Mokum Music Map at Old Roots New Routes at Amstelkerk

Under the motto "Migration, the driving force of musical innovation," concertseries Old Roots New Routes brings to light the latest developments in a vital Dutch music scene during this 5th edition. It showcases a subculture where musicians from all over the world find a second home, take a third path, and venture new routes.
Mokum Music Map
Sat Oct 25 | Amstelkerk, Amsterdam

On Saturday, October 25, right before Amsterdam's 750th anniversary, programmer and music journalist Stan Rijven will kick off the concert series with a lecture (Dutch spoken) titled "Mokum Music Map," in which he provides an overview of Mokum’s music and migration history....

read more

Under the motto "Migration, the driving force of musical innovation," concertseries Old Roots New Routes brings to light the latest developments in a vital Dutch music scene during this 5th edition. It showcases a subculture where musicians from all over the world find a second home, take a third path, and venture new routes.
Mokum Music Map
Sat Oct 25 | Amstelkerk, Amsterdam

On Saturday, October 25, right before Amsterdam's 750th anniversary, programmer and music journalist Stan Rijven will kick off the concert series with a lecture (Dutch spoken) titled "Mokum Music Map," in which he provides an overview of Mokum’s music and migration history.

"Although the city is centuries old, it remains eternally young through continuous renewal—especially thanks to the crucial contributions from migrants. They constantly provide the Amsterdam music scene with new impulses. Mokum & Music form the A- & B-sides of a record that might have been playing for 750 years but certainly for 400 years," says Rijven.
Migrants have introduced the carillon, the fairground organ, and the accordion, which we now so inherently associate with Mokum. Think of the Jordaan song, the fusion of Italian canzone napoletana with French musette; or the Paramaribo sound blossoming in the Bijlmer. Together, they compose the driving soundtrack of a cosmopolitan port city that—precisely because of migration—continuously transforms and integrates.
On a "typical" Amsterdam instrument, the Bosnian maestro-accordionist Nihad Hrustanbegovic will provide this lecture with appropriate footnotes, including the world premiere of his own ode to Amsterdam 750. In addition to this guest performance, Hrustanbegovic will give his first solo concert in Amsterdam in years on January 17, 2026.
“One of the best accordionists in the world” (Erik Voermans, Het Parool)

Stan Rijven (NL): lecture -Dutch spoken; Nihad Hrustanbegovic (B&H/NL): accordion

show less