Afro-Peruvian
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'EL
CAJON' AFRO PERUVIAN INSTRUMENT
Origins
and Evolution
The cajón is the most
widely used
Afro-Peruvian musical instrument in
the 20th century. The instrument has
been officially declared
"Cultural Patrimony of the Nation"
by the Peruvian government.-----
Slaves
of West and Central African origin in the Americas, specifically
Peru, are considered to be the source of the cajón
drum; though the instrument is common in musical performance
throughout the Americas, especially Cuba. In Cuba, the
cajón is associated with the Afro-Cuban drum/song/dance
style known as rumba, while in Peru it is associated with
several Afro-Peruvian genres.
The
cajón was most likely developed in coastal
Peru during the early 1800s. The instrument reached
a peak in popularity by 1850, and by the end of
the 19th century cajón players were experimenting
with the design of the instrument by bending some
of the planks in the cajón's body to alter
the instrument's patterns of sound vibration. Knowing
that the cajón comes from slave musicians
in the Spanish colonial Americas, there are two
complementary origin theories for the instrument.
It
is possible that the drum is a direct descendant of a
number of boxlike musical instruments from west and central
Africa, especially Angola, and the Antilles. These instruments
were adapted by Peruvian slaves for the Spanish shipping
crates at their disposal. In port cities like Matanzas,
Cuba they used cod-fish shipping crates. Elsewhere, small
dresser drawers became instruments.
Another
theory posits that slaves simply used boxes as musical
instruments to combat contemporary Spanish colonial bans
on music in predominantly African areas. In this way,
cajóns could easily be disguised as seats or stools,
thus avoiding identification as musical instruments. In
all likelihood it is a combination of these factors -
African origins and Spanish suppression of slave music
- that led to the cajón's creation.
Early
usage of the Peruvian cajón was to accompany Tondero
and Zamacueca (old version of Marinera) dances.
In
contemporary times, the instrument became an integral
important part of Peruvian music and Cuban music.
In the 1970's the instrument was
introduced to Flamenco music by guitarist Paco de Lucía.
