conga
A tall, narrow Cuban drum played with the hands, central to Latin percussion.
In Depth
The conga is a single-headed drum of Afro-Cuban origin, typically played in sets of two or three drums of different sizes and pitches. The player uses a variety of hand strokes — open tone, slap, bass, and muted touch — to produce a wide range of sounds from a single drum.
Congas became standard in Latin jazz, salsa, and popular music from the 1940s onward. Mongo Santamaría and Ray Barretto were pioneering conga players who brought the instrument into mainstream American music. The conga's warm, resonant tone and rhythmic versatility have made it one of the most widely used percussion instruments in the world.
Conga drums were originally made from hollowed tree trunks with animal skin heads. Modern congas use fibreglass shells and synthetic heads but retain the same basic shape.