Quote from Tata Rompe Pecho on March 21, 2023, 11:12 pm

The Conga Drum is known around the world and played in many different places but is a drum that is not spoken about that much and what is known about it is incorrect in the spiritual streets. Originally the drum was named Tumbadora, with the nickname of Conga becoming more prevalent later on. The Tumbadora was first developed in Cuba in the late nineteenth century (1877-1900) and nobody knows where exactly or by whom (not surprised). What is known about the drum is that it is the descendant of the Yuka, Makuta and Ngoma drums that are of Bakongo origin. Some also attribute the Bembe of Yoruba origin but this wouldnt make sense seeing as how the Conga has no similarities with the Bembe at all. Bembe drums are often shorter, two sided drums that are actually played laid across the lap. Conga is a taller, one sided drum that is played standing up. There is no apparent ancestral connection between the two except Lucumi people claiming the Conga as theirs.

See, there are many Lucumi practitioners that will place Chango on top of a Conga and say that Chango is Oba Aña (King of Drums), claiming that this drum is his drum. I cannot stress how many times as a child growing up I saw Chango on top of a Conga and was told how the Conga is his drum. I have even been threatened not to touch the Conga with a saying "El que rompe tambor, con su pellejo paga" which means "He who breaks the drum, with his own skin shall pay". This is all to say that the Lucumi tradition has claimed the drum as part of their tradition and attribute it to Chango, the king of drums.

Meanwhile, back to the actual origins of the drum, the Yuka and Makuta drums were brought to Cuba by the enslaved Bakongo. Obviously they didnt bring their drums from back home, they remade them in Cuba. New drums that were never seen in the region were created. These drums had mysteries to them, ceremonies, even meanings that transcended many other systems. For example, the Yuka and Makuta drums are known to have been played among the enslaved Bakongo to call each other to conference, to spiritual events, to eat and there is even evidence that they were used to communicate during enslaved rebellions. These drums were tall cylindrical, one-sided drums that were played standing and were slightly tipped forward. The drums were ceremonially made and so the creation process was very long and consisted of many ceremonies and secrets as well as meaning that only certain people were even able to own some. While the common world knows of the newer setup of three Congas, they do not know if in older times and within traditions there were actually three drums even played. We can look further into Nkisi Malongo (The origin of the Conga drum) to find that the answer is actually quite clear: No. See originally, in Nkisi Malongo we have a known system of Ngoma, Chechere Ngoma and Kinfuiti. Thats three drums but only two of those are actually directly connected to the origin of Conga seeing as how Kinfuiti is a completely different kind of drum that is played differently and produces a different kind of sound. So when we look at Makuta drums we see that they are very similar to Congas and would often be accompanied by a larger, Ngoma. In this sense, we see Ngoma and Chechere Ngoma strike again. These drums eventually became more rounded and barrel shaped rather than cylindrical and thus the Tumbadora was born from Yuka, Ngoma and Makuta (Chechere Ngoma). This is why in many older cases it was a set of two and not a set of three.

More recently, a third drum was added giving the Conga a wider range of sound that it can make; ranging from low to mid and then high. It is important to note that the Conga gave rise to a specific standardized way of playing the drum with specific key notes but the enslaved Bakongo were known for their "inventos" or seemingly made up notes. These notes were not actually made up, they were specifically recreations of the sounds the Bakongo already knew of and understood from back home. These sounds were rarely explained to anyone and so the world misunderstood them to be random weird but cool things some drummers did. Different sounds meant different things and in some cases, playing specific sounds called for specific events happening. So then if Yuka, Ngoma and Makuta already existed, why did the Bakongo switch to Tumbadora? Well in short, the Yuka, Ngoma and Makuta were really tall. They were meant to be played standing up, on your feet and as they were enslaved, this was not ideal because they were tired after working long days. They began shortening their drums and in the process a curve appeared (nobody knows if this was by mistake or on purpose), thus creating Tumbadora.

Tumbadora being a drum that was tall enough to be able to be played standing if needed but also able to be played sitting down if needed. This was not an overnight development and quite possibly started happening in the early 1800's when the Yuka, Ngoma and Makuta drums were first introduced to Cuba, what we do know for sure is that by the time the late nineteenth century rolled around, the Tumbadora had already been cemented in the history of Cuba. Taking all of this into account, now you can understand why it is so offensive to see people that attribute the Tumbadora to Chango and people across the world trying to claim it as their own. Chango is an Orisha that has nothing to do with the Conga, the Conga is a Cuban drum born from Kongo influence.