GUITAR

Bas Gaakeer (1989) is a guitar player based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He started playing guitar at the age of nine. After succesfully finishing his studies in Classical Guitar at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in 2015, Bas established himself as a guitar player in several musical styles. Arabic music and culture has had a strong influence on his musical career as he has been working regularly in the Middle East since he was a teenager. Besides working as a performing/recording guitar player Bas works as a composer and musical leader in several interdisciplinary projects. He aspires to be a connector of musical worlds, using the guitar as a tool to connect and exchange between musical backgrounds.

Since 2017 Bas plays with singer/author Samira Dainan in her band SAMIRA’S BLUES. They play original songs by Samira as well as North African traditionals/spirituals. Samira's Blues performs as a voice-guitar duo but is also complemented with other musicians. In september 2018 Bas and Samira performed in the Zyriab Cultural Centre in Essaouria, Morocco alongside the Haddarates, a group of 4 spiritual singers/percussionists from the Essaouira area. Samira’s Blues released their debut EP “Ya Baba” in december 2018 at Paradiso Amsterdam and went on to tour around the Netherlands and Morocco eversince. One of the highlights has been their performance at the main stage of Festival Taragalte in the Sahara desert in november 2019. Samira’s Blues performed alongside band members of Tarwa ‘N Tiniri and Kader Tarhanine.

TEN-HUT is an Amsterdam/Zaandam based band. Bas has been writing the music and playing guitar in this band since his teenage years. The band has been touring the Netherlands, France, Germany and Spain for over a decade and have played in several instrumentations including acoustic, orchestral and as a XL live band in clubs and festivals. They collaborated with several international artists and are known for their energetic live performances. The music is best described as pop/funk with non-western influences. In 2021 they developed an acoustic program in collaboration with Anatolian music specialist Burak Dolutas with whom they released their live album ‘YOL’, for this album Bas made arrangements for the traditional music and composed/arranged the originals.

TRIO DEBU is an Amsterdam-based guitar trio that plays music by Debussy exclusively. Bas is an arranger and guitar player in this ensemble together with Ward Reijmerink and Eva Aukes.

From 2016 Bas started working for SINE FORMA as a composer and guitar player. Sine Forma is an interdisciplinary collective under artistic leadership of dancer/choreographer Anna Suijkerbuijk. With Sine Forma Bas composed and played guitar in the performances So Far So Good (feat. dancers Faizah Grootens, Cheroney Pelupessy, photographer Sjoerd Derine and director Anna Suijkerbuijk) and Alleen Zijn We Samen, a duet for dancer and guitar player. In 2017 Bas worked as Artist in Residence at the Breaking Walls festival in Caïro, where he composed and played alongside an Egyptian cast for the performance Ignorance is Bliss. In 2019 Bas and Anna returned to Caïro for a shared residency teaching a 4-day workshop in Interdisciplinary Creating, movement/music research and several performances.

Other bands where Bas occasionally plays with include Boka de Banjul (Gambian afrobeat/reggae/rock) and Kasba (Moroccan/Dutch raï, gnawa, chaabi).

Bas is an endorser for Martin Guitar, Jim Dunlop Guitar Products and MXR electronics. Bas uses Spectraflex handbraided cables.

COMPOSER/ARRANGER/MUSICAL LEADER

Since 2018 Bas collaborates with theatre director Gregory Caers to create performances for Opera Forward Festival at De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam. Bas composes/arranges vocal music and works as a musical director during rehearsals and performance.