Bongos
Bongos are a pair of small, open-bottomed hand drums of different sizes that originated in Eastern Cuba at the end of the 19th century. The larger drum is called hembra (female), and the smaller one is macho (male). The drums are joined by a wooden bridge and played with both hands—mainly in the rhythm section of son cubano and salsa ensembles—alongside other drums such as congas and timbales. The bongo player is known as bongosero and plays a continuous eight-stroke pattern called martillo (hammer) and improvisatory flourishes providing rhythmic counterpoint. Bongos were initially popularized in the 1940s and they have been used in a wide range of music genres from bachata to Latin rock.
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