NAJWA, which freely translated from Arabic means ‘straight from the heart’ comes from the passionately beating hearts of these eight exceptional talents and their musical guide, composer and Ud virtuoso Nizar Rohana. These eight exceptional upcoming musicians met in 2016 within the framework of a series of master classes organized by Stichting Morgenland Amsterdam during the Morgenland Festival. Back then, Nizar Rohana also accompanied the group during the week of workshops and repetitions at the music venue Splendor in Amsterdam. In January 2017 NAJWA had the chance to perform in in front of a 'full house' at the Vredenburg Tivoli Theatre in Utrecht, within the framework of the Catching Cultures Festival.
In December 2017 NAJWA returned to Splendor with a beautiful repertoire composed by new compositions form the musicians, exploring new areas in musical language between the Arabic and the Western music culture. All members of NAJWA have been moving at a fast pace in their musical lives and development and we look forward to a well balanced and surprising concert at the Grachtenfestival 2018 sharing new compositions with the audience.
The playlist will feature compositions by some of the group members, compositions by Nizar Rohana and some existing pieces. It is a well-balanced research between the Arabic and Western musical tradition. It was not a calculated match, but four musicians have been brought up within the Syrian/Arabic Music culture and four of them in the Western music culture. All eight are looking to deepen their knowledge and broaden their musical bandwidth.
Commonly they create new musical experiences.
NAJWA
Nizar Rohana (artistic leader)
Kim Jaeger (piano)
Jawa Manla (ud)
Rémy Dielemans (bass)
Nawras Al Taky (vocals)
Nadia Marak (flute)
Modar Salama (percussion)
Christian Palmieri (drums).