a8 SONGO Songo — style created and made popular by Los Van Van of Cuba. Juan Formel (bassist) formed the group Los Van Van in 1970, Along with drummer “Blasito”, Formel attempted to merge “Son” with American music. When drummer “Blasito” left the band, Jose’ Luis Quintana “Changuito” (conguero, timbalero, and drummer) joined as the new drummer, he developed and elaborated on the style, The resull of this endeavor of Los Van Van was named Sango. “The songo “groove” is made by the combination of patterns in the rhythm section. Note that the overall feel of the rhythm section is different. The examples included here are a basic idea of a groove that is much freer and “ad-lib”. This groove incorporates a trap set along with bata drums, chekeres, and/or the standard congas, bongos and. timbales, The drummer that introduced this groove in the U.S. is Ignacio Berroa (drummer for many years with Dizzy Gillespie). He recorded this groove for the first time in the U.S. with Batacumbele of Puerto Rico, (For a more in depth study of the groove see Ignacio's video “Mastering The Art Of Afro-Cuban Drumming” available from WARNER BROS, PUBLICATIONS.) 2 SONGO @) Clave 3:2 Bass Example 26 c D a F