Shingo "Carlos" Kanno is a driven man. A native of Japan, Carlos is passionate about Caribbean percussion and has devoted his professional life to mastering ALL of the percussion instruments used in the Latin band.

In the early 1990's he formed the hugely popular Japanese Salsa band, Orquesta de la Luz. The all-Japanese group perfected its groove by jamming with every salsa band that toured Japan, and even learned some Latin "moves" from New York choreographer Eddie Torres. Orquesta de la Luz gained a huge following and their early albums topped theBillboard's Latin charts.

Somewhere around 1989 that he created a wonderful instructional video in Japanese, covering the playing of all percussion used in the modern Salsa Band. I am pleased to say that it featured the LP® product line.

On June 27, 1999, Carlos brought his 18 piece Nettai Tropical Latin Jazz Big Band (what a mouthful!) to Carnegie Hall where they were the opening act for an all star show that included Tito Puente and Giovanni Hidalgo. The group has released two albums in the U.S. ("September" and "Live from Yokohama") and a third in Japan.

Carlos stopped by my studio on June 29th for a photo session and to record his thoughts on music and a theme message for congahead.com.

To learn more about Shingo "Carlos" Kanno, CLICK HERE.