jonsterckx.co.uk
Tabla Percussion World Music Workshops. Samswara Indian Music, Sitar & Tabla,
Stroud, Devon & South West UK Jon Sterckx is a tabla player & innovative
percussionist with 30 years experience of working with world percussion & World
Music. He studied tabla in UK with Harjinder Singh Matharu and in India with
Shivanand Bandhari at the Naadashree Arts Institute in Kumta, Karnataka, and
with Kailash Nishad in Benares (Varanasi). Jon has performed twice at TED
events, and his performance at TEDxWarwick was selected from over 10,000 TED
events globally for inclusion in the TED Global Music Project. Jon plays a range
of percussion instruments and has worked across a wide range of musical styles,
from Indian classical music and other traditional world music to contemporary
experimental & ‘fusion’ styles, theatre & dance collaborations, and his solo
multi-percussion Live Sampling / Live Looping performances – Drumscapes. Jon is
available for percussion performances, Tabla and percussion tuition in Stroud &
Gloucestershire, world rhythm workshops across UK and as a session musician
anywhere in the world, through remote recording sessions. Jon has delivered
Tabla, World Music, Indian Music & World Rhythm workshops to schools, colleges,
universities & festivals for over 20 years. Contact for more information &
booking details. Jon is a Tutor and Mentor for South West Music School, an
Associate of Wiltshire Music Connects and a partner of Swindon Music Service. He
also runs weekly tabla classes in Swindon. Jon has performed with various
artists and groups including Indo/Arabic instrumental duo Taaliqa, Fusion group
Dhani, Balkan Folktronica duo Arhai and Drumscapes – his unique solo
multi-percussion live sampling performances which he has performed at WOMAD,
London International Arts Festival, Beautiful Days, Pulse festival, Drum Camp,
Tribe of Doris, World Music Workshop Festival and at most of the UK’s main world
music festivals & Melas. Jon’s Drumscapes work has also been featured twice by
music software company Ableton in the Ableton blog. Jon was a selected performer
at the National Celebration of British Asian Live Arts in 2008, and his sitar &
tabla duo Samswara were voted ‘Best Group in South West & South Wales’ in the
MTM South Asian & Ethnic Minorities Awards 2014. Jon has recorded for Grammy
winning composer Christopher Tin on his album ‘The Drop That Contained The Sea’,
Grammy nominated producer Arun Shenoy on the track ‘Bliss’, BBC Music Folk Award
winners Phil Henry & Hannah Martin album ‘Singing The Bones’ and Americana folk
artist ‘Mean’ Mary James amongst many others. Jon has been commissioned by the
music creation software company Bandlab to produce content for their platform.
Jon has produced sample packs in Bollywood Percussion, Tabla and his own ‘Jon
Sterckx Signature’ pack. Tuition &Training: Jon’s tabla tuition began in Cardiff
with Harjinder Singh Matharu from Birmingham. Harjinder gave Jon a good solid
foundation in tabla playing between 1994 – 1998 as well as the encouragement &
inspiration to commit himself seriously to the instrument. In 1994 / 1995, Jon
returned to India where he learned from Shivanand Bhandari at the Naadashree
Arts Institute in Kumta, Karnataka, India. In 1998 & 1999, Jon returned to India
and studied with Kailash Nishad in Benares, (Varanasi) in North India, a city
renowned for the study of North Indian (Hindustani) music. In 2000, 2001, 2002,
2003 & 2005 Jon organised performances & workshops for Kailash in the UK, where
he delivered workshops in universities & performed Tabla solos at Arts Centres &
venues in the South West UK. During these month long visits to the UK, Kailash
stayed with Jon in Devon and continued Jon’s tabla tuition. They also gave
performances together, with Taaliqa playing the first set & Kailash performing
tabla solo in the second. In 2005 they also performed together in a
collaborative finale. Jon’s other musical studies include a BA ( Hons ) Music
degree from Dartington College of Arts in 2000, where his main subject was in
composing music for live performance.
