Daniel Bloem is a self-taught musician of Indonesian- Italian decent.At the age of four started playing percussion and studied martial arts. He later went on to study the theory of martial arts, martial art anatomy and tournament forms in Japan and Hong Kong, lectured, competed and conducted demonstrations in Holland and did meditation among the monks in the temples of Thailand and today combines the two elements in his playing.At the age of 13yrs formed the youngest latin band in Holland at the time named Nevareba. By mid teens he performed with several pop and funk music projects with various artists in the Netherlands.In 1988 he left Europe for the Far-East and performed in Japan, Hong-Kong and Bangkok.When in Thailand had the opportunity to perform with the Chinese Opera.An accompanist for traditional African dance at the Dance Academy in the Hague.Studied traditional Afro-Cuban rhythms and composed his own music including traditional West-African rhythms with inspiration from Brazilian and Asian folklore.Played in several salsa orchestras in the early eighties around Holland.In 2002 he toured South Africa with the Carribean All-Star Band and decided to be based in South Africa.He recorded and collaborated and performed with several artists in South Africa including Tucan Tucan,The Darryl Andrews big band, Mpho and Uvimba, Hotep Galeta, Kunle, Mc coy Mrubata, Jimmy Dudlu, Swazi Dlamini, The Glenn Robertson Jazz Band, Lesley Kleinsmith, Robbie Jansen, Allou April, Richard Ceasor, Tony and Hilton Schilder, Thandi Klaasen, Winston Mankuku, Judith Sephuma, Paulo Fresco, Andrew Young, Spyro gyra and Frank Wright.In 2006 he performed with the Mpho and Uvimba band in Santo Domingo, The Dominican Republic and in Havana, Cuba with great audience response.During his stay in Havana he also played with several Folklore Rumba and Bata groups and other percussion artists including Joaquin Pozo and Felix EnriqueWorked on radio and television programmes in Japan, Thailand, Hong-Kong, Spain and Germany.Writes his own music and uses a variety of percussion instruments he’d collected over the years during his travels and an acoustic guitar in his compositions.Started a project in 2000 with percussionist Nippy Noya and performed in Germany and Holland in their own unique style with guest artist the violonist Thomas Kagermann.One of his special claims to fame is that he’s among a handful of percussion artists able to play his own melodies with 5 conga’sfor bookings contact:
danielbloemcrazyconga@hotmail.com +27 (0) 722197330
Where Do You Live?
cape town ,south africa
