Martin Cohen

About Me

Passion has been my driving force. Starting with a simple folding camera at the age of 12 I became fascinated with photographing my surroundings. At age 17 I fell in love with Latin and jazz music. I have been, for over 4 decades photographing the legends of this music. In 1964 I began to build bongos and other percussion inventions in my basement. With this background I founded LP, the largest percussion instrument company in the world. What drove me to create products was never the money but the thrill of pleasing the percussionists that were and still are, my heroes. In 1996 I began, congahead.com which is a website devoted to these musical giants. You will find here over 10,000 photos plus movies of live performances, inside tips and interviews that are a must for anyone who loves great music. Travel with me around the world to meet some of the most talented musicians and personalities in contemporary music.
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My Interests

Music of the African diaspora, photography, recording, computers, travel. After nearly 50 years working with the leading percussionists of the world, I remain infatuated with their amazing talent.

Go to www.congahead.com for latest movies in high quality divx format

I'd like to meet:

Kid Robot Store grand opening. Soho, NYC. May 1, 2008

Martin's Birthday bash. February 16, 2008

I have been blessed with knowing some of the greatest musicians in the world over a period of 50 years. I continue to meet amazing people that continue to create beautiful music in every category of music. From Cuban timba to American, hiphop. Its all good and hope to continue to create ©Profiles In Greatness videos with leading edge performers. Go to martincongahead at youtube for the full collection.

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Montreux Jazz Festival July 2006

Onel Mulet and Roman Diaz
Nanny Assis Brazilian tune
Pedro "Pedrito" Martinez, Mauricio Herrera and Panagiotis Andreou
A Sunday at Orchard Beach
Exciting Music Videos
Eddie Montalvo's 54th Birthday
Ray Barretto Tribute at Lehman College. Oct. 7, 2006
North Sea Jazz Festival 2006
Montreux Jazz Festival 2006
RIP Manny Duran 1926-2006
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My Birthday 2007

NAMM Show 2007

Music:

Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Giovanni Hidalgo, Richard Bona, Little Johnny Rivero, Clifford Brown, Max Roach, OutKast, Ludacris, Salif Keita, Dana Leong, Jamiroquai, Herbie Hancock, Diana Krall, Snoop Dogg, Richard Bona, Dana Leong, Ivan Renta, Johnny "Dandy" Rodriguez, Pedro "Pedrito" Martinez, Marvin Diz, Zakir Hussain, Chembo, Samuel Torres, David Gomez, Karl Perazzo, Raul Rekow, Steve Thornton.

Movies:

My speach, Percussive Arts Society
Induction into the Hall Of Fame
November 10, 2006 ..
Giovanni Hidalgo performs 2nd solo in Kissimmee, Florida ..
Giovanni Hidalgo performs solo. Kissimmee, Florida.
..Tito Puente Live at Montreux-tune 1

Get this video and more at MySpace.com.. width="425" height="350" .... width="425" height="350" ....Tito Puente performs for daughter, Audrey's birthday. March 2, 2000

Get this video and more at MySpace.comTito Puente Live at Montreux-tune 2

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Giovanni Hidalgo solo at Ray Barretto Tribute
Lehman College. Bronx, NY. October 7, 2006
Giovanni Hidalgo

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Little Johnny solo in Germany
Marvin Diz and Yoel del Sol
Yoel del Sol

Television:

Too busy to watch TV. The world is moving too fast and there is so much to do and so little time to do it.
Hitslink

Books:

Donna Leon mysteries, all of them. Kite Runner, Book Seller of Kabul.

Heroes:

My son Matthew and my wife Vivianne and the rest of my family and close friends, world wide. They make my life worthwhile. Also all the amazing musicians that I am grateful to be able to call my friends.

Sadly, too many have left us like Tito Puente, Hilton Ruiz, Don Alias, Little Ray Romero, Frankie Malbabe, Tati, Papaito, Virgilio Marti, Ray Barretto, Cal Tjader, Kako, Willie Bobo, Celia Cruz, Machito, Tony Jimenez, Frankie Rodriguez, Dizzy Gillespie, Mark Ledford, José Mangual, Sr., Olatunji, Johnny Rodriguez, Sr., Tati, Dom Um Romao, Barry Rogers, Claudio Slon, Mongo Santamaria, Pete El Conde Rodriguez, Charlie Palmieri, Kenny Kirkland, Carl "Oscar" Foster, Tito Rodriguez, .

My Blog

videos or great percussion musical performances

In the 40 plus years involved in marketing percussion, nothing comes close to the videos I have created and posted here and on youtube (martincongahead) for communicating with so many people around th...
Posted by Martin Cohen on Tue, 27 Feb 2007 08:42:00 PST

Profiles in Greatness© was created in 2006 to bring to the world videos of the breath-taking musical talent that I have been privileged to have come to know in my more than 4 decades of building percu...
Posted by Martin Cohen on Sat, 16 Sep 2006 08:45:00 PST

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