You can see timbales played by songwriter, bandleader, and drummer Tito Puente on display at the Smithsonian, or you can see them, in action, at Albuquerque Academy. The Puente family has donated them to the Academy so they can continue to make music. “These are for you — use them!” said Ron Puente, Tito Puente’s son and Head of School Julianne Puente’s father, at the dedication in November. “Play them with love. That’s what my pop would want.”
The Puente family presented two sets of timbales, a congo drum, music scores with handwritten notes, and other memorabilia to music students and faculty just before Thanksgiving break. The last time her family played together, recalled Ms. Puente, was Thanksgiving 1999. “We played as a family every Thanksgiving and Christmas. We had a big jam session in the basement; everybody played. It was very fun, and it was very loud and of high quality!”
Tito Puente, best known for “Oye Como Va,” played 250-300 gigs a year until he passed away in 2000. The touring drums his family donated to the Academy traveled with him around the world, used in shows for presidents and heads of state and at the most famous performance halls.
