Amsterdam Klezmer Band ft. Mohamed Ahaddaf & Emad Ghajjou
Amsterdam Klezmer Band: Jasper de Beer double bass/guitar banjo/backing vocals, Job Chajes alto saxophone/vocals, Alec Kopyt vocals/percussion, Gijs Levelt trumpet, Joop van der Linden guitar, Janfie van Strien clarinet/backing vocals, Theo van Tol accordion.
Mohammed Ahaddaf oud, Emad Ghajjou percussion.
Mix a dose of klezmer with a pinch of jazz, a shot of balkan and a smidgen of gypsy, et voilà, you’ve got the recipe for Amsterdam Klezmer Band. They like to make you sweat, but they can make you dream away on a soulful lament as well. In the AKB LAB series, the band looks for inspiration in unexpected corners. For this edition they welcome the Moroccan sound wizards Mohamed Ahaddaf and Amad Ghajjou.
Mohamed Ahaddaf is the artistic cordinator Middle East and North African music of the Marmoucha Orchestra. He is a highly talented oud player and composer from Morocco, with firm roots in Andalusian culture. After his arrival in the Netherlands, he ventured into jazz and Arabic music. He developed a unique seven-string oud with an additional high string.
Emad Ghajjou was born in Tétouan, Morocco and grew up in an artistic family. Andalusian, Sufi and classical Arabic music formed the base of his musical education. Later, he studied Andalusian music at the Tétouan Conservatory. Emad has been performing ever since, working with many different artists and in a variety of styles and genres.
The Amsterdam Klezmer Band has been around for over twenty-five years. It was founded in Café De Nieuwe Lelie by front man Job Chajes and bassist Jasper de Beer, and grew into a formation with a marvelous live reputation, from Paradiso to The Concertgebouw, and from Sziget to Lowlands.