Ronald Snijders (born April 8, 1951) is a Dutch

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

musician and author of

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 origin. The

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

is his main instrument.

Biography

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 ...

as son of Surinamese composer

Eddy Snijders Richenel Edgar Snijders, commonly known as Eddy Snijders (12 May 1923 — 19 January 1990) was a Surinamese composer, conductor, and flute player. He is considered as an innovator of Surinamese music, since he incorporated local traditions, includ ...

and Olga Ooft. He began learning the flute at the age of seven years. Later he also played guitar, piano, percussion and saxophone. In 1970, he moved to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

to study engineering at the

Delft University of Technology The Delft University of Technology (TU Delft; ) is the oldest and largest Dutch public university, public Institute of technology, technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. It specializes in engineering, technology, computing, design, a ...

. Then he stayed in Europe to work as a musician, he first played for

Willem Breuker Willem Breuker (4 November 1944 – 23 July 2010) was a Dutch bandleader, composer, arranger, saxophonist, and clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindri ...

, whose collective deep he served until 1977. In 1973, he won the NOS Jazz Concours in Laren. Since 1977, he has focused on working with his own band, with which he also appeared at the

North Sea Jazz Festival The North Sea Jazz Festival is a festival held annually on the second weekend of July in the Netherlands at the Ahoy venue. The festival moved to Rotterdam in 2006 after the demolition of the Statenhal in The Hague where it was originally held. ...

, as in many European countries, but also in Western and Southern Africa, the Caribbean and North America. In his compositions he often draws on

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) ...

, a musical genre of his homeland, but also to elements of pop and

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

. With Kaseko he worked intensively during his musicological studies, which he completed from 1986 to 1991 at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

. On his albums he played alongside

ethno-jazz Ethno jazz, also known as world jazz, is a subgenre of jazz and world music, developed internationally in the 1950s and '60s and broadly characterized by a combination of traditional jazz and non-Western musical elements. Though occasionally equa ...

also children's songs and the compositions of his father. He has also performed with the

Metropole Orchestra The Metropole Orkest () is a jazz and pop orchestra based in the Netherlands, and is the largest full-time ensemble of its kind in the world. A hybrid orchestra, it combines jazz, big band and classical symphony orchestra styles. Comprising betw ...

. As an author he has submitted a biography of his father, and a collection of short stories. He was appointed a Knight of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau () is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has performed acts of special merits for ...

in 2001.

Discography

* ''Natural Sources'' (1977) * "A Safe Return" (1980) * "Black Straight Music" (1981) * ''Quartz'' (1983) * ''Funky Flute'' (1985) * ''Portable Beach'' (1992) * ''Kaseko Mundial! Live'' (1996) * ''Meet the World'' (1998) * ''The Best Of'' (1999) * ''Variyento'' (2004) * ''West by West / Soulkawina'' (2005) * ''Ronald Snyders to Africa'' (2005) * ''Ronald Snijders extended funk band'' (2008) * ''The Nelson & Djosa Sessions'' (2016)

Bibliography

* ''Surinaams van de straat'' (1994), * ''Surinam Kaseko melodies'' (1996), Notes) * ''Geef mij maar een Surinamer'' (1996), * ''De man met de piccolo'' (1998; Biography of Eddy Snijders),

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snijders, Ronald 1951 births Living people Dutch flautists Dutch male short story writers Dutch short story writers People from Paramaribo Surinamese emigrants to the Netherlands Knights of the Order of Orange-Nassau