Volcano Percussion: Hawaiian home grown drums

Latin Beat Magazine, Nov, 2004 by Rudy Mangual

A native of Hollywood, California, Thomas Alexander inherited his passion and love for music and engineering from his parents. His mother was a jazz singer and his father was a structural engineer. You can say he was raised with a slide ruler in one hand and a ser of bongos in the other. As a teen, he spent his weekends and evenings in various jazz clubs, from Howard Rumsey's The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach to Shelly Mann's Hole in Hollywood to The Black Falcon in Santa Monica, taking photographs of his favorite musicians while enjoying their music. After a six-year military stint during the Vietnam War, he decided to make the beautiful archipelago of Hawaii his home. Notable to find a job in the field of photography, he rapidly registered in college, hoping to apply his engineering skills and artistic savvy to the field of fine woodworking.

The following six years of his life would be spent learning all aspects of carpentry and forestry, as well as logging, sawmill operations and fine woodworking. He married a Southern California-born-Hispanic-American named Victoria Nava, who shared his passion and love for music, and later on, would be a major part of his inspiration to create fine percussion instruments. From 1975 to 1995, Alexander operated Alika Cabinets, producing mostly one-of-a-kind fine wood pieces (for galleries of on commission). He also took pride in restoration and remodeling, and was hired to restore Imiola Church--one of the oldest churches in Hawaii--with Hawaiian Koa wood.

In 1995, after 25 years of making wood square boxes, the cabinetmaker who loved music and enjoyed playing hand percussion instruments was approached by a percussionist who wanted him to refinish a set of conga drums. As he prepared for the task and gazed at the drums, he realized that this was what he wanted to do more than anything else. Hence, the birth of Volcano Percussion. With wife Victoria's blessing; Alexander embarked on the mission of making a drum to surpass all drums ever seen, heard or played. In January, 2004, after nine years of researching and developing the correct size and sound coordinates from his prototype drums, Volcano Percussion (V.E) opened its doors to the world. Having two of the most beautiful and highly prized woods in the world (Hawaiian Koa and Mango) at his disposal, he set off to continue a legacy of making hand drums in Hawaii, which dates back to six centuries ago when the Polynes first created the pahu (pah hoo), a coconut hollowed drum with a sharkskin head and the puniu (poo niu), a small coconut-shell drum with a fish-skin head. These instruments are still in use today. Conga and or bungó drums accompany approximately 70% of Hawaiian music these days, as well as at least 50% of the rest of the planet's music. The tumbadoras (conga drums) arrived in Hawaii via Puerto Rico and Cuba in the early 1900s. The Latin-style form called "kachi-kachi" is alive and very popular in the Hawaiian Islands.

Bandleader/percussionist Rolando Sánchez (of Salsa Hawaii Band) was fortunate to be one of the first endorsees of Hawaii's V.P. drums. "To all professional and up and coming percussionists alike, these drums are just the right volcano explosion that you will need to produce the best sound in today's music."

Also endorsing V.P. instruments is Russell "Sango" Robertson. Sango is an educator at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. He also has his own percussion school and currently performs in Honululu's nightclub circuit. "The sound quality of V.P. drums surpassed my wildest dreams in my 45 years of playing."

Volcano Percussion received 1st place in the musical instrument category for their entry of an ensemble of Hawaiian Mango conga and bongó drums. The award was presented to Rolando Sánchez on behalf of Volcano Percussion at the Hawaii Forest Industry Association (H.F.I.A) 12th annual Juried Wood Show State Competition held on September 12 & 13, 2004 at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center in Honululu.

For more information on V.P. drums visit www.volcanupercussion.com.