The instruction DVD ‘Playing Cajon!’, produced by drummer and percussionist Arthur Bont, will be available from early April 2008. On this DVD Arthur Bont demonstrates how to play the cajon, one of the most popular percussion instruments of this moment. His explanations, exercises and practical tips take turns with intermezzos in musical styles ranging from flamenco to pop and jazz. The DVD, released in cooperation with Schlagwerk percussion, is available in Dutch music shops as of today.
Playing Cajon!
In an accessible way Arthur Bont demonstrates the many possibilities of the instrument.
Basic techniques and excersises are being explained, grooves and beats are shown. Also Arthur Bont combines the Cajon with for example a hi-hat and he plays it with brushes. Further the DVD contains practical advices on the use of microphones on stage and in the studio. The instructions are musically enlivened by Arthur Bont playing with guest musicians like Alain Labrie and Franklin Heilijgers (Flamenco), phinx (singer songwriter), Kaz Lux & Hotchpotch, Eric Kerns (singer songwriter), Susan Zeegers (singer songwriter) and the group Hotchpotch (jazz, folk, bluegrass). This makes the DVD attractive for starting players as well as more experienced drummers.
The cajon
The origin of the cajon goes back to the Peruan slavery culture of 19th century. A prohibition on music led to mass destruction of the instruments that slaves originally had brought from their African home countries. From sheer necessity slaves used ordinary cases as instruments, that later developed into the cajon as a musical instrument. Only in the late seventies the cajon became more well known. Percussionist Ruben Dantas of the Paco de Lucia group then introduced the cajon as rhythm instrument in the flamenco music. Today the cajon is more and more used in other musical styles, like world music pop and jazz. See also: www.schlagwerk.com
Arthur Bont Drummer/percussionist
Since more than twenty years Arthur Bont (Utrecht, 1969) has been working as a professional drummer and percussionist. From 1989 til 1999 he played with the cajun / zydeco band Louisiana Radio. The last years he has been working for the theatre shows Mondo Leone (Leon Giesen), Holland America Lijn (Jack Poels and Leon Giessen), Hier komen de Russen and Reis door Rusland (Irena Filippova and Hans Visser). Besides the theatre he played in several national and international concerts and on many cd’s en dvd’s Arthur is playing as a guest musician. Arthur Bont studied the cajon the last 8 years intensively and used this new specialism in theatre performances, bands ans studio recordings.
