Kimya Band – Live

Music, Food, Poetry & Conversation

Date: Friday, 13 March 2026
Time: 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Location: Verhalenhuis Rotterdam

An evening of music, encounter, and shared experience, where live music, food, poetry, and open conversation come together in an intimate and welcoming setting.

About the Venue – Verhalenhuis Rotterdam

Verhalenhuis Rotterdam is a cultural meeting place where personal stories, art, food, and community intersect. Located in Rotterdam, the house functions as a museum, storytelling space, café, and event venue. Its programming focuses on lived experience, migration, identity, memory, and social connection.

Through exhibitions, performances, conversations, meals, and neighbourhood-based activities, Verhalenhuis Rotterdam creates spaces for listening, sharing, and reflection. Food often plays a central role in its programmes, bringing people together around the table as a way to exchange stories and perspectives. The venue’s emphasis on dialogue, hospitality, and human connection makes it a natural home for an evening that combines music, poetry, and communal presence.

About Kimya Band

Kimya Band is a celebration of co-creation, collective artistic practice, and the fusion of diverse musical traditions. By combining original compositions with innovative sound worlds, the project transcends cultural and stylistic boundaries, creating a synergy in which 1 + 1 equals 3. Rooted in lived experience, Kimya Band thrives through musical exploration, authenticity, and genuine collaboration.

Founded many years ago as a cross-cultural co-creation initiative, Kimya aims to dissolve boundaries through music. With Kinan Abuakel and Hannibal Saad as core members, the band invites new musicians for each project, forming a dynamic and continuously evolving musical constellation. Rather than presenting music as a universal language in a clichéd sense, Kimya emphasizes real exchange, deep listening, and sincere collaboration, allowing shared artistic spaces to emerge beyond stereotypes and cultural barriers.

Music, Food, Poetry & Conversation

This evening is conceived as an open and welcoming gathering.
Alongside the concert programme, the audience is invited to take part in:
• Shared food, inspired by the spirit of coming together and iftar
• Poetry and spoken word
• Conversation and reflection with the artists and the audience

Rather than a traditional concert format, the event unfolds as a shared experience that encourages attentive listening, dialogue, and communal presence.

Musicians

Kinan Abuakel – Buzuq
Kinan Abuakel is a Syrian buzuq virtuoso whose work connects traditional Arabic performance practices with contemporary musical expression. He graduated from the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus and studied Media Studies at the University of Damascus. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Music at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. He has performed across Syria, the Arab world, and Europe and is known for his refined technique and innovative approach to the buzuq. His compositions include Eight Professional Etudes for the Buzuq and Letters. His work has been supported by the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC).

Anan Al-Kadamani – Violin / Composition
Anan Al-Kadamani is a self-taught violinist and composer who further developed his artistic language at Codarts University of the Arts in Rotterdam. His work bridges European classical discipline and Arabic improvisational traditions. As co-founder of the experimental duo Double Dice, he explores free improvisation while remaining deeply rooted in Syrian musical heritage. Based in The Hague, he combines performance with mentoring young musicians and developing his own compositional voice.

Samer Aleid – Piano / Composition
Born in Damascus, Samer Aleid studied piano and composition at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest. His musical language brings together baroque formal structures, Arabic microtonality, and jazz improvisation. He won the Oscar Rieding Competition in 2018. His oeuvre ranges from orchestral works such as Cosmos to twelve-tone experiments like Sticks & Stones. Under the alter ego Linguafrancan, he explores electro-acoustic sound worlds and hybrid formats. Since settling in the Netherlands, he continues to push the boundaries of contemporary composition.

Odai Al-Hayek – Voice / Percussion
Odai Al-Hayek is a Syrian musician and music educator based in the Netherlands. He completed the M4ME programme at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and performs in bands and theatre productions. In his artistic practice, he brings together Arabic music, rhythm, and flamenco, approaching music as a shared human practice.

Hannibal Saad – Guitar / Composition
Hannibal Saad is a Syrian guitarist, composer, and cultural manager working across jazz, rock, and experimental music. A pioneer of the contemporary alternative music scene in Syria, he founded more than ten musical projects and has performed internationally across Europe and the Middle East. Alongside his artistic work, he is active as a festival director and long-term cultural initiator, with a strong focus on intercultural exchange.

Programme
1. Piano Solo – Samer Aleid
Original compositions for solo piano.
2. Duo – Kinan Abuakel & Samer Aleid
An original joint composition for buzuq and piano.
3. Buzuq Solo – Kinan Abuakel
A solo work rooted in Arabic musical tradition.
4. Full Ensemble – Kimya Band
A warm and celebratory programme featuring Odai Al-Hayek and all musicians, shaped as an inviting musical moment inspired by the spirit of Ramadan and iftar.

Tickets

🎟 Tickets links to be announced soon