Mongo Santamaría
One of the great Cuban congueros — Mongo Santamaría brought Afro-Cuban percussion into jazz and popular music, and his composition Afro Blue became a jazz standard covered by John Coltrane and many others.
About
Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría grew up in Havana's Afro-Cuban community, deeply immersed in the religious percussion traditions. He came to New York in the early 1950s and worked with Tito Puente and Cal Tjader before forming his own group. He is the composer of Afro Blue, which became one of the most important jazz standards of the post-bop era.
His work demonstrates the connection between Afro-Cuban religious percussion and jazz improvisation — the same rhythmic intelligence that underlies batá drumming and conga playing in the rumba tradition can be brought into dialogue with jazz harmony and structure. He remained active until late in his career, continuing to record and perform.
Rumba is the most African-rooted of all Cuban music and dance forms — born in the streets, courtyards, and docks of Havana and matanzas"> Matanzas in the late 19th century, with no European instruments, no salon setting, and no pretense of European propriety.
Lees meer >Rumba is the most African-rooted of all Cuban music and dance forms — born in the streets, courtyards, and docks of Havana and matanzas"> Matanzas in the late 19th century, with no European instruments, no salon setting, and no pretense of European propriety.
Lees meer >Cuban music is built on percussion. The extraordinary density and variety of Cuban rhythmic culture reflects the meeting of West and Central African drumming traditions with Spanish, Haitian, and creole musical practices over four centuries. The instruments below form the core percussive vocabulary heard across Son, Rumba, timba"> Timba, Danzón, and their descendants.
Lees meer >
The conga (also called tumbadora) is the primary hand drum of Cuban music and the rhythmic backbone of timba"> timba, son, rumba, and salsa.
Lees meer >The batá drums are a set of three double-headed hourglass-shaped drums central to Yoruba religious tradition and Afro-Cuban sacred music (Lucumí / Santería).
Lees meer >