Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

The Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra, in Dutch the Amsterdams Andalusisch Orkest, is a Dutch orchestra that focuses on Arab-Andalusian music. It was founded in 2011 by a group of friends in Amsterdam: Mohamed Chairi, Yassine Boussaid, Dwight Breinburg and Mohamed Aadroun. Aadroun, a business manager born in Amsterdam to Moroccan parents, became fascinated by the musical heritage of Al-Andalus, medieval Islamic Spain. The orchestra aims to connect that tradition, which is still alive in the countries of the Maghreb, with the cultural life of the Netherlands.

Music and breakthrough

The repertoire stretches from Granada to Baghdad. There is room for classical Arabic music, mystical music from the Middle East, jazz and flamenco. The orchestra likes to work with other art forms, such as poetry, dance and photography. In 2021 it presented the programme The Tree of Being at the Bimhuis, to poems by Ibn Arabi. It has played with Estrella Morente, Sami Yusuf, Cappella Amsterdam, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Metropole Orkest, and has performed at the Holland Festival and Le Guess Who?, among others. The album Mystic Mirrors was released in 2020.

Influence

Together with the theatre De Meervaart, the orchestra organises the biennial Ud Festival, and in 2021, with De Meervaart and the photography museum FOAM, it founded the cultural centre Maqam in Amsterdam-West. In 2024 it received the Cultuurfonds Prijs. It shows how ancient music from the Mediterranean can find an audience of its own in a Dutch city.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 2020Mystic Mirrors