Black Music Month

June is African-American Music Appreciation Month. Music has been influenced and created by African-Americans in so many different ways that it would be impossible to list them sufficiently in a column. Many know about the famous African-American artists such as St. Louis' own Chuck Berry, Stevie Wonder, B.B. King, Louis Armstrong, and the many others. What most people seem to know the least about is the instrumental inventions that African-Americans have provided. One such instrument (that is making a huge impact in current music from groups like The Lumineers and Jason Mraz) is the cajon.

The cajon is a very simple instrument. When I started using one for live performances back in 2007, everyone always wanted to know what the box I was sitting on was. It was the cajon. The cajon is just that, a box. In fact, cajon is the spanish word for “box”. The modern cajon has transformed into a mre complicated instrument. It has many unique sounds, unique applications, and can be easy to pick-up but difficult to master.

The origins of the cajon are not directly applied to one “inventor” per se. When African slaves were brought to the Americas, they were not permitted to use musical instruments or drums. They had to be inventive and use what different objects were around them to create music. One item that many slaves had readily available to them was shipping crates. The slaves started hitting on these crates and found that depending on where you struck the wood, different tones could be achieved. The cajon was born. It was impossible to prevent the slaves on the docks from using the crates as drums. This led to non-dock working slaves adapting the idea to using dresser drawers in the same drum-like fashion. cajons even started be crafted to where they would be easily disguised as seats. Many of these same features remain a main-stay of the instrument today.

The modern cajon is more than just a wooden box. While there is no standard size (or shape really) that is considered to be the norm, there are several features that are becoming more and more standardized. The cajons have three thick wooden ply sides, thick top and bottom plys, but a thin wooden ply face. The thin wooden face is what allows for the different attacks while the thicker “shell” is what creates the resonance. The face is screwed on with many screws to the frame. Some cajons have a couple of the screws missing from an edge or two so that the face can be slapped against the frame to produce yet another sound. Behind the face, guitar strings or a snare drum strand can be attached to add more sound varieties. Having these wires behind the face allow for the cajon to achieve several different sounds of a drum set. Because of these modern attachments, the cajon has become a very popular instrument in local music scenes and with national acts. Percussionists are now using them as replacements for drum sets in acoustic shows. Acts such as The Lumineers have even been seen on national television using the cajon in this same manner.

They say necessity is the mother of invention. That is definitely the case for the cajon. It's amazing to see this unique instrument be used in such different ways and by so many different musicians these days. This is especially true when you consider the humble origins of the instrument and the role it played in allowing African slaves to continue to create music while in the shackles of slavery.