Biography
David González Arnesto is a highly versatile and skilled musician coming from Madrid, Spain. With his proficiency in diverse musical styles like Flamenco, Cuban, Brazilian, Latin jazz, and rock, he is an accomplished drummer and multi-instrumentalist.
David’s musical journey began when he studied drums for over six years in Maestro Joaquin Rodrigo, Madrid. He honed his drumming skills and developed advanced stylistic grooves and complex time-signature changes and syncopation during his graduation with distinction on the 8th grade of Rockschool (British music degree) that focused on rock, metal, funk, pop, and Latin.
He later moved to South Holland, Netherlands, to pursue his passion for music and completed a bachelor’s degree in Latin drums at Codarts Conservatory of Rotterdam. During this period, he discovered his love for Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music, learning most of the rhythms and techniques from these genres and other Latin percussion instruments such as congas, timbales, bongos, and other small percussion.
Cajon Flamenco
Besides the drums, David’s interests also lie in playing the cajón flamenco, an instrument that has influenced his drumming style and enabled him to translate Flamenco rhythms to the drum set. He incorporates all these influences in his music and especially in his bands and projects. Two of those groups are:
- Karisma, a crossover of Flamenco and modern jazz.
- Trico, a world music band with musicians from Syria, Ecuador, The Netherlands, and Spain that creates a fusion of Jazz, Afro-Cuban, Flamenco, and Arabic music.
His biggest drumming influences are Dafnis Prieto, Horacio Hernandez, and Edu Ribeiro, while Paquito González, Manu Masaedo and Israel Suárez inspire him on the cajón.
Experience
David has performed in some of the best venues of the Netherlands, including the North Sea Jazz Festival, Het Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Tivoli Vredenburg (Utrecht), Jazzcafe Dizzy, among others.
He is a part of multiple bands like Trico (World music, Jazz, Flamenco crossover), Karisma (Flamenco, jazz), Lo Poloko (Cumbia, rock, ska), and Blind Surfer (Indie Rock).
He has performed with artists such as Nueva Manteca and Ayanna Witter-Johnson. He has also been part of the Jackson Tribute, touring extensively in Spain and England; worked with the legendary Juan Jimenez (from Pekenikes) and Mika Selander; with Diego Cruz being part of his band in his Spanish tours and recording his new album “Somos” in 2016, amongst other accomplishments.