Mel Bay The Bongo Book

Here's an entire book devoted to the all too often overlooked Latin instrument, the bongo drums. Trevor Salloum guides you on an inspired informative, and educational musical journey; offering many valuable insights of playing this instrument as well as revealing its colorful history. This text features jazz, rock, Danzon, Mozambique, and bomba patterns with fills, exercises, and performance techniques to get you going in these styles. Maintenance, characteristic rhythmic patterns, and important artists in the evolution of bongo technique are also covered in depth. The companion CD features recordings of the rhythm patterns discussed in the book.
Customer Review: Bongo Book
Serves its purpose well. It is the thinnist book I've ever seen, but hey it's about music. WHat more can you say. It isn't really worth the money. Get the CDs over this I recommend videos over both.
Customer Review: Not For Beginners!
The item description doesn't say that this book is for beginners. But based on the reviews I read it seemed like a good book for beginners. That was a horrific assumption. I don't blame the publisher for this, I blame other reviewers who lead readers to believe this is a good book for beginners. From the beginning this book uses all kinds of terminology that I've never heard of before (and I have played some keyboard, drums and guitar). Which leads me to wonder who this book is for because, in my opinion, anyone who can understand the terminology probably has no use for such a book. I do fault the publisher for the terribly exposed, grainy photographs. I also fault the publisher for allowing several interviews with bongo players which, in my opinion, do not belong in a book like this. The whole book just feels cheap as if it was quickly thrown together. As an absolute beginner what I would have liked to see is a more detailed explanation of technique along with photos (this book has a few photos, but most of them look the same, and the photos do not correlate with the techniques described in the text). I would also have liked to see more description of how to read the notation used in the book. And while I understand musical timing due to my previous experience an absolute beginner will have no clue as to what tempo the notes should be played, this is not described anywhere in the book. This is a very poorly executed and frustrating book about bongos. It borders on useless for a true beginner. If you are a beginning bongo player do not buy this book it will not help you learn to play the bongos and will give you nothing but frustration. I have no idea how a book like this ever made it to print.

Did you know...

Nadia Comaneci was a Romanian-born gymnast who won many Olympic medals. For many sportswriters, Nadia is the greatest athlete of all time. In the 1970s and early 80s, she was a member of the Romanian Olympic gymnastics team. When she was 13 years old, Nadia won four gold medals at the 1975 European Championship in Skien, Norway. She defeated Ludmilla Turishcheva (USSR), who won two Olympic and four world titles (1972-1974). Nadia Comaneci was discovered by Bela Karolyi. He said: "I was visiting the kindergarten that day and I saw two little six-year-old girls playing in the courtyard during the recreation period. They were running and jumping around, pretending they were gymnasts.Then the bell rang, and they ran into the school with all other little girls and I lost them. I knew I would never leave that school until I found those two little girls. I went into each class of that kindergarten looking for them. I went through twice without seeing them. The third time around I asked each class, 'Who loves gymnastics? In each class a few of the little girls would raise their hands. But in one class two of them sprang up and shouted, 'We do! We do!' and I had found them. One was Nadia Comaneci. The other one is now a very promising ballerina".

Said Aouita is a legendary athlete of the Kingdom of Morocco (Africa). He was one of the world's most famous runners. This Arab sportsperson won a gold medal in the 5000m at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and set several world records in the 1980s (1,500m, 2,000m, 3,000m and 5,000m ). In the 1988 Olympics, he only won a bronze medal in the 800 metres. Said was the favourite to win three Olympic gold medals. In an interview with Michael Janofsky, published February 5, 1989 by the New York Times, he explained: "From the point of view of morale, it was a catastrophe that I lost in Seoul".

The Pakistani field hockey team has won two Olympic titles: 1960 and 1968. It also won the Field Hockey World Championship four times ( 1971, 1978, 1982, 1994).This country has won the Asian Tournament a record seven times: Tokyo'58, Jakarta'62, Bangkok'70, Tehran'74, Bangkok'78, New Delhi'82 and Beijing'90. In 1979, Pakistan won the World Junior Cup.

Kirsty Coventry, the Olympic champion of 2004, is the best African female athlete in history. She was born on September 16, 1983 in Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe (former Rhodesia). Like many Latin American and African sportspeople, she currently lives and trains in the United States. Unfortunately, Zimbabwe is one of the Africa's poorest countries. She once said, "The USA experience was very useful for me, as I had a scholarship for the University of Auburn and the opportunity to have contact with the best female American swimmers. I could then constantly progress, and from Athens 2004 to be part of the world elite. I advise young swimmers of my continent to do the same in order to fulfil their dreams".

In 2002, she finished first in the 200m individual medley (2:14.53) at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester (United Kingdom). At the 2004 Olympics in Greece, Kirsty won 3 medals, including 1 gold. Her country did not win any Olympic medal since 1980. It was a surprise for the Olympic movement. This sportsperson also won six medals at the FINA World Championships (2005-2007). In July 2007, Kirsty became the "star" of the 9th African Games. Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry won 10 women's swimming medals. She said: "I was training very hard in Austin (Texas) with my coach Kim Brackin, but I wanted to represent my country at these Games. In 2003, I couldn't come and I had failed other continental competitions because of my university studies in Auburn. So, I am very happy to come back to the atmosphere of the African swimming family, eight years after my first participation in the African Games in Johannesburg in 1999".

Jefferson Leonardo Perez Quezada is a gold medalist who led an Ecuadorian sweep in the 20 kilometer walk at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996. This athlete won a gold medal at the 1997 Bolivarian Games in Arequipa, Peru. He is also three-time Pan American medalist who captured the gold in 20 kilometer walk at the 1995, 2003 and 2007 Pan American Games. Furthermore, he won a gold medal at the IAAF World Championship in Osaka (Japan) in 2007. He won two medals at the 1990 and 1992 World Junior Championships. The Latin American track and field star was born on July 1, 1974 in Cuenca, Ecuador (South America).

The Zimbabwean women's field hockey won a gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow (Soviet Union) in 1980. The Olympic champions were: Christine Prinsloo, Sonia Robertson, Anthea Stewart, Helen Volk, Linda Watson, Sarah English, Maureen George, Ann Grant, Susan Hugget, Patricia McKillop, Brenda Phillips, Elizabeth Chase, Sandra Chick, Patricia Davies and Gillian Cowley.

The Brazilian national team won the gold medal in men's volleyball in the Olympics in 2004. The Brazilian medals winners were: Giovane "Giggio" Gavio, Rodrigo "Rodrigao" Santana, Gilberto "Giba" Godoy Filho, Anderson Rodrigues, Mauricio Lima, Sergio "Escandinha" Dutra Santos, Andre Heller, Nalbert Tavares Bitencourt, Andre Luiz da Silva Nascimento, Dante Guimaraes Amaral, Gustavo Endres and Ricardo "Ricardinho" Rezende.

Top performances:

1997: World Cup-1st place; World Junior Championship-2nd place

1999: Pan American Games-2nd place; World Junior Championship-3rd place; South American Tournament-1st place

2000: Olympic Games-6th place

2001: World League-1st place; South American Tournament-1st place; World Junior Championship-1st place; World Youth Championship-1st place

2002: World Championship-1st place; World League-2nd place

2003: World League-1st place; World Cup-1st place; Pan American Games-3rd place; South American Championship-1st place; World Junior Championship-2nd place; World Youth Championship-1st place

2004: World League-1st place; Olympic Games-1st place

2005: World League-1st place; South American Tournament-1st place; World Junior Championship-2nd place; World Youth Championship-2nd place

2006: World League-1st place ; World Championship-1st place

2007: World League-1st place (it won its seventh title); Pan American Games-1st place; South American Championship-1st place; American Cup-2nd place; World Cup-1st place; World Junior Championship-1st place.

Alejandro Guevara Onofre: He is a freelance writer.Alejandro is of Italian, African and Peruvian ancestry.He has published more than seventy-five research paper in English, and more than twenty in Spanish, concerning the world issues, olympic sports, countries, and tourism. His next essay is called "The Dictator and Alicia Alonso".He is an expert on foreign affairs.Alejandro is the first author who has published a world-book encyclopedia in Latin America.

He admires Frida Kahlo (Mexican painter), Jose Gamarra (former president of the Bolivian Olympic Committee ,1970- 1982), Hillary Clinton (ex-First Lady of the USA), and Jimmy Carter (former President of the USA). Alejandro said: "The person who I admire the most is Jose Gamarra . He devoted his professional and personal life to sport. Jose played an important role in the promotion of Olympism in Bolivia -it is one of the Third World's poorest countries- and Latin America. His biography is interesting".The sports people he most admire is Olympic volleyball player Flo Hyman. "This African-American sportswoman is my idol..."

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