming soon.

PLAYLIST:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRzNtfiHOT4&list=PLyeLS_ZvltWm2lNhVp4MscXvQvf0P8oqN

(note this is one of many ways to play bembe')

i found this on an old sexteto habanero recording. Probably one of the earliest (if not THE earliest ) examples of recorded abakwa music--and recorded in a completely nontraditional format --the sexteto. Abakwa is normally percussion and voices only.

This is pattern is very similar to the 6/8 "palitos" pattern pplayed in rumba COLUMBIA and abakwa.

Note: this pattern is kind of a musical palindrome---the second measure (in 6/8) is the mirror image of the first measure--in other words , the 1st and 4th Beats are The same, and the 2nd and 3rd beats are the same.