Bongos?
By: Megan E. Thomas

Many people have problems identifying the bongos and congas. While both being hand drums, they are very different and are approached differently. Bongos are the small high pitched drums that are joined together by a block. The smaller of the two is called the macho and the large drum is called the hembra. The bongos originated in Cuba. They were originally played in Changui and Son groups. There were no other drums used in those groups until the 1940's when Congas were introduced into the ensemble. Bongos are used in many genres of music today. The bongos are primarily an improvisational instrument. Traditionally the bongos are played seated with the pair being held between the knees. A right handed player would have the macho (small drum) on the left and the hembra (large drum) on the right. The bongocero (bongo player) would also switch to playing a large hand-held cowbell (Campana) during certain sections of music within the ensemble. In general, the bongocero would play bongos during the introduction, the verses, and during lower volume solos such as bass or piano solos. The campana would be played for the Montuno section as well as during solos that were higher in dynamics.

There is one main bongo pattern that is used to improvise around. This groove is called the Martillo pattern. Martillo means hammer in Spanish. One is hammering out the downbeats in the groove which helps maintain the tempo. There are a few different tones that one needs to know before starting to play. The main tones are the slap, the heel (thumb), the toe (finger), and the open tone. In the Martillo pattern below, the macho is the drum that most of the pattern is played on while one note is played on the hembra. The note played on the hembra corresponds to the congas' tumbaó pattern.

Slap = S Right = R
Heel = H Left = L
Toe = T
Open = O

There are many variations to this pattern so be creative, listen to the other musicians around you, and "hammer away."