Bake Day ‘Diversity in Music’, 24 April Universiteitstheater Amsterdam, 13h – 18h

De Arnold Bake Dag voor Etnomusicologen en iedereen die geinteresseerd is in traditionele muziek en dans van culturen over de hele wereld, vindt plaats op vrijdag 24 april. Aan de orde komen de Aga Khan Music Awards en muziek van de Ismailis in Syrie,Tadjikistan en Afghanistan; de lier in de muziek van Eritrea, migrerende melodieën op de Balkan en de muziek en gedichten van Rabindranath Tagore.

Arnold Bake Day Friday 24 April 2026, 13:00-18:00h

Address: Universiteitstheater, Nieuwe Doelenstraat 16-18, Amsterdam

DIVERSITY IN MUSIC

12:00-13:00 Lunch in the foyer for members and participants
13:00-13:05 Words of welcome
13:05-13:15 In memoriam Wim van Zanten, by Liesbet Nyssen
13:15-14:15 Neil van der Linden and Odai Alhayek
14:15-15:15 Jan van Belle
15:15-15:45 Tea break. Coffee and tea provided by Gosling Coffee
15:45-16:30 Semere Welday
16:30-17:15 Peter Endendijk
17:15-18:00 Sharmili Mitra and Saniya Kishna

Entrance : Free for Arnold Bake Society members and UvA students
for all others €10,-

Programma

13:00-13:15   Welcome and in memoriam of Wim van Zanten by Liesbet Nyssen  

13:15-14:15   Neil van der Linden and Odai Alhayek.
Neil van der Linden will lecture on the Aga Khan Music Awards. He will give a general introduction on the Ismailis, and the music that they perform in the diverse countries with special attention to the Syrian city of Salamiyyeh. The lecture will be followed by a performance of percussionist and singer Odai Alhayek who is from Salamiyyeh. He made a name in the Netherlands as a music educator, performer and actor.  As a musician he blends traditional sounds and contemporary influences.

14:15-15:15  Jan van Belle Ismaili Culture in Tajikistan, Wakhan and Afghanistan. 
Jan van Belle did research on the Ismaili music culture in 1992 – 1993 in Tadjik Badakhshan together with Gabrielle van den Berg, a specialist in Persian poetry and Pamir languages, and the film maker Coen van Hall. He did solo research in 1996  (Central Afghanistan), in 1998 (Tajik Badakhshan), in 2001 (Afghan Badakhshan) and in 2003 (Wakhan). Excerpts of the films Mountains Protect (1993) by Coen van Hall and Jeroen Huisman and  ‘Two Poets and a River’ (2018) by Richard Wolf, as well as his own audio recordings in all those areas and film recordings in Wakhan (2003) will be included. 

15:15-15:45  Tea-Coffee Break presented by Gosling Coffee Amsterdam

15:45-16:30  Semere Welday is an Eritrean krar player and instrument builder who has lived  in the Netherlands for 10 years. He is a successful musician with the Adulis Band where he blends Ethiopian jazz, Eritrean traditional music, and Sudanese influences with contemporary Western styles. He also makes electrified krars (lyres) which he sells mainly to Dutch musicians, at least one a month. With the platform Abdulis Music he promotes Eritrean culture and music. He will talk in more detail about how he learned to make krars, how he makes krars in the Netherlands, the reaction of his customers and he will also perform on this instrument.

16:30-17:15  Peter Endendijk on Migrating Melodies.
People are migrating. This happened in the past as in recent times. If so, they bring their music with them to their new living places. But melodies can migrate independently.  This can be caused by various reasons: migration of people for economic reasons, (forced) migration caused by political reasons, melodies brought by foreign occupiers, melodies following trade routes, spreading by modern media, coincidences, or a combination of these reasons. Song texts can migrate with the melody, but they can also change if they have reached their new destination. What was originally a historical ballad can change into a love song in another setting.

17:15-18:00  Sharmili Mitra on Rabindranath Tagore.
Sharmili Mitra will talk about the famous Bengali poet and composer Rabindranath Tagore and his music called Rabindrasangeet. She will also reflect on Tagore’s philosophy on love, prayer and death. Also Arnold Bake started his study and research of Indian music with Rabindranath Tagore. Sharmili will enhance her talk with songs accompanied by her daughter Saniya Kishna on bansuri (bamboo flute).

Neil van der Linden & Odal Alhayek

Semere Welday

Peter Endendijk

Jan van Belle (centre) in Tadjik Badakshan

Sharmil Mitra

De Arnold Bake Dag wordt georganiseerd door de Arnold Bake Society,in samenwerking met Gosling Coffee Amsterdam, de UvA en Museum Geelvinck