When Mumbai-based musician Joshua D’souza started performing live in 2014, his love for the drums was more than any other instrument he had picked up till then. Little did the 26-year-old know that he would smoothly transition from playing the kit for his band Tapas the same year to also playing the cajon a year later. Interestingly this change happened for a reason.

D’souza says, “After I joined my band, we noticed that a lot of pubs in Malad, Goregaon and Andheri West like Lokhandwala were looking for live music on  Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights. They, however, didn’t want a full band.” While these venues didn’t mind five people playing on stage, he says, they couldn’t accommodate a drum kit and amplifiers because they weren’t acoustically treated or ideal for a band. That’s when D’souza’s band decided to strip down the Bollywood covers they were performing till then to play their acoustic versions. It is at this time that the percussionist decided to switch to the cajon, which was gifted to him by his parents. “I don’t have any formal training with the instrument because no one taught me how to play it,” shares the Naigaon resident, who took to the cajon almost as easily as he took to the drums.