Sounds of the underground

Meet the Curators: Stichting Doek

For the last chapter in our Meet The Curators-series, we spoke with Stichting Doek.

Tell us about your organisation. Who are you, what are your activities, which music scene are you involved with? 

DOEK is an Amsterdam-based collective of improvising musicians that has been going since begin 2001. There is a core of 6 musicians - Eric Boeren, John Dikeman, Oscar Jan Hoogland, Wilbert de Joode, Michael Moore and Wolter Wierbos - who decide the artistic direction of DOEK. Around these core musicians revolve lots of other musicians who play in their ensembles or are involved in various projects. In Amsterdam we organize 2 monthly events in OT301 - the Eddie & the Eagles evenings (together with Eddie the Eagle Museum) and doek @ OT, a Sunday evening meeting place. DOEK groups play concerts in the Netherlands and all over the world. 

 How did you get involved with SOTU?

We were approached by Frank Schouten and we decided to jointly program a couple of evenings - DOEK Festival ends on 5 May and SOTU starts on 9 May. Even though the musical focus of the festivals is different, there's plenty of overlap (noise, freejazz etc) and we share a similar approach and committment to the music.

What are your thoughts on the Amsterdam music scene and underground in general?

I can only really speak for the impro scene. At the moment the scene is flourishing musically - there are a lot of good players around, great DIY initiatives and plenty of new, young musicians interested in improvising. Sometimes the audience is pretty small, and that's a pity. We could do with a centralized website for impro in Amsterdam (and maybe for other underground music?). 

 What are your festival tips?

The SOTU/doek night on 10 May in OCCII, again with a great line-up: 

PQ   Luc van Weelden electronics

Chocolat Billy   

Roro/Mulder/Dennis Tyfus   Nora Mulder piano, Dennis Tyfus performance, Rogier Smal percussion

EKE Yedo Gibson reeds, Oscar Jan Hoogland electric clavichord, Gerri Jäger drums

Le Cercle De Mallissimalistes Chocolat Billy spin-off