Mongo Fogo

making the short

Jun 13, 2026

OCD as muse

Everything I do, I do every day. This is an immutable fact of my compulsive brain. In the past this predilection for routine contributed to self-destructive behavior. Over time I learned to use my powers for good.

I realized I can’t stop my mind but I can focus it on healthier obsessions. Pistachios replaced cigarettes. Coffee replaced wine. Meditation replaced reality TV.

Can’t stop tapping my hands? Get some bongos!

The short of it

My latest obsession is in creating short-form music videos. Specifically in writing, recording, and performing one-minute instrumental pieces for these video shorts.

Improvisation is my modus operandi. I make shit up as I go along. When I find a groove, I go with it. I may be talking about more than music.

Lately the groove has been funky sixty-second jams. On this blog I will occasionally take a closer look at some of the good ones. In no particular order, today’s target is a groovy little bayou blues number titled Mongo Fogo.

Making Mongo Fogo

If there is a constant in my video production process, it is in a complete lack of planning. I begin each session with nothing. I open ProTools, give the track a title off the top of my head, and then we see what happens.

Mongo Fogo meant very little when I chose it as a title, and that remains true today. Mongo is the name of the kingdom ruled by Flash Gordon’s evil nemesis, Ming the Merciless. Fogo means ‘fire’ in Portuguese.

Neither of these facts played any part in the naming of the tune. However, they work very well as after-the-fact justification for words I really chose just because I thought they sounded cool.

Begin the begin

My studio is a small, groovy room, packed with musical instruments. The first step in creating one of these improvisational videos is to choose an instrument on which to begin. I play some of them well, others less-so. But a lack of proficiency is always more motivation than hinderance.

The udu is a beautiful percussion instrument from Nigeria. The name means “vessel”, and it is essentially a clay jar with a hole on the side. Somehow that little pot can make a world of sounds. I usually use it in place of a kick and snare drum.

the recording process

When I make these one-minute musical shorts each track is improvised. Each musical part on each instrument is composed at the time of, or immediately prior to, recording. I don’t know what I’m going to do until it is already done. That’s the fun of it.

There is no looping or other studio trickery, beyond basic audio editing and mixing for quality. These are all live, 60-second performances. I share some raw footage below.

I started Mongo Fogo on the udu, with no other accompaniment. I had a click track in my headphones keeping time. It was all udu. I had not yet written any music.

one minute of udu…

More percussion, my modest attempt at djembe.

da bass

Eventually I added some melody. This bass line came out of nowhere, and I love it. I recorded it here in one take, seconds after writing it. I didn’t want to forget it so I dove right in. You can literally see me go into robot mode.

As you can see at the end of the video, I surprised myself on this one.

gear talk…

I always record the bass direct, so no headphones needed. I use a Presonus TubePre direct into my Behringer interface. In the video you see me playing along with the percussion instruments, as heard through my KRK Rockets.

GTR

A bit more percussion, some simple keys, it then it was time for the guitar. Again I am going direct into the Presonus TubePre, this time with my Ibanez hollow-body. I love this guitar, and this sound. It was a perfect fit for the bluesy bayou groove that became Mongo Fogo.

the creepy percussionist…

We will end this episode with a sixty second clip of your host, staring into the camera with a sinister grin as he shakes an egg shaker in time with an unheard song.

Watch the final video, and more groovy shorts on my YouTube channel!