My local paper advertised Manny Montanez and the "Joy of Hispanic Music" doing an appearance at a library around here. I looked Manny up on Youtube and came up with this performance of his at a Senior place on my home turf. It triggered a variety of thoughts for me about "a variety of things." But....

I'm more interested in YOUR comments ? Anything at all that comes to mind when you watch this. Then I'll tell you mine!

Very personable guy. Sure the resident enjoyed it. I just don't like Karaoke.

Russ

Very enjoyable thanx for sharing

Certainly not something I would like to sit through.

Very interesting to me on many levels....

I won't nitpick about the balance of the congas or the use of tracks ... Nursing homes have a shoe string budget, there's no way they will pay for a band... What else can a singing conga player do?!?

Bottom line, the man sings and plays his instrument with a good feel, he connects well with his audience. He was well received.

I was happy to see that the senior/Anglo (I assume) audience seemed to appreciated his Spanish language songs. In light of recent events in our country and attitudes, it's nice to see that there are people that are open and appreciate cultural s outside of their own.

I agree, but for this type of gig the congas were too "upfront". Didn't blend with the tracks.
He could have had an easier setup, and better blend using his skills on bongo drums. The audience would have been appreciated him just as much.

Jerryghr

Hi,
Not sure it’s something my mum in law would have particularly enjoyed.
We went to one of the shows at her nursing home and the guy was doing
old 30s, 40s , 50’s type numbers, they were all singing along in their own quiet way, thoroughly enjoying themselves. Her grandson performed a more modern tune on his guitar, they sort of sat there a bit oblivious.

Personally, I found him entertaining.

My mother-in-law passed last July after about 2.5 years in a "high end" NH. After visiting her a lot, it seems that those souls are very appreciative of the entertainment (or attention) that comes their way -- the faces always perk up!

Not sure the Conga's are needed in this video as he is doing a good job with the vocals and seems to want to chat with them about the music.

Agreed, the blend was not good. But there’s many factors to consider like the placement of the recorder, no sound engineer ( I assume) placement of speakers....

My initial thought was similar to yours, that he would be better with some bongos.
But even an master Latin percussionist usually has an instrument they specialize in. Just like sax players..... Would you tell Charlie Parker to play tenor, even though he probably could, it just wasn’t his voice....

Anyways with a little polish this singing conguero will do just fine in the senior circuit.

Hey, Mark. Responded to your PM about cameras and other neat stuff. Like to hear from you!

R.

Hi Mark, many of us spent 30 plus minutes watching this video, and gave our opinions. I’m glad you posted it, but I wanted hear your opinion too.... Thanks!

+1