Mano Percussion’s MP714 are a pair of Tuneable 7″ and 8″ bongo drums. Featuring natural hide heads and traditional styling, these hand drums will have you laying down a groove in no time!
Comprising two tone wood shells built in the traditional method in light and dark brown they feature
chrome plated steel flanged hoops and hardware. A steel band around the base of each shell adds further strength and rigidity.
Bongos have many advantages over most drums and size is probably the most obvious. Thanks to their portability drummers can take their bongos to a jam session and not have to drag around cases full of gear. If the jam or session is a little more serious , modern amplification allows the bongos to be played with virtually any other instrument.
Bongos are one of the most adaptable percussion instruments and as a result are well suited to many styles of modern music, including Folk, Latin, Flamenco, Rock, Funk, Rap, Jazz and even Symphonic music, plus anything else that you can probably think of!
As bongos require minimal maintenance and are quite durable in construction they have found favour with people who are keen to participate in making music but don’t have hours to care for and preen their instrument and along with the explosion of interest in hand drumming, everyone from inner city youth, to the elderly and even corporate executives are trying their hands on the skins.
Bongos are one of the most enjoyable of the hand drum family and the therapeutic value of hand drumming should not be understated. I’m sure many of you recall having your parents buy a set of bongos because of their reasonable price and suitability for small hands.
Many people think of the bongos as a toy or novelty item, but they have a rich cultural history. Bongos were developed in eastern Cuba in the Guantanamo province in the late 1800s, and are the principle drums of the music styles known as changüi and son (pronounced “sone”). These styles are a blend of the rich African and Spanish cultures of Cuba and contain the roots of modern salsa.
In the ’40s and ’50s, the bongos emerged as the guiding sound for the beat generation. During this period famous bongo drummers gained commercial success, as evidenced by Jack Costanzo (“Mr. Bongo”), who accompanied the Nat King Cole Trio.
