MEINL met Juan Carlos Melian
- Juan Carlos Melian (right)
In the present day and age, the cajon is used as accompaniment an all forms of music, whether it’ s rock, pop, flamenco or any other style of. Most of all you’ ll find the cajon used as a substitute for the drum set, especially in unplugged situations. The Cajon has everything a drummer needs: the bass, the snare and the slap, all in one instrument!
We met Juan Carlos Melian, one of our independent endorsers from Spain during a hot flamenco session in the underground of Madrid and spoke with him about this beautiful and intriguing instrument.
Tell us something about the history of the cajon.
Originally the cajon was created by Perurian slaves. Because they weren’t allowed to have real drums they took boxes for transporting fish and fruits and used them as drums. That’s why they started to sit on those boxes playing their rhythms which they brought from their native cultures to Peru.
When did the cajon become part of the flamenco scene?
Actually the cajon is very new to flamenco scene. Originally all rhythm sounds in flamenco were made by the guitar players. The use of percussion instruments such as congas or cajons in flamenco came much later in the music’s history. In the early 1980’s , Ruben Dantas was the percussion player with Paco de Lucia. He played the first cajon patterns in “solo quiero caminar” in 1981. Since then the cajon has been an in tegral part of the flamenco scene.
When did you start playing the cajon?
I began playing the cajon when I moved from New York to Madrid in 1993. I fell totally in love with flamenco at this time. The point is that it’s not very difficult for a drummer to learn how to play the cajon, but it is for them to understand flamenco. This is because flamenco players are not very good teachers.
They are a kind of wild musicians, and most of them grew up with flamenco so they have it in their veins.
You have to love it and you have to dive very deep into this matter to understand it.
What do you love about this instrument?
The most important thing about the cajon is that you can play every style of music on it. Whether you like pop, hip hop, rock, jazz or flamenco, you can play everything on that wooden box and that’s what makes it so interesting. The cajon is a little drum set in one piece. It is particularly suitable when you play gigs in a small club or in unplugged situations. This substitute drum set is comfortable for everybody who plays it. You can also play it with brushes if you want to. I think every drummer should have a cajon – this is an absolutely essential percussion instrument these days....
Which cajon is your favourite one?
I like the CAJ3MB-M string cajon very much.
I think the finish is beautiful and sound is killer.
What else do you want?
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