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Young yet seasoned virtuoso Afro drummer/percussionist Shangó Dely from Colombia has been stunning audiences with his virtuosity and versatility from Bogota to Madrid, from Los Angeles to Buenos Aires, from New York to Portugal, in almost every country of the Americas and some in Europe. KC Porter, Grammy Producer-of-the-Year for Santana's "Supernatural," said of him: "I'm strongly convinced that he is not only the most natural-born percussionist, but is establishing himself as one of the world's top percussionists."
Born into a family of musicians, a child prodigy at the age of 6, folklore festival awards winner in his native Colombia at the age of eight, the sensation of the year at the FolkCuba International Percussion Workshop in Havana at age 10, teacher at his father’s ethnic drumming school from age 12, he really had an early and intensive start.
Now at the age of 28, he has recorded and worked with Grammy winners Carlos Santana, Emilio Estefan, Carlos Vives, DMX, KC Porter, John Barnes, JB Eckl, Andy Vargas, and Brian Culbertson. Since July 2005 he moved to Hungary, the old country of his father Istvan who had been the first conga drummer in Central Europe in the early seventies, and setlled down in Budapest where his virtuosity, charisma and humility quickly won him renown on the music scene which opened up for him wider and more exciting horizons for creativity than ever before, and where his teaching expertise is increasingly appreciated and made use of by professionals and amateurs alike
Besides his virtuosity and great sound, his main strength lies in his mastery of an unusually wide range of rhythmacultures: Afro-Colombian, Cuban, Haitian, Garífuna, Portorrican, Dominican, Venezuelan, Surinamese Bush Negro, Brazilian, West African Mandinga, Akan and Yoruba, flamenco, rock, jazz, hip-hop, world funk, tribalglobal…Shango Dely is currently member and co-producer of David Dely and Tumba Y Quema, and director, arranger, and producer of Leonor Dely & Millero Congo since 1996.
The German company Meinl Percussion as well as the American company percussion Stands currently endorse Shangó Dely.
By Istvan Dely