Bas Gaakeer

Gitarist

In de Oosterkerk:

Biografie

Bas Gaakeer (1989) is a guitar player based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He started playing guitar in various settings from the age of nine. After succesfully finishing his studies in Classical Guitar at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in 2015, Bas established himself as a guitar player in several styles including non-Western music (Arabic, North-African), pop/funk and gained valuable experience in interdisciplinary projects.

TEN-HUT is an Amsterdam/Zaandam based band. Bas has been writing the music and playing guitar in this band since his teenage years. Their newest CD CLEAN was released in 2018 in a sold-out Sugar Factory, Amsterdam. The band has been touring the Netherlands, France, Germany and Spain for over a decade and have played in several instrumentations including acoustic, orchestral and as a XL live band in clubs and festivals. They collaborated with several international artists and are known for their energetic live performances. The music is best described as pop/funk with non-western influences.

From 2016 Bas started working for SINE FORMA as a composer and guitar player. Sine Forma is an interdisciplinary collective under artistic leadership of dancer/choreographer Anna Suijkerbuijk. With Sine Forma Bas composed and played guitar in the performances So Far So Good (feat. dancers Faizah Grootens, Cheroney Pelupessy, photographer Sjoerd Derine and director Anna Suijkerbuijk) and Alleen Zijn We Samen, a duet for dancer and guitar player. In 2017 Bas worked as Artist in Residence at the Breaking Walls festival in Caïro, where he composed and played alongside an Egyptian cast for the performance Ignorance is Bliss.

TRIO DEBU is an Amsterdam-based guitar trio that plays music by Debussy exclusively. Bas is an arranger and guitar player in this ensemble together with Ward Reijmerink and Eva Aukes.

Since 2017 Bas plays with singer/author Samira Dainan in her band Samira’s Blues. They play original songs by Samira as well as North African traditionals/spirituals. Samira’s blues performs as a voice-guitar duo but is also complemented with other musicians. In september 2018 Bas and Samira performed in the Zyriab Cultural Centre in Essaouria, Morocco alongside the Haddarates, a group of 4 spiritual singers/percussionists from the Essaouira area. Samira’s Blues released their debut EP “Ya Baba” in december 2018 at Paradiso Amsterdam.

Bas is an endorser for Jim Dunlop Guitar Products and MXR electronics. Bas uses Spectraflex handbraided cables exclusively.