The berimbau is a Brazilian instrument associated with Capoeira, which is a Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, sports, and music. It was created in Brazil mainly by descendants of African slaves with Brazilian native…

The island of Cuba was a Spanish possession for almost 400 years (1511-1898). The land-owning elite held social and economic power, supported by slaves, both indigenous and of South American and African descent, until slavery was abolished…

And then came a lion... Conga / Harmonica (key of D) improvisation. 4/4 90bpm

Here's proof. Proof that things are a bit mysterious in my studio. Late last night my Bass Cajon all of a sudden decided to start accompanying me on its own - without me touching it. At first I thought that some apparitional bass player had…

I couldn't resist crossing swords with Alex on this deft song of his which left me quite touchéd! *Inspired in part at least by accidental meat on meat.* Here's the original track.

Ilesa is a city located in the south west of Nigeria. This is a traditional rhythm pattern of the same name - but I'm not sure of the significance of the name. I played on 3 congas, accented with bell clave, block and cowbell, of course…

At a recent charity event held in my small town's train museum, I was admiring a massive brass train bell when the curator walked up to me. I commented that a bell would really rather be heard then seen, and he agreed. I offered to digitally record…

This spooky track utilizes the "Paulstretch" program to stretch recordings of gongs, chimes and bells to 8.04 times their native length: no other effects were made to these acoustic recordings other than to stretch them. The gongs utilized are…

A single track of improvised chromatically tuned congas in 7/8, accented with clave, guiro, cajon and quinto. (For those who may be interested in collaborating on this, the triplet phrasing of this groove may be most easily counted like this…

This traditional Cuban rhythm is the well established "go-to" pattern for 4/4 songs. It is perhaps the most commonly heard conga pattern in 4/4 music. The bongo pattern that accompanies the congas is referred to as "martillo" (the hammer…