Sams
(St Eustasius, 1955) is a singer, composer, percussionist and ngoni player. At first he played and sang only in reggae bands but in the 1980s he fell under the spell of djembé music. To improve his technique he travelled to Africa regularly to practise with the great masters of djembé music. During one of his first travels he heard the sound of the ngoni, and he learned to play this instrument as well. The ngoni is one of the oldest string instruments of Africa, made of a gourd, a piece of wood and fishing line. Sams subsequently founded his own ngoni band and concentrated on African music. In the meantime he has returned to his old love, reggae. Sams performs regularly at home and abroad with Sams Reggae band and Sams N’goni band. He also gives djembé workshops at schools.
During Winternachten 2009, on Saturday afternoon, he will perform together with his brother, the base player, and with the inseparable steelpan duo Cornel Brown and Leroy James, all from Statia.
Past events
Wintercafé 1: Herman Koch
Specially for Winternachten Koch wrote a ‘short history of deceit’, in cooperation with DeBuren in Brussels. The Wintercafé is hosted this entire Friday-night by Hassnae Bouazza and Petra Possel. In Dutch.
Wintercafé 2: Masquerades
Pupils from local secondary schools just do it: climbing the stage and reading their poetry on the topic of ‘masquerades’. In addition to them, Gerrit Komrij reads poems specially selected for Winternachten. In Dutch.
Wintercafé 3: Metamorphoses
Gündüz Vassaf (Turkey), Nury Vittachi (Hongkong) and the Moroccan author Youssouf Amine Elalamy tell stories about metamorphoses. In English.
Wintercafé 4: You don't know what you see
Psychologist and writer Katinka van der Kooij and evolutionary biologist and writer Tijs Goldschmidt on the question: can be survive without manipulation? With readings from their own work. In Dutch.
