Richenel Edgar Snijders, commonly known as Eddy Snijders (12 May 1923 — 19 January 1990) was a

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

se composer, conductor, and flute player. He is considered as an innovator of Surinamese music, since he incorporated local traditions, including

kaseko Kaseko is a musical genre from Suriname. It is a fusion of numerous popular and folk styles derived from Africa, Europe and the Americas. The genre is rhythmically complex, with percussion instruments including skratji (a very large bass drum) ...

, to symphonic music. He made the arrangement of the Surinamese national anthem. Snijders was born in

Paramaribo Paramaribo ( , , ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's p ...

. His father was a musician, and several of his brothers became musicians, but he did not get formal musical education. He became a professional musician with the Military Chapel of Suriname and later also its director. Snijders also organized a youth orchestra where many Surinamese musicians started their career. In 1947, Snijders married Olga Ooft. The family had nine children, one of whom is the jazz musician Ronald Snijders.

References

{{authority control Surinamese composers 1923 births 1990 deaths Musicians from Paramaribo