This course examines the infusion of traditional Afro-Latin and especially Afro-Cuban concepts into contemporary Western music. Upon completion of this book you will have mastered many new skills that will help you become a more accomplished percussionist and, more importantly, a more complete musician. By exploring the role of percussion in traditional Afro-Cuban music, you will understand the important contribution drums make towards a complete musical piece, and that a drum is not merely a rhythmic placeholder but truly a musical instrument worthy of recognition. While this book focuses primarily on hand percussion, its basic principals are also applied to the drum kit. There is no standard notation in this book; rather, the rhythms are illustrated with easily understood charts based on counting out subdivided beats. Two companion CDs offer audio examples of all major points.

Afro-Cuban Rhythms: Gig Savers Complete Edition combines both of Trevor Salloum's popular previous editions. The material is designed for the intermediate to advanced percussionist who has some basic understanding of percussion notation. Part one is a collection of traditional rhythms ideal for a percussion ensemble or for the individual who wants to learn the authentic parts of each rhythm. The material is presented in a concise and user-friendly style. Part one includes information on Clave, Tumbao for one and two drums, Yambú, Guaguancó (Havana), Guaguancó (Matanzas), Rumba columbia, Conga (Havana), Conga (Matanzas) and Conga (Santiago). Part two is structured just like part one, but covers a different set of rhythms: Bembe, Makuta, Yuka, Palo, Arará, Abakuá (Havana), Abakuá (Matanzas), Gagá, Vudú and Iyesa. All rhythms presented in this edition are easily adapted to conga drums and Afro-Cuban hand percussion.

This course examines the infusion of traditional Afro-Latin and especially Afro-Cuban concepts into contemporary Western music. Upon completion of this book you will have mastered many new skills that will help you become a more accomplished percussionist and, more importantly, a more complete musician. By exploring the role of percussion in traditional Afro-Cuban music, you will understand the important contribution drums make towards a complete musical piece, and that a drum is not merely a rhythmic placeholder but truly a musical instrument worthy of recognition. While this book focuses primarily on hand percussion, its basic principals are also applied to the drum kit. There is no standard notation in this book; rather, the rhythms are illustrated with easily understood charts based on counting out subdivided beats. Two companion CDs offer audio examples of all major points.

A complete guide to playing Latin music on guitar

Joe Conzo and David A. Perez luminously recreate the life of widely acclaimed Afro-Cuban and jazz musician Tito Puente in the biography "Mambo Diablo - My Journey with Tito Puente." The authors chronicle the life of the popular and combative New York Puerto Rican multi talented musician and entertainer who climbed from his obscure and poor environment in East Harlem (El Barrio), New York to international fame and recognition. Countless stories have been written about Tito Puente's percussive musical abilities, but rarely has the talent, intuition, mishaps and controversies been presented in a vivid and personal biography. Joe Conzo was Tito's close friend, confidant and chronicler for nearly 40 years - no one was closer to Tito or knew him better, not even his family. Joe tells the story of a man and his music the way it has never been told. David A. Perez sets down Joe's personal recollections and fits them into the context of the social milieu and revolving world. Hundreds of articles have been written about Puente, and three books Powell, Josephine. Tito Puente - When The Drums are Dreaming, Authorhouse, 2007 (Information re: Tito is based on her conversations with Tito Puente. The book is self-published and chronicles many of his activities on the West Coast. There are many inconsistencies, mis-quotes, and errors of fact.) Loza, Steven. Tito Puente and the Making of Latin Music, University of Illinois Press, 1999 (A technical work that is based on interviews with people who knew Tito. The life of Puente is glanced over; the musicians he worked with are almost overlooked. Joe Conzo is among those interviewed.)Payne, Jim. Tito Puente - The King of Latin Music, Hudson Music, 2000. (Is presented as an overview of Tito Puente's music and includes a DVD with footage of Tito discussing his 50-year career. Joe Conzo provided much of the information for this endeavor.) record some of his achievements. None of them touch on the personal life of the man, expose his weaknesses, reveal his intensity for perfection, and describe the musical brilliance in such a delicate and personal way. Joe and David reveal the inner Tito Puente through his music, his musical associations and present a man that is more than a flamboyant percussionist. Tito played piano - and he played it well. Tito played the saxophone and often sat in the sax section of his orchestra. Tito played the vibes and had an incomparable style that was exciting, romantic and jazzy. He composed about 500 tunes, probably more. And, yet in the realm of American jazz historians, writers and critics ignore, brush over and avoid the importance of Tito's music and his contributions. A prime example of this is Ken Burn's television documentary about jazz - he virtually ignores Afro-Cuban music, Afro-Cuban jazz. Joe and David reveal Tito's rightful place in the history of music and give an unbiased, on-the-mark portrait of Puente's complexities like no book before it. Author and journalist Pete Hamill sets the stage for the journey in the preface.

The only complete method book on Salsa ever published. Numerous musical examples of how different Afro-Cuban styles are created, what each instrument does, text explaining the history and structure of the music, etc. "This will be the Salsa Bible for years to come." Sonny Bravo, Tito-Puente's pianist.

Lydia Cabrera (1900-1991), an upper-class white Cuban intellectual, spent many years traveling through Cuba collecting oral histories, stories, and music from Cubans of African descent. Her work is commonly viewed as an extension of the work of her famous brother-in-law, Cuban anthropologist Fernando Ortiz, who initiated the study of Afro-Cubans and the concept of transculturation. Here, Edna Rodriguez-Mangual challenges this perspective, proposing that Cabrera's work offers an alternative to the hegemonizing national myth of Cuba articulated by Ortiz and others. Rodriguez-Mangual examines Cabrera's ethnographic essays and short stories in context. By blurring fact and fiction, anthropology and literature, Cabrera defied the scientific discourse used by other anthropologists. She wrote of Afro-Cubans not as objects but as subjects, and in her writings, whiteness, instead of blackness, is gazed upon as the "other." As Rodriguez-Mangual demonstrates, Cabrera rewrote the history of Cuba and its culture through imaginative means, calling into question the empirical basis of anthropology and placing Afro-Cuban contributions at the center of the literature that describes the Cuban nation and its national identity.

This book and accompanying audio are a perfect introduction to the conga drum. The book includes lessons on music notation, posture, positioning, tuning, and hand strokes. There are also many exercises, examples of Latin rhythms, andeven some history of the instrument. Written by best-selling Mel Bay author Trevor Salloum, this method is all you need to start playing the conga today!

This entertaining history of Cuba and its music begins with the collision of Spain and Africa and continues through the era of Miguelito Valdes, Arsenio Rodriguez, Benny More, and Perez Prado. It offers a behind-the-scenes examination of music from a Cuban point of view, unearthing surprising, provocative connections and making the case that Cuba was fundamental to the evolution of music in the New World. The ways in which the music of black slaves transformed 16th-century Europe, how the "claves" appeared, and how Cuban music influenced ragtime, jazz, and rhythm and blues are revealed. Music lovers will follow this journey from Andalucia, the Congo, the Calabar, Dahomey, and Yorubaland via Cuba to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Saint-Domingue, New Orleans, New York, and Miami. The music is placed in a historical context that considers the complexities of the slave trade; Cuba's relationship to the United States; its revolutionary political traditions; the music of Santeria, Palo, Abakua, and Vodu; and much more.