#60 Mona Tavakoli- Percussionist for Jason Mraz, Raining Jane and More!
Today's guest is Mona Tavakoli, who is a great percussionist that also released her own signature series cajon.
Upcoming gigs, events and festivals to check out...
The "A Great Night in Harlem" event at the Apollo on Friday April 20th. The Scott Kettner Summer Music Retreat (Episode #9) takes place in Philadelphia July 27-29. He also operates the World Drum Lessons (dot com) website. You can find a couple of the lessons and promotional codes below.....
If you are interested in a possible music career with any one of the multiple Army bands or ensembles, you can click on this link HERE. You can also listen to Episode #11 or Episode #8 to hear more about what is necessary to be in these bands and some of the duties that get performed once you are in one of these ensembles.
Our iconic recording this week is "Que Venga el Alba" by Paco De Lucia from the Cositas Buenas album featuring the great cajon player, Isráel Suárez "El Piraña".
Music News this week.....
The nominees for the Songwriters Hall of Fame have been announced. Gamble and Huff are the chairs of the Songwriting Hall of Fame. The corporation for public broadcasting could lose 97% of its funding. Gibson guitars could go bankrupt. Why you should know everything you need to know about your YouTube channel. 3 ways to increase your engagement with your Facebook page. Ludwig Göransson uses a 92-piece London orchestra and a 40-voice choir as well as traditional African percussionists for the score of the Black Panther movie. This is a pretty witty/awesome observation about the movie.....
Below is a transcription of Fergie's version of the national anthem if you'd like to play along.
Here's a version that the Remix God Suede did to make it more interesting. In case you forgot, here is the Beyonce version from the Obama inauguration.
The song leading into the interview with Mona is called "Oh Song" by Raining Jane.
Mona grew up in San Jose home of the Sharks and close to where the Santa Clara Vanguard is based.
Here is an example of some Persian dancing with Zills (finger cymbals)
The Non-Profit that Mona runs is the rock and roll camp for girls in L.A. Mona has IT Band syndrome and it made it difficult do to some physical activities.
Mona joined Raining Jane after being seen playing the cajon. You can catch them on tour and see where they will be at by clicking HERE. Raining Jane and Jason Mraz collaborated together to create the album Yes!
Waitress the musical was mentioned and written by Sara Bareilles and for a limited amount of time also co-staring Jason Mraz. Also mentioned is the Duo Decibel System with Mona and Jason. Shoutout to Michael Bram who plays drums with Jason in the full band where Mona plays percussion.
We mentioned the rock and roll camp for girls in L.A., but they are all part of the Girls Rock Camp Alliance. Tom Tom Magazine is a publication for female percussionists, and they host the Hit Like a Girl Contest.
Mona released a signature series Cajon called the MT Box and premiered it at NAMM.
Mona also sometimes plays with the Iranian carooner, Ebi (Hamedi)
Jose Gonzalez, Bob Marley are in Mona's current rotation
Rush's YYZ was the life changing album for Mona. And here are some songfacts about the song.
Here's the section of Curb Your Enthusiasm referring to the LOL.
Mona's big splurge was a DW snare drum while she was an R.A. in college.
The song leading out of the interview with Mona was called "Out of My Hands" by Jason Mraz.
Mona's sponsor shout out is to: DW Drums and Hardware, Latin Percussion, Remo Drumheads, Roland Electronic Percussion, Sabian Cymbals, Sennheiser Microphones and Vater Drumsticks and Mallets.
You can follow Mona on her Website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
