Babak-o-Doestan

- Jonguh! wat-een-fan-tas-ti-sche-avond! Allemaal gezellige mensen!
- Kippenvel!
- Rythm envoutant, donnant de la joie et de la bonne humeur. Tres bon groupe et ambiance tres conviviale!
- ...And I really really enjoy it - this mix of jazz, fado, oriental elements is really unique!!
- Heel erg mooi! vind de cello prachtig
- Echt een hele fijne en leuke avond gehad. Normaal gesproken kom ik niet zo snel in aanraking met dit soort muziek, dus leuk om te horen en mee te maken! bevalt mij, en geloof ik meer, erg goed!
- Thank you so much, vielen dank! just 2 songs, but the best I heard today!
- super relaxte sfeer en wat een heerlijke muziek! voor mij persoonlijk de beste avond tot nu toe!
- Met goede muziek vergeet ik alle mensen om mij heen
- Wij hebben echt een heerlijke avond en zitten te genieten van de relaxte sfeer en muziek
- wat een gezelligheid brengen deze mensen met zich mee. Echt een hele goede sfeer en ook leuk dat hierop gedanst kon worden
- Heerlijke perzische balkan beats golven hier door van dam! genieten!
- prachtig! super! echt heel mooi! Nu nog lekker weer erbij!
- waarom ken ik deze band niet??? Geweldig, gezellig, mag nog uren zo doorgaan.
- prachtig optreden van Babak -o- Doestan vanavond! Muziek die je omarmd met warmte, heimwee, melancholie, een mengeling van westen en oosten door muzikanten die laten zien wat je echt met een instrument kan. Heel erg mooi!
- Man! I love your music, fantastic and made my night on the way back to Germany. Go on and compliments-see you soon! - own

- Jonguh! wat-een-fan-tas-ti-sche-avond! Allemaal gezellige mensen!
- Kippenvel!
- Rythm envoutant, donnant de la joie et de la bonne humeur. Tres bon groupe et ambiance tres conviviale!
- ...And I really really enjoy it - this mix of jazz, fado, oriental elements is really unique!!
- Heel erg mooi! vind de cello prachtig
- Echt een hele fijne en leuke avond gehad. Normaal gesproken kom ik niet zo snel in aanraking met dit soort muziek, dus leuk om te horen en mee te maken! bevalt mij, en geloof ik meer, erg goed!
- Thank you so much, vielen dank! just 2 songs, but the best I heard today!
- super relaxte sfeer en wat een heerlijke muziek! voor mij persoonlijk de beste avond tot nu toe!
- Met goede muziek vergeet ik alle mensen om mij heen
- Wij hebben echt een heerlijke avond en zitten te genieten van de relaxte sfeer en muziek
- wat een gezelligheid brengen deze mensen met zich mee. Echt een hele goede sfeer en ook leuk dat hierop gedanst kon worden
- Heerlijke perzische balkan beats golven hier door van dam! genieten!
- prachtig! super! echt heel mooi! Nu nog lekker weer erbij!
- waarom ken ik deze band niet??? Geweldig, gezellig, mag nog uren zo doorgaan.
- prachtig optreden van Babak -o- Doestan vanavond! Muziek die je omarmd met warmte, heimwee, melancholie, een mengeling van westen en oosten door muzikanten die laten zien wat je echt met een instrument kan. Heel erg mooi!
- Man! I love your music, fantastic and made my night on the way back to Germany. Go on and compliments-see you soon! - own

This very special set of musicians performs a very special kind of music. Restless combines elements that clearly bear the handwriting of the artists involved. Fado elements blend together with jazzy harmonies or oriental sounds. All this makes the music of Babak o doestan unique – relaxed, exotic but still familiar – chamber music of a quality, your ears only rarely come across. And so it is no surprise that the album Restless is in the Netherlands much applauded. And they deserve even more. (Click on the title to read the whole review online.) - Insight Worldmusic Magazine

The album Restless, Babak-o-Doestan’s newest recording is almost out. The Amsterdammer Minze Koopman, percussionist of the group, leads us into the world of the 5/4, 7/8, 13/8 and 15/8 time signatures on the cajon and poetic Persian song.

In the interview Koopman explains the various techniques he uses with the cajon. From finger technique, to brushes, rod and finger shakers, the cajon beats that shape and support the unique Babak-o-Doestan sound. The songs are sung in Persian, and while there are references to Iranian musical traditions, the overall sound has roots in diverse influences that the international musicians in the band bring with them: jazz, fado, rock, pop, Balkan, Turkish music, and more.

Koopman: “There are performances where you see people in the audience brushing away a tear. It’s cool to see that our music can move people.”

Excerpt from the interview, Iranian cajon beats with finger shakers.
Babak-o-Doestan cajon player Minze Koopman was interviewed in Dutch Percussion magazine (Slagwerk krant Nov-Dec 2013 issue No.178).
- Percussion magazine "Slagwerk Krant" Nov-Dec 2013 issue No.178

The album Restless, Babak-o-Doestan’s newest recording is almost out. The Amsterdammer Minze Koopman, percussionist of the group, leads us into the world of the 5/4, 7/8, 13/8 and 15/8 time signatures on the cajon and poetic Persian song.

In the interview Koopman explains the various techniques he uses with the cajon. From finger technique, to brushes, rod and finger shakers, the cajon beats that shape and support the unique Babak-o-Doestan sound. The songs are sung in Persian, and while there are references to Iranian musical traditions, the overall sound has roots in diverse influences that the international musicians in the band bring with them: jazz, fado, rock, pop, Balkan, Turkish music, and more.

Koopman: “There are performances where you see people in the audience brushing away a tear. It’s cool to see that our music can move people.”

Excerpt from the interview, Iranian cajon beats with finger shakers.
Babak-o-Doestan cajon player Minze Koopman was interviewed in Dutch Percussion magazine (Slagwerk krant Nov-Dec 2013 issue No.178).
- Percussion magazine "Slagwerk Krant" Nov-Dec 2013 issue No.178

Article about Mezrab, a venue run by our former Tar player, Sahand Sahebdivani, who, in addition to being a professional musician and storyteller, was recently deemed by TIMEOUT magazine to be "one of the 50 most influential mover-shakers on the Amsterdam cultural scene"... This current article prominently features musicians Sahand Sahebdivani, Babak Amiri and Heather Leslie.

"Every Saturday night the musicians gather in the heart of the old Jordan neighbourhood of Amsterdam to take part in fascinating jam sessions. It is one of the places that the dream of a multicultural society in the Netherlands appears to have been realised. Sahand Sahebdivani and his parents - who fled to the Netherlands from Iran in 1983 - started Mezrab five years ago, with the aim of creating a place where artists of all stripes can meet each other for a cup of tea and to jam. Sahand: 'People love the special atmosphere here so much that even musicians who never play for free elsewhere are happy to come here and play for a bite to eat and a drink. Recently we found a larger location for activities that don't fit in our small tea house. A space where there is a piano and a drum set, where dancers have space, and where we can use beamers and internet. But it will be hard to beat the atmosphere here,. That's why we are for the time being keeping our small space open, where sometimes the ladies wc door has to stay open because there's otherwise not enough room for the double bass.'"
- Mixed World Music Magazine

Poetry set to music, about love and longing, oriental melodies that melted seamlessly into jazzy themes and Latin rhythms…

Babak-o-Doestan (Babak and friends), is the official name of the band. It fit. And it clicked. The evening unfolded like an intimate musical concert with friends: emotional, exuberant, then dreamy and unassuming…

A memorable musical evening, inspired by – as the musicians claimed - ‘sun, wind, longing, homesickness, coffee and cigarettes’. It almost makes you want to light one up.
- Het Parool (Dutch Newspaper)

Babak-o-Doestan performs original music compositions on the Dutch NTR Radio show Dichtbij Nederland (24 June 2009). Babak Amiri is interviewed by Tariq Yousif over the nostaglia, passion, love and feeling that the band's songs transmit... Click on link to listen. - NTR Radio