100 matches!
After a quieter period over the summer, the “Doorspelen” project is back in full swing. Project leader Ben Cartens has even organized the 100th match! Find out who it is here.
"Haggling"
Bohdan is 17 years old, comes from Ukraine, and is an avid music lover—especially guitar music. He now lives in a shelter in Mierlo, where he can really let loose in the music room. Bohdan is going to start taking lessons again to improve his technical skills.
Amit (29)—not his real name—fled Turkey and is now studying Artificial Intelligence in Amsterdam. He is gifted and, unfortunately, suffers from bipolar disorder. Music is important to him for finding peace and structure and for managing the chaos in his head. This beautiful semi-acoustic guitar will certainly help him with that.
Performing in Front of an Audience
Hoosam is 29 years old and comes from Sudan. He was studying physics in Ukraine when the war broke out and has been in the Netherlands for two years now. He is a skilled pianist and has performed in projects with the Netherlands Wind Ensemble at TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht and Splendor in Amsterdam. He now has a good digital piano, which he plans to use to prepare for a music degree program.
Three guitars were sent from the widow of an enthusiastic amateur guitarist in Belgium to the asylum seekers’ center in Balk. There, a guitar teacher was hired to get the residents involved—and with great success! At an open house at the asylum seekers’ center on September 28, a makeshift band made up of residents and staff drew a large crowd.
Variations in Sound: Ud and Djembe
Achmed, 23, from Yemen, is studying Mechanical Engineering in Eindhoven and is also learning to play the ud. He doesn’t have much experience yet, but thanks to this ud—which comes complete with a textbook, CD, and extra strings—he’s making rapid progress!
Back in Balk, where a djembe also found its way. Ainobeku (30) from Nigeria is overjoyed with it. For him, the djembe is a spiritual instrument that speaks to the soul and connects him to the earth.
The 100th game!
And finally… (drumroll): the 100th concert we’ve put on in two and a half years! And we owe it all to those 100 kind, generous donors and lenders, who sometimes had to part with their instruments with a heavy heart, but who, above all, want others to experience the joy of making music that they themselves once enjoyed. A hundred times thank you!
This “anniversary match” is another special one: A beautiful Ibach piano has found a home in the music room at the asylum seekers’ center in Gilze. Piano teacher Jan Terpstra teaches several students there, including Maksim (14) from Russia. Maksim lives with both his parents at this asylum seekers’ center. He began taking piano lessons in Moscow at age 6 and has since been admitted to the Young Musicians Academy, Fontys’s gifted program in Tilburg. He can practice to his heart’s content in the evenings and still feels very comfortable with his former teacher, to whom he enjoys showing off his progress.