From tree trunks, congas emerge
The scene behind the tall, tight picket fence surrounding Ryan Wendel’s Madison County home appears a bit disastrous.
The grass isn’t overgrown, though his summer garden could use some work, and the general landscape appears in order — except for two dozen 4-foot-tall sections of tree trunk lining the walkway from Wendel’s porch door to a backyard workshop.
If you didn’t know that Wendel is one of the world’s only craftsmen churning out solid-body conga drums from sustainable harvested woods, you might think he’d been chainsawing his way out of a thunderstorm-induced tree felling.
To his customers around the world, Wendel is known as Manito, a nickname he picked up during his three summers spent studying percussion in Cuba, and now it’s Wendel’s brand identity — Manito Percussion.
