The festival is starting soon!

[Sahand Sahebdivani]

Hi everyone,

Many of you on our mail list are recent arrivals to the Netherlands. Sometimes I talk about what the scene in the Netherlands looked like and you are surprised at the art reality we had a few decades ago. When it comes to jam sessions for instance, do you know we had very few in Amsterdam compared to today? There were some great Jazz jams, a few Irish music jams and that was more or less it. Live music was dying out when bars started to install the music machines that had thousands of songs to play. What we did have was the Mezrab jam that we started 21 years ago. Suddenly the best musicians of Amsterdam came to this tiny place and had fun. What we also had was a series of gigs that were organized in the now defunct Rokerij coffeeshops. We, as musicians, would be invited to play in pairs. Most of the time we didn't know the musician we would be paired with. Like this we met someone very intimately on a musical level, as for three hours we played in the Marijuana smoke. The audience didn't care what we played, the instruments were so interesting (and they were so stoned) that even tuning our instruments drew applause. Many musicians who are now famous members of the Amsterdam scene had their first paid gigs in those Rokerij jams! 

Well, Amsterdam has grown significantly when it comes to performance art. Just have a look at what we are offering:

First of all, there's the Amsterdam Storytelling Festival that takes place between November 5 and 9 in Podium Mozaiek. This is going to be a massive event with over 25 shows, workshops and talks. If you go to the website you see that some shows and workshops are already selling out. So find the shows you like and book your tickets! I can very much recommend Dr. Brown, the clown who was a hit last year. He's not only back to do a new show this year, he's also bringing back the old show that everyone loved (on November 5). Or you can consider seeing Rory de Groot, the Dutch theater maker who had a very short lived career as a professional football player but made a moving show about it (and in our festival plays it in English!). There's many more shows of course, if you are doubting what to see, send me a message!

Then there's the things we do in the Mezrab. The week already starts today, when we have a comedy open mic. Come support new comedians (or old ones with new material) on our free night! Doors open at 19.00, laughter starts at 20.00

Tomorrow (Tuesday) I will host a night myself: the Pearls on a String! One of the daring Tuesdays in which we invite storytellers, musicians and improv actors to create something on the spot for you! So much fun. No need for tickets, donations welcome.

On Thursday we have some of the best musicians I have ever heard. No need to be stoned to enjoy this amazing quintet from Bangalore! Just click on the site for info, listen to the link and grab your tickets. If you don't hear this music live, life will not have any colour. 

This Saturday of course we have our classical comedy nights. This usually sells out, so better grab your ticket now.

Finally there's a little sneak peak of our upcoming weeks, On Thursday November 13 we are honored to welcome the talented Duygy Alkan. She is a Turkey born and Rotterdam based powerhouse. 

That's it! Begone rain, we are ready for art!

hugs,

Sahand & Team

www.mezrab.nl