NO blues

Arabic revolution

Bas Aaftink — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:27:33 +0000

One of the new NO blues songs will be used for the last episode of documentary series ‘Paul Rosenmöller en de Arabische revolutie’ aired by the IKON on Sunday 27th of Mai. In the documentary, the Dutch ex-politician follows the tracks of the Arabic revolution that started in 2011.

NO blues op de zomerfestivals

Bas Aaftink — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:37:34 +0000

Ook deze zomer is NO blues weer te zien op verscheidene zomerfestivals in Nederland. We beginnen op 26 mei in Eibergen op het Wereldfestival. Op 1 juni gaan we een hapje eten op Smaakvol Arnhem. Twee dagen later gaan we door naar de camping van Stadskanaal en we eindigen op 8 juli tijdens Zomer Op Het Plein in Alkmaar.

26/05 Wereldfestival Eibergen
01/06 Smaakvol Arnhem
03/06 Pagepop Stadskanaal
08/07 Zomer op het Plein Alkmaar

NO blues cancels Indiatour due to Visa issues

Bas Aaftink — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 09:38:05 +0000

No blues will not perform at the MAD festival in Ooty nor teach workshops ‘Arabicana’.

The Indian embassy refuses to give out the needed Visa. The 3-day festival is an annual extravaganza that will promote India’s most fascinating destinations, and showcase an eclectic mix of traditional & contemporary music, arts, dance & other performing arts; cutting across genres, from across and beyond the country.

The band will not give up and intents on giving it another go next year. Nevertheless we are very disappointed we can’t make it this time.

See you at Noon, twelve new songs recorded

Bas Aaftink — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 08:50:58 +0000

Haytham is sitting in the studio, smiling as he is playing an overdub on one of the new NO blues songs. Yes, it’s true, we are recording new songs! After our previous album Hela Hela we all thought that our last studio album had been made. But we decided to try writing instrumental songs and we made some nice compositions. We wrote twelve, we recorded twelve. At this moment Ankie is in the studio mixing the songs. We are not quite sure if it’s going to be an album like this, but we’ll keep you posted!

Dear NO blues….

Bas Aaftink — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:32:07 +0000

‘Dear NO blues, I would like to thank you for the beautiful show at the Deventer Schouwburg! My girlfriend and I really enjoyed it. But do I understand it correctly that NO blues is splitting up? Or are you ‘just’ changing your Arabicana sound? Is everybody going his own way or are you continuing as group on a new musical journey? …’

Because we get this question more often, we decided to reply to this e-mail on our website.
After we made Hela Hela, we thought that it was the last studio album we would make. It was the fourth studio album in six years time and it was very difficult to make. We came to a point where everybody in the band was wondering how to continue and it seemed the end of NO blues was in sight. But after a year of playing for very appreciative audiences, we decided to try to make new songs. In the last two months we’ve made twelve instrumental tracks and we are going to record them next week! So it seems there is a bright future for NO blues after all.

Stay tuned about what’s happening with the new songs….

NO blues goes oriental, the home of the tabla

Bas Aaftink — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:44:06 +0000

NO blues has been invited by a brand new festival called MAD, this alone is good news, what makes it special is the location, Ooty, India!
On the sixth of april NO blues will not only perform but also teach a masterclass Arabicana.

Please stay tuned because chances are when they return, NO blues has blended Arabicana with Oriental. If you want to make sure you’ve see them in there characteristic style before the head of to India, see the gig list.
Website M.A.D. festival

Swedish review:’NO blues is mastering all of this’

Bas Aaftink — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:39:31 +0000

[Translated from Swedish] The dutch group NO blues have been noticed for their way of blending american folk/blues with arabic music, “arabicana”. The blend itself may be not so surprising, but it is always fun with music that is unpredictable. This blend remains on “Hela hela”, the groups fourth album since the debut in 2005. Simultaneously there are some scents added from Africa, Balkan and the Keltic area. The main core is also accompanied by two interesting guest artists – Shereene Danial (song) and Morad Khoury (violin). The result is is a versatile production that leads the audience right through continents. Maybe this mix can be percieved as a little too multicoloured this time. Another contradiction runs between feeling and perfection – the studio atmosphere gets a little too obvious at times. Despite these weaknesses it is exciting to follow the strokes of the group from various directions. NO blues is mastering all of this.

Swedish daily paper Hallandsposten , on January 4
Gert-Ove Fridlund

NEW Mojo, New NO blues Tunes

Bas Aaftink — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:53:48 +0000

After a new years break, NO blues is going back into the rehearsel studio next week to work on some new material. The plan is to write instrumental tunes. Some of the new songs will be played in the coming theatre shows. Exciting!
Come and see us: 26/01 Zaantheater Zaandam, 28/01 Schouwburg Het Park Hoorn, 02/02 Schouwburg Ogterop Meppel, 04/02 Witte Theater ijmuiden, 09/02 Vereeniging Nijmegen, 10/02 De Fransche School Culemborg & 24/02 Deventer Schouwburg.

Win jij het kerstpakket van NO blues?

Bas Aaftink — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:21:51 +0000

Nog voor we het jaar afsluiten gaat heel Nederland naar huis met een kerstpakket met allerlei prullaria waar je nog jaren lang tegenaan zit te kijken maar nooit gebruikt. NO blues wil haar fans ook naar huis laten gaan met een kerstpakket en niet zo maar ééntje. In januari en februari zijn we weer volop te zien in de theaters in Nederland en jij maakt kans op allle cd’s van NO blues en 2 vrijkaarten voor één van die theaterconcerten. De volgende plaatsen gaan we van een flink portie Arabicana voorzien:

26 januari Zaantheater Zaandam, 28 januari Schouwburg Het Park Hoorn, 2 februari Ogterop Meppel, 3 februari De Vereeniging Nijmegen, 4 februari Witte Theater IJmuiden, 10 februari De Fransche School Culemborg, 24 februari Schouwburger Theater Deventer.

Wat moet je daar voor doen:
Ga op onze facebook pagina naar ‘Win jij het kerspakket van NO blues’ bericht en deel dat bericht met al je vrienden en voeg in de tekst toe waarom jij het kerstpakket van NO blues verdiend/moet/wil winnen.

Fijne kerst en we hopen je weer gezond en wel te zien in 2012 bij één van de theaters.
De winnaar wordt in de eerste week van januari bekend gemaakt

Groet Anne-Maarten, Haytham, Osama, Ad & Ankie

‘Geen metaalmoeheid in Arabicana voor NO blues’

Bas Aaftink — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:02:15 +0000