Exhibition + Talk + Concert + Afterparty

Exhibition: Ali, Our Friend

Photographer Guus Dubbelman (b. Arnhem, 1957) owes his rich career to a meeting with the boxer Muhammad Ali. At the age of eighteen, Dubbelman met Muhammed Ali in the Netherlands, and built up a special bond with one of the greatest sportsmen of the 20th century. He followed him around the world, and all over the place: to the gym, at home, on the road, and during his fights in the ring. Muhammad Ali was a poet, family man, icon and a great sportsman, who inspired generations.

In 2020, Dubbelman, together with journalist Erik Dijkstra, published a photo book brimming with stories. The book, Ali Was Mijn Vriend (Ali Was My Friend), received rave reviews. The exhibition Ali, Our Friend builds on the significance of Muhammad Ali today in the heart of Amsterdam’s Kolenkit neighbourhood. MAQAM opens its doors on this unique insight into the life of Muhammad Ali, and his relationship with Guus Dubbelman.

Talk: ‘Boxing Through Life’

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After the exhibition, Guus Dubbelman will be in conversation with local hero Said Bensalam. Bensalam is renowned for his community projects with people in the neighbourhood. When help is needed, Said is there. His own fights in the ring, a hard life as a night porter, and his sympathy for the underdog make him a personality to be reckoned with. In ‘Boxing Through Life’, the two men discuss Muhammad Ali’s legacy, and share what this great sportsman has meant for them. The audience asks questions and listens engrossed as these two devoted fans of Ali converse. *The conversation will be primarily held in Dutch.

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Concert AKF Roulette

A magical experience from last year, will be recreated this year. The Amsterdams Kleinkunst Festival (AKF, a festival of cabaret and comedy) and the Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra (AAO) are again joining hands. Both based in Amsterdam, they are embarking on a new collaboration.

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Singer and cabaret artist Flip Noorman will take the stage. Noorman magnificently won the AKF Sonneveld Prize in 2014, and since then has been doing the rounds of theatres performing his own work, alongside that of Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen. He has also twice been nominated for the prestigious Annie M. G. Schmidt Award. Together with the AAO, Noorman has arranged his songs for ud, violin, piano, guitar and percussion. Surprise yourselves at this one-off, unique performance! Artists include Flip Noorman, Mehmet Polat, Vera van der Bie, Alper Kekec, and more.
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*AFK Roulette is part of the Ud Festival, and Museum Night Amsterdam.

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Afterparty: Disco Arabesquo

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Disco DJ Arabesquo spins discs from his rich collection of North African and Middle Eastern music. He connects Afro-American jazz with the modern classical musicians of Arab music & glory years. His style is hand-crafted, eclectic and swinging. Let yourself be carried away by his choices, and dance to music everyone would love to have.

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CANCELLED > Can be seen in the Meervaart on November 11, 2022

ÛDI PROJECT is a reflection of Yurdal Tokcan, who is shown as one of the leading oud artists by the authorities, and his long-standing cooperation with his students as well as his expertise, reveals a musical expression power that synthesizes today's tones with the traditional musical understanding by feeding on the meşk system of the master-apprentice relationship tradition.

Yurdal Tokcan, who brought the project to life with two very valuable young instrumentalists, who are his students, receives great appreciation both at home and abroad with his ÛDI PROJECT concerts.

The project, in which the artist's own original compositions are mainly performed, also includes classical, folkloric and musical reflections of different cultures around the world in its repertoire.

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This concert brings together two distinctive voices from the Ud world, the Palestinian Nizar Rohana and the Iranian Yasamin Shahhosseini. Rohana is distinguished for combining virtuosity within fresh contemporary compositions while maintaining the ud’s authentic language. Shahhosseini aspires to redefine the cultural and stylistic possibilities of her instrument, and the Iranian tradition more broadly.

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Rohana and Shahhosseini’s original compositions put up a rare meeting between styles from Arabic and Persian music and offer a unique insight into the delicate transitions and intersections of the Ud.
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The concert will be preceded by a brief introduction to Rohana’s recent PhD thesis. He will Present several new works for solo Ud that take the improvisation practice of two pillars of modern Arabic music, namely the Egyptians Muḥammad al-Qasabji and Riyad al-Sunbati as a source of inspiration.

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ÛDI PROJECT is a reflection of Yurdal Tokcan, who is shown as one of the leading oud artists by the authorities, and his long-standing cooperation with his students as well as his expertise, reveals a musical expression power that synthesizes today's tones with the traditional musical understanding by feeding on the meşk system of the master-apprentice relationship tradition.

Yurdal Tokcan, who brought the project to life with two very valuable young instrumentalists, who are his students, receives great appreciation both at home and abroad with his ÛDI PROJECT concerts.

The project, in which the artist's own original compositions are mainly performed, also includes classical, folkloric and musical reflections of different cultures around the world in its repertoire.

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During the Ud Festival, 3MA are coming to Amsterdam for an exceptional concert with the Metropole Orkest Strings, conducted by Vince Mendoza.

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3MA consists of the magician of the Malian kora (lute-harp), Ballaké Sissoko, the Moroccan maestro of the ud, Driss El Maloumi, and the Malagasy prince of the valiha, Rajery. The valiha (a tubular zither) is an African stringed instrument comprising a bamboo stick with twenty strings running its length, usually made from bicycle brake cables.
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Since their debut album in 2008, the 3MA musicians have each individually enriched their experiences and broadened their knowledge. They come together frequently for 3MA concerts across the globe, and are always busy with new plans. Over the years, they have come up with countless new ideas, which were then refined and led to new compositions, or gave a new shape to existing concepts.

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Soon after her arrival in the Netherlands in 2015, Syrian ud musician Jawa Manla (b. 1996) was to become such a part of Dutch musical life that the scene now seems unimaginable without her. 

Jawa’s crazy playing, her singing, and her insatiable curiosity to explore the world of music soon took her to major venues around the country – sometimes by invitation, such as from the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, sometimes at her own initiative, with her various ensembles (such as Caravan). With these ensembles, she time and again builds creative bridges between Arab music, Western classical traditions and jazz. 

In 2021, together with Iranian Khorshid Dadbeh and Lucie Lelaurian from France, Jawa formed Saba, & The Wind That Comes From the Easst - a breathtaking musical journey to the Middle East, in which Arab poetry plays a core role. All three musicians wrote new music for the part, bringing together the passions of three different musical traditions: Iranian, Armenian and Arab.

For this concert, Jawa has invited two musicians who play in another of her ensembles (Qasyoun) to join in: Shaza Manla and Modar Salama. She wants to
bring the two groups together to create new musical elements, especially for the Ud Festival.

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SOLD OUT! Three years after their first concert, flamenco icon Estrella Morente and Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra are coming together again for a magic showcase of warmth and pleasure.

The daughter of world-famous Enrique Morente, Estrella has grown to become a flamenco legend in her own right. Performing with her father since the age of seven, she has been vocally commanding stages all over ever since.

For Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra's Ud Festival, she is returning to the Netherlands and to a musical partnership that holds no secrets, as Arabo-Andalusian sound and flamenco effortlessly cross over on the stage.

*This performance is a collaboration between Ud Festival and Le Guess Who?

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After two previous, successful concerts at the Meervaart, Le Trio Joubran is back!

Le Trio Joubran’s music is essentially Arab, but shows influences from jazz, flamenco and Western classical music. The Meervaart hosted the Palestinian trio – formed by brothers Samir, Wissam and Adnan Joubran – in 2018 and again in 2019.

On the second occasion, Le Trio Joubran was supported by the Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra (AAO), which brought the sounds of Al-Andalus into the mix. Trio and orchestra alternated refined improvisations, crossed paths in perfect harmony, and took the audience along on a journey through rich Middle Eastern maqam traditions. It became an evening of world music, from different corners of the globe. Yet again, the concert was completely sold out.

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The Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra, together with popular Moroccan singer Hatim Idar, pays homage to legendary Syrian singer Farid Al Atrash.

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Thanks to Al Atrash recordings and radio performances with the legendary Egyptian singer Oum Kalthoum, traditional popular Arabic music became loved
the world over from 1950 onwards. Al Atrash, who like Kalthoum died in the mid-1970s, was a gifted improviser on the ud, and wrote more than 500 songs,
mostly romantic love songs.

The music of Al Atrash and Kalthoum is still a source of inspiration for many, Hatim Idar among them. Their characteristic subtle vocal inflections are reflected in his singing, as well as the typical combination of a velvety soft timbre with a passionate delivery.

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