AFRO SURINAM GNAWA MEETING - FRA FRA SOUND & MEHDI NASSOULI 30/01/2022
Following previous crossover experiments, Fra Fra Sound is once again collaborating with Mehdi Nassouli's Gnawa group from Morocco. At first glance, it seems far-fetched. Who now combines Afro-Caribbean Surinamese music with Gnawa? Fra Fra Sound and the Moroccan guests of Mehdi Nassouli are aware of the historical connections in their music.
The similarities in the music of Fra Fra Sound and Mehdi Nassouli go back to the Kingdom of Ghana in the 12th century (roughly contemporary Southern Mauritania/Mali). The music of the Ghanawis (people of Ghana) traveled through the Sahara to Morocco and became 'gnawa' there. Via European slave ships, the same music was involuntarily taken from West Africa to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, to the Surinamese coast.
During the concert, the Fra Fra Sound and Mehdi Nassouli trio go back to the musical primal source of Africa, and show how Afro-Caribbean jazz, Gnawa and Desert blues are organically intertwined.
Mehdi Nassouli - lead vocals, guembri, ghaita, taloutart
Gnawi - krakebs, vocals, dance
Carlo Hoop - congas, percussion
Yoran Vroom - drums
Robin van Geerke - piano
Michael Simon - trumpet
Felpe Castro - tenor saxophone
Vincent Henar - e-bass, bandleader
Watch the LIVE STREAM recorded by Multicultureel Jongeren Geluid.
WORLDWIDE OPEN JAZZ CONCERTEN ZUIDOOST
Vincent Henar organizes free concerts every 1st Saturday afternoon of the month in the OBA Bijlmerplein 393 and every 2nd Friday evening of the month in Jazzcafé NoLIMIT Geldershoofd 80 in Amsterdam Zuidoost.
In recent decades, the Southeast District has become a popular living environment for a diverse group of professional musicians. Musicians who work in various genres, from jazz, classical, pop and world, often with national and international reputations. A fair number of conservatory students also live in the Bijlmer these days.
The majority of these musicians perform throughout the country and far beyond, yet they rarely or never appear in their own neighborhoods in Zuidoost.
The concerts have an informal character with an accessible setting, close to the audience and as much as possible acoustic. The performances vary in form, for example as an informal jam session or as an experiment where musicians from different genres enter into surprising confrontations and collaborations with each other.
The musical encounters bring audiences and lovers of jazz, improvisation and other adventurous music together. Together with the bands and musicians, a local jazz community is being built, where the richness and diversity of crossovers and jazz in the area is widely reported.
Agenda and more info:
Worldwide Open Jazz Concerten Zuidoost
BIJLMER KLASSIEK - DE ZWARTE MOZART
The Black Mozart (1745 - 1799)
The concert starts at Joseph Bologne Chevalier de Saint-George. Born in Guadeloupe as the son of a slave girl and a French plantation owner. At the end of the 18th century he caused a furore in Paris as a composer and violinist. From there, the musical journey continues through Africa to well-known Surinamese songs from our time such as Anansi The Survivor, based on the story Konu Oloisi lasi.
Broki Rhythm & String Septet:
Vincent Henar - bass guitar
Robin van Geerke - piano
Enrique Firpi - cajon
and musicians of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
This program was composed by violist Michael Gieler and bassist and bandleader Vincent Henar.
DE IJ-SALON: SRANAN POKU - a Surinamese party - 30/11/2019
Surinamese musicians challenge members of the Concertgebouworkest end vice-versa. Swinging rhythms and instrumental delights meet in a groundbreaking program. Inspirators and instigators of this musical encounter are guitarist/composer Andro Biswane and bassist Vincent Henar, one of the founders of the legendary band Fra Fra Sound.
The musicians of the Concertgebouworkest and the band members of the Broki Rhythm & String Septet play together Surinamese repertoire plus parts from the atmospheric Die Stücke der Windrose by composer Mauricio Kagel.
Muziekgebouw aan het IJ: 30/11/2019
Andro Biswane gitaar
Broki Rhythm & String Septet:
Vincent Henar elektrische bas
Robin van Geerke piano
Enrique Firpi slagwerk
Musici van het Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest
BROKI RHYTHM & STRING SEPTET
Broki Rhythm & String Septet is a new project by Vincent Henar and Robin van Geerke, musicians of the internationally renowned Surinamese band Fra Fra Sound.
The core of the ensemble is formed by a rhythm trio of piano, electric bass and percussion, supplemented by a string quartet of 2 violins, viola and cello.
Broki Rhythm & String Septet brings together musicians from diverse backgrounds and diverse musical worlds. The musicians have their roots in Surinamese, Caribbean, African, Latin and Jazz traditions, as well as in classical and modern European music.
The music of Rhythm & String Septet is a swinging melting pot of styles, with bridges between musical worlds, from Kaseko, Antillean, Caribbean, Latin, Jazz, with modern and classical music influences. Rhythm & String Septet is in line with the worldwide trend where string instruments are connected to other types of music and settings than in traditional classical music practice.
Broki Rhythm & String Septet makes the strings dance rhythmically.
Robin van Geerke – piano
Enrique Firpi – percussion
Vincent Henar – E-bass
Feyona van Iersel – violin
Merel Jonker – violin
Rani Kumar – viola
Christina Kellenberger - cello
Revue show Opo Kondre with a.o. FRA FRA SOUND - 15/10/2017
During the FREE !!! festival in the Koninklijke Schouwburg of The Hague, the revue show Opo Kondre is presented.
Opo Kondre consists of a musical 'revue' of historical moments – well-known and less well-known – that have been important for the shared history of Suriname and the Netherlands and that show in an interesting way the different perspectives on the freedom obtained (Keti Koti) or taken ( Maroons) can show.
Urban Myth director Jorgen Tjon A Fong (known for performances such as Ella! and We had Love, We had weapons) collaborates with both the local amateur companies in The Hague and with well-known stage artists: Jetty Mathurin, Denise Jannah, Gerson Main, Manouschka Zegelaar Breeveld, among others , Simone Weimans, Sylvana Simons and many others. So are the musicians of the legendary FRA FRA SOUND! A revue with music, theatre, stand-up and stories.
Location: Koninklijke Schouwburg The Hague
FRA FRA BIG BAND celebrates the 40th Jubilee of Paul van Kemenade on 06/10/2017.
Paul van Kemenade has been in the business for forty years. Reason enough for a party on October 6 with music from all over the world with seven international bands, 48 musicians, four DJs on two stages in one room. See after movie:
FRA FRA SOUND Re-scored FAJA LOBI
13/04/2017 @ BIRD - Rotterdam
This evening we've seen a very special project at BIRD. The Dutch-Surinamese documentary Faja Lobi was shown live with a brand new musical score by Fra Fra Sound, Ronald Snijders and more!
Faja Lobi gives a lyrical and poetic look at the different cultures and landscapes in Suriname. We follow the course of the Maroni River and its villages and see the different communities living together. The original soundtrack of Big Jones, a popular Surinam musician, crafted especially for this evening, features vocals and is supplemented with original pieces.
BETWEEN DAKAR, PARAMARIBO AND AMSTERDAM
24/07/2016 @ Bijlmer Parktheater - Amsterdam
Fra Fra Sound shared the stage with Amsterdam based Senegalese, vocalist and songwriter Mola Sylla. Together they made a program in which the different backgrounds merge with common cultural roots, from Amsterdam to Dakar via Paramaribo and the Caribbean, with a prominent place for their shared fascination for music from Mali.
SOPHIE & NOLA - URBAN MYTH-03/04/2015 - Amsterdam
On Friday 3 April 2015, the premiere of Sophie & Nola took place in the Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam, a theatrical and musical performance by theatre group Urban Myth about the true story of two female fighters in Suriname: Sophie Redmond and Nola Hatterman.
Sophie & Nola is based on the life story of Sophie Redmond (1907-1955) and Nola Hatterman (1899-1984). These two emancipated women proved that, regardless of gender or colour, they cannot be thwarted and that they made their dreams come true. Sophie Redmond showed that she could start her own medical practice as a Surinamese woman. She was the first black woman to graduate from the Medical School in Paramaribo. The Dutch artist Nola Hatterman consciously shows black people and their personalities in her work. She was not guided by the prevailing moral that black people are only depicted from an ethnological or anthropological perspective.
The theatrical performance Sophie & Nola consisted of a unique cast with Sylvana Simons, Manoushka Zeegelaar Breeveld, Thirsa van Til, Imanuelle Grives and Simone Weimans. With great music by Denise Jannah and Fra Fra Sound, and rousing dance by Untold.
Directed by Jörgen Tjon A Fong, artistic director of theatre group Urban Myth.
Text by Timen Jan Veenstra, among others.
KID DYNAMITE - URBAN MYTH - 2013-2014
A forgotten history: About the role of Surinamese people before and during the Second World War.
The Negro Kit Kat club, Amsterdam 1936. The jazz sounds fill the room. Surinamese musicians perform. The Dutch people stand and watch. Young girls in particular are carried away by the rhythms. Jazz is popular, but according to the authorities jazz is also a pool of corruption. The police label those colored people as instigators of immoral behavior.
A riff, a solo, a bridge .... 'music should always be an adventure'
And there in the club, on the stage stands Kid Dynamite with his tenor sax. He came to the Netherlands as a stowaway in the 1920s and grew into one of the founders of the Dutch jazz scene. His colleague Max Woiski also performs a lot, yet they are different from each other. Conflicts do not fail to occur. Color plays a role, the black identity is weighed.
The Netherlands, Second World War. Kid Dynalite continues to play, defying the Kultuurkamer and the German occupier. Not Aryan and playing music from the American enemy. The role of Surinamese people in the war years in the Netherlands is relatively unknown. But the work and story of Kid Dynalite as a basis and listening to the inspiring speeches about resistance and cultural identity, Surinamese-Dutch history is told in the theater.
Concept & direction: Jörgen Tjon a Fong
Editing: Noraly Beyer
Play: Denise Jannah, Raymi Sambo, Manoushka Zeegelaar Breeveld, Sergio IJssel, Mike Lebanon. Esho Heil and Thirsa van Til
Speakers: Sylvana Simons, Humberto Tan, Lilian Gonçalves, Ernestine Comvalius, e.a.
Text: Jibbe Willems
Music: All star formation of Fra Fra Sound