Handcrafted Changüi bongo drums vintage Cuban 1920-50

Here is an ultra rare find: traditional bongos for playing changüi, nengón, and kiribá music. They are large-sized tack-headed drums with a deeper sound than regular bongos. The heads traditionally use the same “ida” or “iro” tree sap putty as batá drums. They come from Baracoa, in the Oriente province of Cuba, which is the home of the folkloric styles mentioned. There are no maker’s marks.

I can only guess at the age. Nengón was mostly popular in the early part of the 1900s, and predates son montuno, which would make these maybe 100 years old; but the folkloric tradition has continued locally all this time, so they might be only 50 years old. The skins are in wonderful soft condition, so I don’t think they’re ancient.

The heads have some tiny nicks but no holes or splits. The 8.5” hembra has a big dollop of iro putty. The 7.75” macho has just a tiny smidge, just enough to know it used to have some as well. The wood and metal are all heavy and solid. The macho shell has a couple spots of partial seam separation just near the bottom edge, but is overall glued tight. The hembra shell is all tight. There are some scratched areas on both shells, as shown. The drums are 9.5” tall, and the overall length is 17.5”.