Sounds of diversity

It has been 150 years since the abolition of slavery in the Netherlands’ former colonies. But the legacy of slavery still ripples through our society and continues to influence music today. The festival’s overarching theme highlights the diversity of people and music that history has given us.

By Orville Breeveld

There is a rich diversity in being Dutch. And it encompasses more than differences in appearance, skin color and accent. This rich diversity is the sum of historical routes and the experiences of past generations that shape the identity and value of our society. Yet we are not always aware of these routes and experiences. And we are even less aware of their value and power. Routes through times in major - but definitely also in minor keys - that have shaped our hearts and our vision of the world. Our historic routes are not only dotted with beautiful fireworks but booming ones as well. Bangs so loud that they caused many a heart to skip a beat.

Countless hearts have been broken time and again by horrors from the past. Others have become masters of self-healing and made themselves immortal through their resilience. These historical stories make us who we are today. Regardless of whether the stop before this Dutch train station was Jakarta, Maastricht, Paramaribo, Leeuwarden, Accra, Willemstad or Ambon, we are boarding the same train and we desire to sit together in the same car. A car where diversity is the norm and embraced with open hearts.

This year, the festival is celebrating diversity through programming dedicated to Sounds of Diversity - A Shared Musical Heritage. The reason is to mark 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in former colonies of the Netherlands. The festival is inviting visitors to feel and hear the legacy of the history that has also contributed to making us who we are as a nation. We are the Netherlands because Indonesia was once the Dutch East Indies. We are the Netherlands because in 1873 the first indentured laborers from India landed at Fort Nieuw Amsterdam, on the Suriname River. We are the Netherlands because people from numerous African countries were transported to the Americas where they were enslaved.

The festival bears in its name the words “North Sea” and “Jazz”. Words that have a history with those former Dutch colonies. For it was from the North Sea that ships sailed to Africa, Suriname, Curaçao and Indonesia. Not on pleasure cruises, but on journeys leading to centuries of exploitation, oppression, and dehumanization. A struggle between indigenous peoples and those whose lust for economic gain and craving for power had far-reaching consequences that can still be seen and felt today.

Jazz is the common ancestor of musical forms and styles that have been celebrated at the festival for 46 years. And this forefather has spread around the world as a genre, just like those peoples, and has also landed and set down roots here in the Netherlands. Those roots, after centuries of intense struggle, have borne musical fruit.

Diaspora Suite

The Metropole Orkest and Mike Bindraban, the curator and co-initiator of this theme, are the drivers behind

Diaspora Suite. Under the baton of Jules Buckley, national and international artists, writers, poets and musicians join the orchestra in telling in sound and word the story of the diaspora as it stands in the year 2023. MCs, writers and spoken word artists like Typhoon and Akwasi look back on the highs and lows of the colonial period with their own works, openly and with heads held high. Top musicians, including Ronald Snijders (2022 Boy Edgar Prize winner), drummers Yoràn Vroom and Sarathy Korwar, bassists Jason Eduwaiti and Adinda Meertins, saxophonists Cassie Kinoshi and Camilla George, and violinists

Yannick Hiwat and Shauntell Baumgard, do not let this momentum or their own historical narrative go unheeded. International vocalists Laura Mvula, Corinne Bailey Rae, Arooj Aftab and ZO! Gospel Choir connect the past to the present with their voices. Wellknown Dutch authors, accompanied by improvising musicians, read excerpts from iconic works by Anton de Kom, Anil Ramdas and Cynthia McLeod, who have played an important role in passing on knowledge about our common past. The performance is set against photographs of mothers of the diaspora.

Palm & Plaate

The historical music heritage of Curaçao is rich but unknown to most music lovers. When the Dutch took control of the island from the Spanish in 1634, they probably never thought that the island would produce generation after generation of brilliant composers. Musician and composer of classical and dance music

Jan Gerard Palm (1831 - 1906) is the forefather of an extensive family of composers that have been a great influence on the classical Curaçao music for many generations through progressive and original musical and rhythmic choices. At the festival, music by Jacobo (1887 - 1982), Rudolph (1880 - 1950) and Edgar (1905 - 1998) will be performed. The exceptional Palms all taught music, were multi-instrumentalists and played in the Curaçao Philharmonic Orchestra as well as in church. They wrote hundreds of waltzes, tumbas, marches, mazurkas and church songs that remain popular even to this day Rudy Plaate (b. 1937) is one of Curaçao’s most important composers and he has greatly influenced the development of music on the island. As a singer, he poetically and lovingly sang about his cherished island of Curaçao in more than 400 songs. Plaate’s lyrics let Papiamentu shine elegantly, something that was revolutionary at the time. His songs made the people of the Antilles proud of their identity. For example, his classic Atardi, about the sunset on Curaçao, is unforgettable for all Antilleans. With Palm & Plaate Classic And Popular Compositions From Curaçao, the Metropole Orkest pays tribute to the oeuvres of these legendary composers from Curaçao. The performance was compiled by musical director and pianist Randal Corsen, with standout musicians and vocalists Izaline Calister, Maruja Bogaard, Pernell Saturnino, Jean-Jacques Roger, Roël Calister, Stanley Clementina, Cici Isenia and Tamara Nivillac.

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