It is all about location. The Latin American area is the home of the Afro-Cuban music. The percussion instruments of this region are the Conga, bongo, timbale, and cajons. Be careful not to mistake Afro-Cuban with Brazilian percussion (music). The Brazilian family includes the panderio, repinique, tambourim, and surdo. Then we go to West Africa these instruments include the djembe, sabar, tama, and clay drum. When you are dealing with world percussion there are tons on top of tons of percussion instruments. What I have shared with you is not even the tip of the iceberg. I didnt bother you with the Middle-East percussion or the Eastern. It is very easy to get all of these mixed up. America is home of the Drumset so a lot of the grooves that we play are borrowed from these regions and adopted to the drumset. Therefore the authenticity is sometimes lost. To play the music better research the culture and find out how and why some of things work the way the do. A lot of these instruments have same sound I'll try to find some examples on the web and hook you up.
