Mezrab (Amsterdam)

Last updated
Mezrab
The House of Stories
Amsterdam Mezrab (52445289798).jpg
Interior of the Mezrab
Mezrab (Amsterdam)
AddressVeemkade 576, 1019 BL
Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Genre(s) Storytelling, Music, Poetry, Comedy, Dance
Capacity 230 visitors
Opened2004 (as a monthly gathering)
2014 (current location)
Website
www.mezrab.nl

The Mezrab is a cultural center in Amsterdam focussed on storytelling and multidisciplinary performing arts. [1] [2] [3] In 2020 the center won the Amsterdamprijs voor de Kunst for Best Achievements. [4] Next to storytelling it is a podium for music, dance, comedy, and a storytelling school. [5]

Contents

History

The band Skampida performing in the Mezrab. 17-skampida.mezrab-8777.jpg
The band Skampida performing in the Mezrab.

The Mezrab was founded by storyteller and musician Sahand Sahebdivani in 2004. As an Iranian refugee he wanted to continue his parents' tradition of Iranian music and storytelling. [6] It started as a gathering in the family's living room and grew into a monthly storytelling evening in a small tea house. [7] Through the years the gatherings became more frequent and the Mezrab moved to various locations to keep up with its growth. [8] In 2014, a crowdfunding was organized to move to the former location of music cafe Pakhuis Wilhelmina at the Veemkade, [9] which has since become the fixed location for the center. In that same year the Mezrab Storytelling School was founded by Farnoosh Farnia and Raphael Rodan, and the team was expanded with Rogier Lammers as the music programmer and Karl Giesriegl as the creative director. [10] Since then the Mezrab has a cultural program of over 300 events per year, [4] with in addition to storytelling, music concerts, open mic evenings, dance, theatre and comedy. As most of its programming is in English, the center has become a popular destination for the international community of Amsterdam. [11]

Name

The cultural center is named after the Persian word for plectrum (see Mezrab (plectrum)), as it is 'a tiny thing that produces a big resonance'. [6]

Prizes

In 2020 the Mezrab won the Amsterdamprijs voor de Kunsten (Amsterdam Price for the Arts) for Best Achievements. [4] The jury motivated their choice as follows:

"Mezrab is a unique cultural center for storytelling, a warm home for many Amsterdammers. It is a breeding ground where people come together to create, perform, tell, listen and engage within an open community. (..) Mezrab contributes to keeping the ancient art of storytelling alive in a contemporary and hybrid way. The jury is impressed by the accessibility and warmth of Mezrab as a cultural Foundation. Mezrab manages to create an international ambiance, in a local context. They organically create a sense of inclusivity, solidarity and involvement with its audience and the artists. The jury finds it inspiring how Mezrab has been making an authentic and colorful contribution to our city for years in a sustainable way."

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Hague</span> City and municipality in the Netherlands

The Hague is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of the Netherlands is Amsterdam, The Hague has been described as the country's de facto capital since the time of the Dutch Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Utrecht</span> City and municipality in Utrecht, Netherlands

Utrecht is the fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the province of Utrecht. The municipality of Utrecht is located in the eastern part of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Netherlands, and includes Haarzuilens, Vleuten and De Meern. It has a population of 361,699 as of December 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam</span> Film festival

The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is the world's largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naturalis Biodiversity Center</span> Dutch natural history museum and research center

Naturalis Biodiversity Center is a national museum of natural history and a research center on biodiversity in Leiden, Netherlands. It was named the European Museum of the Year 2021. Although its current name and organization are relatively recent, the history of Naturalis can be traced back to the early 1800s. Its collection includes approximately 42 million specimens, making it one of the largest natural history collections in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaap Kunst</span> Dutch ethnomusicologist (1891–1960)

Jaap Kunst was a Dutch musicologist. He is credited with coining the term "ethnomusicology" as a more accurate name for the field then known as comparative musicology. Kunst studied the folk music of the Netherlands and of Indonesia. His published work totals more than 70 texts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pete Philly and Perquisite</span>

Pete Philly & Perquisite is a hip hop duo from the Netherlands consisting of Pedro Philip Monzón as the MC/vocalist and Pieter "Perquisite" Perquin as the cellist, producer and composer of all the music. Their music is best described as hip hop with influences from jazz, broken beat and soul. They usually performed live together with DJ PCM, Remco Keijzer on saxophone, EWI and flute, Kasper Kalf on double-bass and Ruben Hein on keys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OT301</span> Legalized squat in Amsterdam

OT301 is a self-managed social centre in a legalized squat in the Dutch city of Amsterdam, located on Overtoom 301.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merlijn Twaalfhoven</span> Dutch composer

Merlijn Twaalfhoven is a Dutch composer. He graduated from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in 2003. Twaalfhoven is internationally active in creating innovative projects and writing new music for orchestras, choirs and chamber music groups. He collaborated with Toneelgroep Amsterdam, Holland Festival, Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest, the Dutch National Ballet and Springdance festival, among many others. With his non profit organization La Vie Sur Terre he frequently produces large scale projects on location with local artists and musicians, for example in Cyprus, Japan, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, Syria, and Central Europe. Twaalfhoven is a member of the Alpbach Laxenburg Group. He was a speaker about the role of arts in conflict areas at Aspen Institute Washington and Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, CO. In 2014 and 2015, Merlijn Twaalfhoven created "Bridging The Divide", a conversation with Tomáš Sedláček and Gloria Benedikt, linking economics and the irrational, positioning artists as agents of change. He was co-founder of Citizen Artist Incubator together with Gloria Benedikt, which was funded by Creative Europe and brought together 30 artists in two editions. The 2016 of Citizen Artist Incubator took place at IIASA. Twaalfhoven was a speaker about the role of arts in conflict areas at Aspen Institute Washington, TEDx Amsterdam, the European Forum on Culture 2013, 2016 and Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado, U.S.A. In 2017 he founded the Turn Club.

Iranians in the Netherlands form one of the newer and larger populations of the Iranian diaspora in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buma Cultuur Pop Award</span> Dutch pop music award

The Buma Cultuur Pop Award(De Popprijs) is presented each January to a person or artist for making the most important contribution to Dutch pop music during the past year. The winner is appointed by a professional jury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wibautstraat metro station</span> Metro station in Amsterdam

Wibautstraat is an underground metro station in the city centre of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Served by metro lines 51, 53 and 54 of the Amsterdam Metro, the station was constructed with the cut-and-cover method. It was opened on 16 October 1977. The station consists of two station halls with two entrances each. The 155-metre-long (509 ft) island platform is between the two halls. The station was renovated in 2010 and 2018.

The following is a timeline of the history of the municipality of Amsterdam, Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guillaume Lo-A-Njoe</span> Dutch painter of Surinamese descent

Guillaume Theodoor Lo-A-Njoe is a Dutch painter of Surinamese descent. He is married and has one son. He currently resides and works in Amsterdam where he celebrated his 60th anniversary as an artist in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thierry Baudet</span> Dutch author and politician (born 1983)

Thierry Henri Philippe Baudet is a Dutch politician, author, and self-declared conspiracy theorist. He is the founder and leader of the far-right Forum for Democracy (FvD), for which he has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2017. He serves as the party's parliamentary leader. A controversial politician due to his political views, as well as his use of personal attacks against his opponents, he was physically assaulted twice while campaigning in 2023.

Melanie Bonajo (they/them) is a queer, non-binary, Dutch artist, filmmaker, feminist, sexological bodyworker, somatic sex coach and educator, cuddle workshop facilitator and animal rights activist. Through their videos, performances, photographs and installations, Bonajo examines current conundrums of co-existence in a crippling capitalistic systems, and address themes of eroding intimacy and isolation in an increasingly sterile, technological world.

Airco Caravan is a painter and conceptual artist based in Amsterdam and New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frieda Hunziker</span> Dutch artist

Frieda Hunziker was a Dutch painter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Smijers</span> Dutch priest and musicologist (1888–1957)

Albertus Antonius Smijers, was a Dutch musicologist who served as Professor of Musicology at the University of Utrecht. As one of the first Dutch musicologists to receive a doctorate, he chaired several organisations such as the International Musicological Society. Smijers was also a noted authority on Josquin des Pres; he published 44 volumes of Werken van Josquin des Prez from 1941 until his death, while another 11 volumes were published posthumously by his students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sahand Sahebdivani</span> Iranian-Dutch storyteller (born 1980)

Sahand Sahebdivani is an Iranian–Dutch storyteller, musician and founder of cultural center the Mezrab.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boekman Foundation</span> Cultural research foundation

The Boekman Foundation Institute for arts, culture and related policy is a research institute for Dutch arts and culture policy and practice. It was named after the Amsterdam SDAP politician and alderman Emanuel Boekman (1889–1940), who promoted public support for art and culture in his PhD thesis of 1939.

References

  1. "Mezrab Cultural Center". IAmsterdam.com. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  2. Audrey Sykes (2018). Moon Amsterdam. Hachette UK. ISBN   9781631212369.
  3. Rahil Roodsaz (2022). Sexual Self-Fashioning Iranian Dutch Narratives of Sexuality and Belonging. Berghahn Books. p. 17. ISBN   978-1-80073-684-9.
  4. 1 2 3 "Winners released of Amsterdam Prize 2020!". Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  5. "The Mezrab Storytelling School". The Mezrab Storytelling School. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  6. 1 2 "If on a spring's night an Iranian plectrum and a bowl of delicious soup". As Soup As Possible. 2015-05-13. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
  7. "The story of the Mezrab". 2Doc.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  8. "Mezrab – Storytelling nights". spottedbylocals.com. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  9. "Mezrab Cultural Center – The Expansion". voordekunst (in Dutch). Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  10. "The Mezrab - About Us". mezrab.nl. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  11. "Telling Stories at Mezrab". amsterdamalternative.nl. Retrieved 2022-10-17.

52°22′34″N4°55′39″E / 52.3760°N 4.9276°E / 52.3760; 4.9276