The whole idea for the project is centered in playing bongo around musical scores that lack percussion in their original versions, a trait that forces me to play in musical situations quite alien and new for the bongo. Obviously, I avoided playing scores that had a somewhat latin feel and headed for more risky stuff. Of course, recording the live performance is one of the main characteristics of the project, being my in my best interest the DIFFUSION of my proposal though Youtube, a media that allows my to present the world this vision of the bongo and its unlimited possibilities.
 

So, this way I have played the bongo for themes like Rimsky Korsakov´s  The Flight of the Bumblebee and Boby McFerrin and Yo-Yo Ma´s version of Barrierés Sonata for two Cellos, an adventure that allowed me to hear how the bongo worked within an academical background. I have also played scores from solo guitarrists like Andy McKee and Don Ross, and I also traveled through the musical landscape of the tango and the milonga. Up until now, since I have received amazing feedback, I´m proposing myself new musical adventures in search for new horizons for this musical instrument.
 

How far do I want to go with this project? Well, as far as music and my ideas allow. Of course, I´m still looking fot the possibility of playing live shows, supported, maybe, with images, doing a multimedia kind of thing.
 

The Future:

Now I´m preparing new videos for the project. Through Youtube I have met musical colleagues that want to share and develop joint efforts that can be added to the project. Currently I am working with a Colombian in a Fugue from his penmanship, it is a venture that will soon become what I´ve called The Bongo Project and Friends. So, I could well say the journey is just about to begin....


keep on drumming

Lerryns ;-)

Howdy from Nashville, by way of Asheville.

On August 2nd, I attended one of many music festivals that take place in Asheville, North Carolina throughout the year. This one was called Riverfest, and was sponsored by one of Meinl USA’s percussion dealers, Musician’s Workshop. For those of you not familiar with Asheville, this tourist destination and art community is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains and was named one of the world’s top 12 must-see destinations for 2007.

Musician’s Workshop owners Becky and Frank Dosier took me downtown the night before the festival to see Asheville’s famous drum circle. We also enjoyed a fabulous dinner at one of Asheville’s many local eateries. I was pleased to see an assortment of Meinl percussion represented at the drum circle.

Saturday morning we set up the Musician’s Workshop booth at the festival which included African Rope Tuned Djembes, Congas, Bongos, Cajons, Tambourines, and Doumbeks.......all from Meinl. There was also a wide assortment of Nino percussion.

Dave Mathes, a local drummer and percussionist even got some time on stage between bands to demonstrate most of Meinl’s percussion to the crowd.

We had a blast and it was encouraging to see such a sizable percussion user community and presence in such a popular area.

Check out the pictures!

Hello friends,

I proudly announce José Cortijo is now an official member of the Meinl Percussion family.

As an author, soloist, band member or teacher - José is one of the most successful percussionists in Europe.

He was born in Spain and has worked for artists like Jon Lord, Al Jarreau, NDR Big Band, Gary Burton, and many more. His extensive function as a tutor and an author lead him to the Staatliche Hochschule for Music and performing Arts in 1994, where he became the first percussion professor in 2003.

Mario

Hi folks,

This blog entry is the latest about what's going on at Meinl Percussion...

We all are concerned about the environment and conserving precious natural resources. Many of our drums and percussion instruments are made of wood, much of that coming from sources in Asia. It has always been our goal to work in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way.

We recently joined the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), with the intention of becoming fully compliant with their standards. The FSC is a prestigious organization dedicated to preserving the worlds forests. Their standards are high, and they don't give out passing grades easily.

We wanted to know what we could do to support the objectives of the FSC, and to qualify as a member business. The upshoot is that Meinl Percussion has joined the FSC, and will obtain full certification as soon as possible. That way we support the Forest Stewardship Council and make our world a little bit better, now and for generations to come...

PS: If you are interested in the details about the work of the FSC or becoming a member too - take a look at www.fsc.org and http://www.fsc-deutschland.de/

All the best

Mario

hello friends,

we proudly announce the first german cajon festival at the comprehensive school horn in hamburg, germany!

the event will take place on the 15th of november 2008 at: gesamtschule horn, snitgerreihe 2 in 22111 hamburg.

this school has a very innovative and groundbreaking music department under the direction of arend schmidt-landmeier, jens everling and nis nöhring.

they decided, together with oliver böttger, to originate the first cajon festival which will feature various cajon manufacturers and their hottest instruments. every company will have at least one artist at the venue for several workshops and shows during the event.

meinl percussion will be represented by stephan maass + a special guest!

you will also find further information at: http://www.cajonmania.de/ - a very interesting page, hosted by oliver mann.

we'll keep you posted with the news!

mario

hi folks,

just to remind you: today the samba festival in coburg will start – and meinl percussion will take part. if you think about going there and if you will have time just stop by at our booth t04 close to the theaterplatz, and enter the contest “faces of percussion” or test some of our samba instruments … think we will have a lot of fun the next three days … ;-)

hope to see you at our booth

helge

Hi folks,

maybe you’ve already noticed all the new and wonderful bongo videos in our community made by lerryns hernandez from caracas / venezuela. we watched those great videos day by day and decided to get in contact with him … to make a long story short –lerryns hernandez is now endorsed by Meinl percussion.

you want to know a little bit more about bongo hero lerryns ? this is what lerryns told us:

“My name is Lerryns Hernández and I´m a drummer and percussionist. Although percussionist is a word that covers a wide range of skills, in my particular case, besides drums, I play the bongo, conga, cymbal, darbouka and gipsy box. I began this musical journey more than twenty years ago, when my father gave me my first drum set for my eighteenth birthday. From then on, everything was about playing. I left my University studies and dived in musical issues. I took individual lesson for almost two years with a very prestigious professor that lives here in my birth town of Caracas. From then until now, I have become a self-taught musician with more than 20 records in diverse genres as session drummer, not to mention TV commercials, movie and soap opera soundtracks.

With the percussion, the story has been, well, quite different. The bongo was the first percussion instrument I held in my hands....long before I ever dreamt with playing drums, way back when I was in High School. A friend of mine taught me some lessons of the basic “hammer” beat and from then on I made my way watching other people play and inspire me. It was never an instrument that I played with my colleagues in concerts and that kind of stuff, it was more the kind of instrument that I played in parties and informal jam sessions covering a wide range of musical selections, from latin to pop, rock, Venezuelan traditional, etc. I just couldn´t stand there without playing when my buddies befriended hot chics by strumming their guitars while I remained in silence with my bongo..So I had to, by all means, be able to accompany whatever music they played in order to be there...With this idea in mind, last year, in November, I decided to experiment a little, just as I once did 20 years ago, but with the maturity that I have achieved today, as far as I believe. So, it is in this sense that The Bongo Projecct was born.”

stay tuned and you will get more details about lerryns’ bongo project ;-)

keep on drumming

helge

hello percussion friends,

how are you doing these days?

first of all, i want to say thank you to everybody who sent us some pictures for our faces of percussion project. we have already many great images for the next catalog, but please, keep going - the more the better :)

- - -

last week, my fellow bernie and i went to laigueglia in order to meet some business partners and artists.

laigueglia is a fabulous little village at the mediterranean sea. once a year they celebrate a big percussion/jazz festival over there (percfest) where all italian musicians come together to hang out, have a good time, and jam. you'd find little stages all over the place - it's just amazing!

i've met with some great italian artists, talked about different product ideas, and took the opportunity to shoot some photos for our next catalog.

btw. we've just worked out the design of our 2009 book of percussion... it will be mind-blowing. without being exaggerating! but you'll see it yourself, in about seven month... :-)

cheers,
mario

Howdy,

"Howdy" is the southern U.S. greeting that many will receive when they show up at the Summer NAMM Show, 2008, here in Meinl USA's hometown of Nashville, Tennessee starting tomorrow, Friday, June 20, 2008. The show is happening at the Nashville Convention Center in the historic lower Broadway District of of Nashville and it runs through Sunday, June 22.

This is a great chance for all of the music instrument manufacturers who have a booth at the trade show, to meet with retailers from across the USA and discuss business and get a little bit of face time in.

Meinl will be there at booth #608. While the show is closed to the public, any of ya'll out there reading who are on your way, please stop by and say hello We'd love to see you.

 - Chris

Greetings One and All,

I\\\'m very happy to let everyone know that percussionist Taku Hirano has joined the Meinl Percussion Family.

Taku, based in the Los Angeles, California area, has quite an impressive resume. Along with international tours with Lionel Richie, Stevie Nicks, Lindsay Buckingham, and Isaac Hayes, Taku holds steady gigs with Fleetwood Mac and Bette Midler among others. Taku also has been on a number of major motion picture and television soundtracks and scores. Several of these recordings have won Grammy, Emmy, and American Music Awards. In addition to all of this, Taku has performed with the likes of Stevie Wonder, LeAnn Rimes, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Mary J. Blige, Patti Labelle, Barry Manilow, Kenny Loggins, Chaka Kahn, The Neville Brothers, Don Henley, Joe Zawinul, Cece Winans, Gary Burton, and Yolanda Adams...just to name a few.

Currently, Taku is performing with Bette Midler in her Las Vegas show, "The Showgirl Must Go On" at Caesar's Palace. In fact, if you are able, tune into The Tonight Show with Jay Leno this Friday, June 20th, as Taku will be performing with Bette Midler.

Taku just won the 2007 DRUM! Magazine Drummie Awards for "Percussion Rising Star" and Runner Up for the "Rock/Pop Percussionist" category.

To learn more about this serious talent, head to www.takuhirano.com and www.myspace.com/takuhirano .

Welcome Taku!!!

 - Chris