Made in Jamaica tour with the Netherlands Wind Ensemble (2023)

The Netherlands Wind Ensemble is a group of more than twenty top musicians who perform approximately 90 times a year in the Netherlands and abroad. The group does not fit into any box and that is its strength. For many years the ensemble has been making programs with musicians from other musical cultures. In 2023 the ensemble visited Jamaica, where Michelle (Black Star Foundation) supervised and guided the NBE.

The project 'Made in ...':
The ensemble sets off on a musical journey to a distant cultural destination to inspire and to be inspired, and makes a partly arranged, partly improvised tour. Along with local music professionals they travel around the country in search of music and local musical heroes. They create musical meetings with professionals, students and amateurs of all generations and styles. They share the stage with the musicians that crossed their path and appear on all sorts of media.

The NBE travelled from small fishing villages on the Suriname river to villages in the old bauxite areas, which ended with a big concert in Paramaribo. This tour to Surinam was followed by tours to Cuba (2016), Georgia (2017) and Benin (2018). Due to Corona, foreign projects have temporarily come to a standstill. In 2023 the ensemble coudl finally travel to the reggae island Jamaica.

Jamaica:
September 2022 Michelle (Black Star Foundation) and the NBE board (artistic director Bart Schneeman and financial director Niek Wijns) went to Jamaica for a week on exploratory preliminary research. We visited several schools (Alpha Boys School and Edna Manley College of the Visual and Perfoming Arts) for collaboration, renting instruments and conducting workshops. We also met with the JaRIA (Jamaica Reggae Industry Association) for performances during Reggaemonth 2024 and visited several studios and artists.

February 2023 was the day! A group of a total of 22 musicians and crew went to Jamaica for rehearsals with Jamaican artists, a worskshop at Edna Manley College and two different performances: at Emancipation Park in the capital Kingston and at Harmony Beach Park in Montego Bay. After that, the largest group of musicians went home and a small group remained for video recordings for the tour in the Netherlands in May 2023.

May 2023, the NBE brought reggae stars Kididus I (Jamaica) and Queen Omega (Trinidad) to the Netherlands to join the Made in Jamaica tour of Dutch venues. It was a great success, most venues were sold out!