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A video tutorial by musicians for musicians

Virtuous percussionist, Giovanni “Meñenguito” Hidalgo, proves his talent in the video tutorial entitled Conga Virtuoso. In this masterclass, you will learn about rhythm, technique and improvisation to develop your percussive talents.

Throughout this video, you will observe the legendary Maestro Hidalgo accompanied by Changuito, Ignacio Berroa, Ray Romero, Eric Figueroa, John Benitez, Danilo Perez and David Sanchez issuing instructions in both languages (English and Spanish).

Also, you will be able to recognize the Tumbadora as a non-handed percussion instrument, that is to say, you will learn to play the tumbadora like a right-handed musician even as a lefty and the Maestro Hidalgo with more than three decades of experience teaches you that.

The legendary and multi-talented Puerto Rican musician, Giovanni Hidalgo, a outstanding percussionist, born in San Juan, Puerto Rico on November 22, 1963.

Today he is known as one of the best congueros of his generation in the world.

And quite possibly one of the fastest of all known congueros. Through International Salsa Magazine, I introduce a tutorial method where Maestro Hidalgo gives a master class on rhythms, technique and improvisation; Method that, by the way, you can get in full on the YouTube channel entitled: “Conga Virtuoso”; which is bilingual in English and Spanish and is distributed by Warner Bros. Publications; it is notable that, in the tutorial, Giovanni Hidalgo is left-handed and the examples are written for people who use the right hand.

The tumbadoras as protagonists

Examples of three tumbadoras, including the position of the drums can be played the same way, even if one is right-handed.

Evolution of the tumbao: Around 1940, the bandleader Arsenio Rodriguez began to incorporate a tumbadora (conga), a bongo, a bell, two trumpets, a piano, and a tres (derived from Spanish guitar, but with three double strings and triple voices three).

In the late 1940s, Frank “Machito” Grillo also added the tumbadora to the Afro Cubanos Orchestra, thus achieving the percussion section composed of bongos, tumbadora, and timbales. At that time, the “conguero” performed with a single drum.

Different sounds were produced by dry beats, muffled beats (mute), open tones and deep tone (created with the palm of your hand).

Giovanni Hidalgo explains all these sounds in this YouTube video “Conga Virtuoso”. As Giovanni says, the traditional way of playing only with a tumbadora comes from 40s.

Although he begins almost all examples in lifting (with upbeats) on beat 4, the beginner should know that he starts on beat 1 in most musical situations, without lifting.

Another factor to remember is to use an open tone at the beginning of the first bar, as Giovanni demonstrated by Giovanni.

This initial open tone helps to “anchor” and synchronize the rhythm section in the first measure.

This initial open tone helps to “anchor” and synchronize the rhythm section in the first bar.

It is eliminated by repeating the pattern and replaced by a left clap (P). Caption: O = open tone. P = with the palm of your hand, which is similar to the bass sound. B = deep sound (with the palm of your hand). S = dry. T = with the tip of your fingers. M = “muffled” note. It is accomplished by pressing the leather down with the same hand (cover). Two tumbadoras: the first step in the evolution of the tumbao was to perform with a drum.

The second phase incorporated the use of two tumbadoras. It was during this stage that the art of playing the tumbadora upgraded to a higher level.

Some of pioneers of the style with two tumbadoras are: Carlos “Patato” Valdez, Mongo Santamaría, Cándido Camero, Tata Güines, Francisco Aguabella, Armando Peraza, and Ray Romero. In the examples, Giovanni plays a “seca´´ (term to refer to a dry sound) in the later half of the third beat of the first bar.

This is a light “seca´´ as opposed to the most pronounced. By adding the bass: This is a modern approach to how you play the basic tumbao with two tumbadoras.

This pattern uses the bass sound in the fourth bar. Giovanni lifts the tumbao minimally with his legs while playing the bass sound in the fourth bat. He lifts the drum and lets the sound out of its lower part. He also adds the timbales and bongos: This section demonstrates how the tumbadoras, the timbales and the bongos work together in a section.

The pattern for the tumbadoras is the tumbao with variations combining both ancient and modern styles, as Giovanni mentioned. The rhythm of timbales is based on a shell pattern played on the cáscara (the sides of the timbales).

The bongo drum plays the basic pattern called “martillo” with improvised phrases called “chime”

The bongo drum plays the basic pattern called “martillo” (the most important bongo pattern in Afro-Cuban music, which means “hammer” in English) with improvised phrases called “chime”.

When repeated, the first open tone is replaced by a left clap (P). Example of bongos: “Little” Ray Romero starts chiming immediately.

These phrases must also comply with the clave. The first example is the basic “martillo”, which is the basic function of the bongo drum in a section. The second example is a transcript of the chimes played by Ray Romero. Basic Martillo: T = fingertip. TH = thumb side. O = open tone on the bass drum (female).

Pattern for timbales: the changuito plays a shell pattern on paila (sides of the timbales) in a 2-3 clave.

In addition, he has a bass drum to which is added a pattern as would a drummer. The fingers from the left hand play the “Ghosts” notes while the right hand plays the bass drum. He also plays an open tone with the third finger from the left hand on the bass drum (female) in the first bar. This creates a melody line between the bass drum and the “hembra”. Also, Giovanni Hidalgo explains the rhythms from Puerto Rico, such as: jíbara, quás, plena, bomba, yubá and Dutch music. To conclude, we invite you to watch the videos “Conga Virtuoso” by Maestro Giovanni Hidalgo in full, which will be very useful for both beginners and advancing musicians.

Video: Conga Virtuoso Giovanni Hidalgo

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In the Caribbean there is a group of islands that attract many tourists all year round for its warm beaches, music, history and / or culture, one of the most visited is the beautiful island of Cuba, where tropical tourism is excellent for tourists. , one of the provinces that stands out for being a land of beautiful landscapes and hospitable people who preserve their traditions is Pinar del Rio which is located in the westernmost part of Cuba, it highlights its extraordinary natural charms such as its caves and Pinar del Rio parks, its beaches are bathed by two waters “the Atlantic and the Caribbean” which you can see with the naked eye when you go there and having this great diversity and beauty, you can explore the seabed as there is great tourism ecological and practicing water sports, it also has green gardens, the mogotes of Viñales and its guano houses where tobacco leaves are dried, there is an impressive Mural of Prehistory, a huge cave painting g burned on the surface of a mogote where its tropical and exuberant colors allow it to be distinguished from afar.

This time we have the Cuban singer Marielys Castillo Prietos also known by the stage name Liz Castillo, who was born in this beautiful city Pinar del Rio, Cuba on September 20, 1985, tells us with affection the place where she was born and is the perfect description that we mentioned at the beginning of this article; currently she lives in Havana to better develop her musical career.

In 2000, he began his musical career where he joined the movement of amateur artists of “Casa de Cultura”, a place that belongs to the network of cultural institutions that make up the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Cuba. where there is concerted cultural development between the community and state entities, aimed at the preservation, transmission and promotion of artistic and cultural samples of the community, there were workshops where visual arts, dance, music are taught … was able to present singing songs for both children and adults; which obtained several prizes in the diverse Contests.

During these 5 years he dedicated himself to recording his album called “Cosas Contigo” with full authorship, his songs have a great variety of musical genres such as Bachata, Salsa, Vallenato, among others in order to have a great musical enrichment and in turn achieve a greater reach to your audience.

In 2004, she graduated from Elementary Level in Singing Specialty, and jointly received Popular Singing classes in Havana with her teacher Robertina Morales Silva, who is someone very important to her since she mentions that she owes her musical career to him. because during his beginnings, he was born with the concern and doubt of being a musician and she was the one who showed him his path and what is correct or not; When he received his classes with her, he discovered and obtained the answers to his concerns in his musical career, even today they keep in contact supporting her.

She begins to work on the composition of the songs of her authorship, where until today she has more than 25 works registered in the National Copyright Center, performed by recognized Orchestras and Soloists and by herself.

The emotion and inspiration to create his songs is “Love”, the most sincere and most sincere feeling there is, it is also inspired by its derivatives such as heartbreak, life and lived experiences; This is one of the ways that you express what you feel, what you like and what you don’t like and what you want to send to your audience.

A year later (2005), he joined the Ebano y Marfil group and the Ireme Group. On this same date the Polyphonic Choir of Pinar del Río was integrated, these were the first groups with which I worked instead of working as a soloist, it was a new world where he does not deny that for those who start in group music and with experience it is scary because they do not know if they will measure up or not (their own insecurities), if your desire to move forward and progress is stronger it will be appeased by gaining experience and more security, as happened to her, who is a person characterized by a person who never backs down and moves on, to catch up and strive to defend himself for which he has fought, since she herself knew what would happen by studying it, thought and assumed in his future, making this a wonderful and great experience.

What better happiness and personal reward than listening to your musical themes on the street and expanding to radio stations and the internet, this is the best happiness that a musician has.

After 4 years he retired from the musical group to go to Havana (2009) to train more as an artist for a year at the Mariana de Gonitch Singing Academy, directed by Maestro Hugo Ósle, a very prestigious teacher from Havana, he is known As the director of the group that bears the name of the famous internationally renowned Russian singer and pedagogue, who preferred to live in Cuba and was in charge of preparing young talents, there Liz Castillo had her lyrical and popular singing classes and above all they took you to to do shows and concerts in all the theaters of Havana either as a soloist or in a group, thus cultivating in his career and to have a more accurate criterion in a few words he was covering a wide repertoire and varied musical genres from Folklor A; upon graduating he continued working and always asking his teacher Robertina Morales Silva for support.

She mentions that during the COVID-19 pandemic, she did not see the bad things but the positive things, it has been for her during that difficult year, very prosperous in her career since she has been able to get 2 singles that were previously in process or paused, 2 salsa songs ʺCanción sin Rostroʺ which is currently coming out these days with its video clip and soon ʺWhere our Love is bornʺ … the pandemic has paralyzed many things but we must take advantage of this time at home and she did it promoting herself and obtaining a greater reach through the internet platform using social networks.

“For live music to be heard by the public, that they like it and identify with it and to achieve at this time is through communications especially the internet and social networks”

“Canción sin Rostro” is a musical theme that aired recently, it tells us that during its creation it was not called that, but “De que vale”, because that change arose, it was a theme related to an unrequited love and at the end of the song was a happier ending instead of the sadness it had at the beginning, it is like for example seeing the dark side of life comes at the end to see the light, the most beautiful part of life.

To the new talent that is currently emerging, Liz Castillo mentions that currently many people want to be a fast and famous artist, but the truth is… “the person who is going to be an artist is because they have it in their soul, mind and it is written in Life will go on and overcome its obstacles, no matter how difficult … the artist is born with that quality, those who are not will not be able to continue even with all the support in the world “…” the artist’s work is not for himself, but for others, respecting his audience with respect to his lyrics, a clear message without many complicated words ”

If you want to know more about her, listen to her songs or contact her:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lizcastilloficial/
• Canal de Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/liz.c.prieto.7
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liz.c.prieto.7/
• Linkedln: linkedin.com/in/liz-castillo-09b005124
• YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCVBBbLlsIt2vv1WD-JjlxlA
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/liz07156882

Spotify

• https://open.spotify.com/artist/0FMLrFYvhu14ITV7ecMHpx?si=9_e5Ru99QBqn_kWvZ3U7EA

Pleylist

• https://open.spotify.com/artist/0FMLrFYvhu14ITV7ecMHpx?si=9uUH-GunTUKJ3R2DvPsibg

 

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