Bas Gaakeer

Bas Gaakeer (born 1989) is a musician, musical director and teacher based in Amsterdam.

As a guitarist, he works mainly on the intercultural circuit, with a strong focus on music from North Africa, the Sahara and the Arab world. He became interested in Arabic music during trips to Jordan where he organised education projects from 2009-2014. This was later followed by several tours and concert tours to Egypt and Morocco, among others. He also collaborates with Netherlands-based musicians from Arab and North African music traditions. As a musical director, Bas regularly works in interdisciplinary settings. Since 2017, for instance, he has been creating performances in collaboration with theatre producer Gregory Caers on behalf of De Nationale Opera. He also worked as musical director on several productions in Cairo, in collaboration with local artists and a Dutch choreographer.

He works as a teacher at the Opleiding Docent Muziek (Music in Education) department of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and at Aslan Music Centre. Within ODM at the conservatory, Bas works as a teacher of Main Instrument and Accompaniment Skills Guitar, together with guest lecturers on modules of non-Western music didactics, the module Community Music (music with specific extracurricular target groups), Tutor Training (coaching skills in an professional education setting) and as ensemble leader/musical leader in various projects of the programme.

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