Chieko Donker Duyvis & Hamid Reza Behzadian

A sparkling dialogue between cello and guitars

On Friday 15 May and Sunday 17 May, concert series Old Roots New Routes brings together two extraordinary talents at the Amstelkerk in Amsterdam and Amare in The Hague, respectively: Chieko Dark Duyvis, cellist, singer and composer from Amsterdam with Brazilian and Japanese roots, and Iranian-Dutch slide guitarist and harmonica player Hamid Reza Behzadian. Together with Brazilian percussionist Simone Sou they bring a programme with influences from American blues, Persian blues, Indian ragas and Brazilian and Japanese folk music. A repertoire with original compositions and plenty of room for improvisation.

She graced the poster of The Concertgebouw and the Cello Biennale, she composes for dance, film and opera. Voilà: omnivorous cellist and singer Chieko Donker Duyvis. Inspired by classical, jazz, free improvisation and Latin, she creates a sparkling universe, which has already been heard with great success in the Old Roots New Routes concert series in 2023. Chieko belongs to the new generation of bi-cultural musicians who are conquering stages across genres. Just like slide guitarist Hamid Reza Behzadian, who very virtuosically blends the influences of his Persian roots, melodies from the Middle East and India and his primary inspiration, American blues, into his music.

Introduction to Indian slide guitar led him to the path of Indian classical music and in it he graduated cum laude from Codarts Conservatory in Rotterdam in 2022. In a collaboration curated by Old Roots New Routes, they cross strings for the first time in a challenging dialogue between cello and guitar.

Together with Simone Sou on percussion, a dynamic interplay of rhythms and melodies emerges.

Musicians :
Chieko Donker Duyvis (BR/NL) - cello, vocals Hamid Reza Behzadian (IR/NL) - diatonic harmonica, Indian slide guitar, dobro, vocals Simone Sou (BR) percussion.

Chieko Donker Duyvis & Hamid Reza Behzadian ft. Simone Sou 
Fri 15 May | 20:30 | Amstelkerk Amsterdam
Sun 17 May | 16:00 | Amare Den Haag
Tickets: www.oldrootsnewroutes.nl/chieko-hamid/

Hamid Reza Behzadian returns to Old Roots New Routes on Saturday 6 June with his trio, presenting repertoire from his CD Blues for Leila, released last year.More information: www.oldrootsnewroutes.nl

Old Roots New Routes
Since 2017, the Old Roots New Routes concert series has provided a stage in intimate semi-acoustic settings for musicians from elsewhere who have settled in the Netherlands and embarked on adventurous crossovers here. All this provided with a historical context through lectures and introductions.
Under the motto Migration, engine of musical innovation, Old Roots New Routes charts the latest developments of a vital Dutch music scene. Music as antidote: with the programme of this fifth edition, Old Roots New Routes connects to current events by offering hope and connection through music with a range of personal stories that resonate in the individual concerts.
The programming and organisation of Old Roots New Routes is in the hands of Sonja Heimann and Stan Rijven.