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Horacio 'El Negro' Hernandez is a renowned drummer and percussionist from Cuba. He first gained international recognition as sticksman for pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba and his group Proyecto and has gone on to lend beats to several Grammy-winning albums.

"My kit is like a kid's playground," smiles Hernandez after a well-received clinic. "It really has a huge range, from very high sounds to very low, especially with all of the percussion instruments in there too."

"My goal is to make music on the drumset, not just to play beats - I want to build musical stories when I play," El Negro

"Musical stories"

My goal is to make music on the drumset, not just to play beats, and having all the bells, a smaller snare drum and so on helps me to do that. I want to build musical stories when I play solo, and this kit is like playing a piano."

More cowbell

Far from being an add-on afterthought, Horacio's signature Pearl cowbells are an integral part of his kit. And he uses all five from the range around his set-up. "The idea behind the bells was to come up with a new kind of instrument," he explains. "I wanted them to sound great, of course, but also to hold straight for the duration of a gig, and to offer two playing surfaces.

"The note intervals between the five bells are also really important to me. It took a long time to get things right, but I'm very happy with the results."

Next page: Horacio Hernandez drum set-up detail

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