Rhythm in a box: The story of the cajon drum - Paul Jennings

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Many modern musical instruments are complicated pieces of machinery with many moving parts. But the cajon is simply a drum and a stand and a seat all in one box. Paul Jennings explains the history behind the cajon and how it has become one of the most versatile and popular percussion instruments in the world today.

Lesson by Paul Jennings, animation by Avi Ofer.

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It's hard to take my drumset anywhere but the cajon is the perfect instrument to bring to jam sessions with friends. Never felt limited by the cajon's capability

basdegroot

The Cajón is a great instrument with a long story. The video states that the strings were added as an invention outside Perú, when in Trujillo and Arequipa in the 1950's cajones were already being made and sold with strings inside, although not used by most players at the time.

gaetanomusic

Sound hole is to tune the resonance of the enclosure, not for sound to escape. It will emit sound with or without a hole.

mrp

i love ted-ed and especialy when it does cartoon with its lectures cause it looks adorable i love the artist style :) sorry i know its irrelevant to the lesson buts i just had to put that out their

Angie-zeyx

In Peru is mandatory to learn the basics of cajon in primary school.

alejandrogiha

The spanish plural for CAJON is CAJONES, ...cool lesson!

oscarfernanddo

This TED talk regurgitates a point of view that is popular and romantic, saying that the cajón starts with West Africa. Not so. People confuse the development of the instrument, which grew out of an earlier tradition in Peru of drumming on the carcass of a harp as a percussive accompaniment, assuming that it must simply be an extension of a musical tradition that comes from somewhere in continental Africa, just because “Africa is drums” — right?

That is pure conjecture for which there is little actual evidence, while there is plenty of pictorial and documented evidence that the cajón evolved from the need for a percussion instrument when the harp fell out of fashion in Lima and was replaced by the guitar.

There was already a drumming tradition in existence among pre-colombian cultures in Peru. Besides, the cajón only starts becoming popular in Lima during the early to mid 19th century. There is no evidence to say that the cajón was an instrument that developed on slave ships or during the time of the conquistadors. That is fantasy.

It makes no appearance in the CODEX of Peruvian culture commissioned by the Archbishop of Trujillo in 1782, or in the watercolours of Pancho Fierro painted around 1820, whereas other drums – now fallen into disuse in Peru – which can be identified as having an equivalent in Africa – such as log drums – actually do appear.

Note, I am not saying that some of Lima’s “black” communities are not expert in playing cajón – they are. But then, the cajón also had expert criollo practitioners – Mono Aristedes, Pepe Ezeta and Gancho Arciniega, for instance.

All I am saying is that this TED talk at its beginning is not historically correct. It makes assumptions that are based upon popular misconceptions of the cajón as an instrument that evolved out of Africa and on slave-ships, without reference to any documentary evidence that exists in Peru.

davidmortara

Looks like they use the app 53 pages or something like that I can tell because of the utensils they used on the app

ayaha

Wow :-) Thank you guy's for interesting story about cajon. You made my day :-)

yaroslavleshchukh

Very cool video. The creators should make a Spanish language version as well.

brendanweaver

Alex Acuña was the man that made this instrument popular.

nelsonwk

I love the music :D Greetings from Perú :D Excellent video :D

kellymendozan

Afro-Peruvian music is Fascinating! 🇵🇪

FabrizzioV

0:44 I'm certain slaves didn't have that much room on the ship. The slave ships were described as crowded, humid, and dark (as the slaves were held below deck most of the time).

I do really like the cajon, though. I have a mini one that I can play it in a similar way as one would a bongo. It has a wide range of sounds, which is really interesting to experiment with alone or in a group. I'm in a band, so, in coffee houses especially, we usually don't bring a full drum set with us.

Evolutionmine

"With respect to the comment whether it does not originally come from Africa, I would like to say that the cajon was originated in peruvian people of black and slave origin. It is therefore difficult to believe that the cajón is a traditional instrument. On the other hand and to add a little more to this great story of the origins of cajón, the new sound of this instrument arrived here in Spain thanks to Rubén Dantas and MANOLITO SOLER (bailaor in that famous Paco de Lucia tour). Apparently the cajón they brought to Spain was faulty or broken from the frontal part, so from here all the first cajón players like me, we tried to make cajones that were "faulty" or "broken" at the upper part of the instrument. We even used to put sand bags stuck in that upper part to achieve the right pitch (that of a broken cajón). With time, luthiers started using snare and base guitar strings. "
I have translated these comments from my husband Juan, thanks Ted Ed for making this video.

teresabassas