Bongo drums, usually just called bongos, are one of the most recognizable of percussion instruments. Due to the pervasive popularity of Latin music (thank you, “Dancing With the Stars”), the sounds of these little drums are familiar to people around the world. Bongos, as the name implies, always come in attached sets of two. One drum is slightly bigger than the other; the larger is the “hembra” (the Spanish word for “female), while the smaller is the “macho” (the Spanish word for “male”). Bongo drums are capable of a great deal of versatility and their music is usually upbeat and rapid. Like some other drums of the Americas, such as the steel drum, bongo drums were originally brought to South America from Africa via the Atlantic slave trade. The African nations of Nigeria and Cameroon had fraternal organizations that utilized a trio of drums called “bonk Zakk Wylde guitars o.” When the Africans were brought to the Americas, vestiges of these organizations and their traditions came with them. The Abakua is a society of Afro-Cuban men that evolved from those fraternal organizations. It continued to use the bonko drums, but the instruments eventually spread beyond the fraternity. It is believed that this was the origin of the bongo in South America. The Abakua still exists in modern Cuba and it still uses bonkos that, if joined together in pairs, very closely resemble bongo drums. The bodies of bongo drums are usually made of wood, metal or composite materials attached by a thick piece of wood. The head is traditionally of animal skin, but as with other modern drums, synthetic materials are commonly used in modern times. Originally, in the late 19th century, the heads of bongo drums were tacked on and tuned with a heat source.