Amdavadis, known for their taste in music, can have a real feast on Sunday, November 29 at 7.30 pm, as a host of internationally renowned jazz virtuosos are all set to rock the music lovers in the city with a perfect blend of Rock and Hip Hop. Thanks to Netherlands Business Support Office, organizer of the Jazz concert, Saskia Laroo Band will give a performance of verve and vitality at NID riverside.

After astounding audience in Kolkotta, Mumbai and Bangalore, the band is expected to make the event one of the biggest concerts in
Ahmedabad. The members of the band include Saskia Laroo – trumpet, Warren Byrd – keyboards, Egemen Maden – bass, Kagan Han – drums, and Iven Naipal – rap vocals. Even a glance at the combination of the band is quite enough to excite a music lover. All of these artists have some peculiarity pertaining to the Rock – African American music. This, clubbed with their exposure to stage performance globally, is bound to enthuse and enliven the listeners in the city.

Saskia Laroo, who leads the band, plays trumpet since age eight and performs professionally since the age of eighteen. At the age of 18, she had performed with avant-garde jazz orchestra De Boventoon, saxophonist band of Hans Dulfer (father of Candy Dulfer) and Rosa King Band of Candy Dulfer besides jazz and world formations. She graduated from Music School at the age twenty five and started her own record label Laroo Records in 1994, which has four releases so far. Two are pure jazz and three are hip groove cross over albums. Her first album – ‘It’s Like Jazz’ was a great success and was released in more than fifteen countries. Since then Saskia is performing worldwide with her own formations or as a special guest.

Pianist / vocalist / composer Warren Byrd was born in Hartford, Connetticut, USA. In his teens he was offered a scholarship for opera
singer, got into acting for a while but decided to become a pianist ultimately. He plays pure Monk, Ellington, New York hip jazz as well
as music like reggae, salsa and Caribbean. Apart from that, Warren is a spectacular rap vocalist. He performs with the Warren Byrd Group, released his own CD Truth Taised Twice; he is a part of the well-known formation in the US – The Afro Semetic Experience (a mix of Jewish, African and native American music) and tours regularly with the Saskia Laroo Band (a.o. Curacao, Baltic States, Russia, Croatia, Indonesia, China, India, Nicaragua).

MC Firestorm, alias Iven Naipal was born in the Netherlands in 1983 but his African father and Indian mother had met in Suriname, South America. He started ‘rappin’ since the age of 12 and specialized in American hip-hop. In 2000, his professional career took shape and he formed partnerships with artists and named after his neighbourhood, ‘District 7’. They performed live, joined forces in several recording projects and video-clips. Iven established his own record label. He makes mixed tapes from his own songs, participates at different projects for three years. He performs with Saskia Laroo (a.o. Poland, India).

Bassist Egemen Maden was born in Istanbul, Turkey and started to play the electric bass at age 16. Almost immediately he knew he wanted to become a professional musician. He played in several prominent pop-bands in Turkey but decided to move to Montpelier, France to further study music and take lessons on electric bass. After two years he moved to Amsterdam, the Netherlands and attended the Sweelinck Conservatory as a jazz bassplayer student and now in his second year, he is taking lessons from a. o. bassteachers Charlie Angenois and Theo de Jong. Since September this year, Egemen is playing and touring with
the Saskia Laroo Band.

Kagan Han (1988) was infected with the music virus from an early age. He started taking lessons in turkish drums at age 6, and switched to a full drumset at age 8. He joined his first real band when he was 12, ‘Just Jammin’, a jazz funk jam band and that band was not unsuccesful: They performed a little more than 100 times and most notable performances include a full concert on North Sea Jazz festival at age 15, playing at Concertgebouw van Amsterdam, their TV debut on Dutch television at age 14 and the release of their first album. Unfortunately, they split up at age 16 because of internal differences, but Kagan went on playing with many other artists in different musical styles such as rap, hip hop, funk, jazz and fusion. He also won several awards and prizes for ensembles, bands and as a solo artist, most notably the Roots prize. He entered the Conservatory of Amsterdam at age 18 and still combines his studies there with an all ready extensive gigging, recording and touring schedule.