Hula bongo music .. not a tom tom or a conga, but a Polynesian bongo drum.. yes you may be surprised with hula bongo music played with a small wooden instrument with animal skin or a canvas type material stretched over two small cylinders, normally joined together, which one can hold between the knees and play methodically with their hands. Two cylinders hollowed out at different depths to create the bongo off beat sound. This is vey similar to the conga instrument which is more cylinderical and longer in shape. These are the familiar styles of the bongo type instruments we have come to know. But wait .. back it up, picture a six foot tall, broad shouldered athlete of a drummer holding 11-inch drum sticks in each hand, standing in front of not one but two Cook island wooden bongo drums, perched on stools to accommodate his large frame. These bongos have goat skin stretched over their wooden bodies .. creating the percussion surface of the hula-bongo drum. You are speculating what is going to happen next, you see the the bongo sticks elevating from the drums, this six foot brute of a man about to let loose upon these small wooden musical instruments. You are surprised .. taken back with the gentleness the drummer produces with these bongo drums, generating hula bongo music . His sizeable presence and stern demeanour is at the forefront of his professional presence, but it is his ability to entertain and keep you fixed on him and what he can do with these 11 inch sticks on these drums that amazes the audience. Size is not everything. Skill & professional presence makes the artistic difference. Return to hula-with-me "Home Page"
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