Cajon & my band in South Africa

Two children playing together on a natural-wood Cruz Cajon outdoors

I went on a little holiday to South Africa in December (yes, I was born and raised in that beautiful land). Although it was initially just a little holiday to catch some sun and see some family over Christmas, turns out that we ended up performing some of our music on cajon, guitar and bass on our first night in South Africa in a lovely music venue called Surf Cafe close to the beach in Plett, situated along the beautiful and renowned garden route in South Africa.

After a very sunny day on the beach, we popped in on the first night to see some live music, only to find that it was an open mike night. We wasted no time in grabbing our instruments and getting on stage, and after our first song, the night had turned into a full on Fernando’s Kitchen gig! The crowd was ecstatic, and we were highly surprised at their response to our music.

They seemed to get even more ecstatic when they found out that I was originally from South Africa, and Pretoria no less, they could not believe I could play such exotic music and most of them had never even heard of the cajon.

By the end of the night everyone knew well what a cajon was, and within 2 days, the entire city and 3 surrounding cities had heard about us, our music, our story and the cajon! We

were invited back to play in the venue by the owner of the cafe (yes it was the only live music venue in the area) and we performed another 3 nights in the venue, just having fun and at times jamming with local musicians. It was so much fun! We made many new friends.

Meanwhile, in the backpackers lodge where we were staying (robberg backpackers), even the children were fascinated

with the cajon and would not get off!!! 🙂

I really loved to see the reaction of the South Africans especially because I had thought they might not enjoy my music or my drum, especially due to the Afrikaans culture. But I was pleasantly surprised to see that they loved it as much if not more than our fans here in the UK and in Europe!

The trip itself was more than just a great holiday, somehow (without knowing) we were in the country right as Mandela’s funeral ceremonies were going on all around the country, we were only a few hours drive from his hometown. Mandela has always inspired me and meant so so much to me, so it was a very very special thing to be back in the country right at that moment, that way I could join in with the celebrations of the nation (the Zulu’s celebrate funerals like a big party with dances and music)! I even ended up spontaneously writing a song dedicated to Mandela during one of the jam sessions we did in the Surf Cafe.

I am planning to return to South Africa this year to meet up with some stores and companies and discuss the distribution of my Cruz cajon range around the country. I am hoping to set up a tour for Fernando’s Kitchen as well so we can go and play in a few more venues in this amazing country!

cajon cajonbox classes cuban drum Fernando’s Kitchen flamenco Heidi Joubert latin music percussion South Africa

7 comments

TONI TITUS says:

March 9, 2022 at 8:11 pm

Heidi, just love your work. And those outfits??? To die for. Next time, please don’t pass East London by on your way to Durbs. We have some awesome venues here. Thanks once again for your energy, craft and passion. Much luv toni

Reply
Val says:

April 23, 2021 at 5:22 pm

Hi Heidi,
I wondered if you could advise us. My ten year old daughter started to learn Cajon in Germany and loved it. We now recently moved out to Pretoria, SA and she would like to take lessons. Would you know any teachers in Pretoria or where we could look or could she do online tutorials with your school? Any advice is most welcome.
Cheers,
Val

Reply
1. heidijoubert says:
  
  April 28, 2021 at 2:34 pm
  
  Hello Val!
  
  It is so good to hear from you, and what a connection with Germany and Pretoria! I am just about to release my new step by step modern method for cajon, this should be extremely useful for your daughter to learn with me! Once it is released I would also be getting back to doing in person and online lessons, so I will be sure to let you know when all this gets launched, should be within the next 2 weeks or so! Very excited to finally release this cajon video course, I have been working on it for years! I send you and the family all my love!
  
  Heidi Joubert
  
  Reply
Andreas Hofmeyr says:

March 6, 2014 at 11:28 am

Love your energy, style and willingness to share your skill with others!
I was wondering if you’ve had any success with getting your drums distributed in SA yet? I live in Namibia and would love to get my hands on one. I have fam in SA so come down regularly.
Looking forward to your reply.

Reply
1. Heidi Joubert says:
  
  March 7, 2014 at 2:56 pm
  
  Hey hey!!!
  Thanks a lot. Distribution in SA is being worked on, and hopefully we’ll have that up and running within this year!!!
  
  Reply
Jessica says:

January 8, 2014 at 6:15 pm

I love this story, so cool that they loved you guys ( of course!!) I’m very happy I got to meet you in person ( although I was unable to make most of the cajon classes) . You are such an inspiration to me and proof that hard work and a great attitude yields really positive results and impacts people’s lives in a positive way! You rock chick! All the best, Much love

Reply
Stefan Völker says:

January 8, 2014 at 5:14 pm

Sounds awesome!
No I hope, you are 100% refreshed and eager to finish some projects 😉 ?!
Stefan.

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Cajon & my band in South Africa

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