Ronald Snijders (born April 8, 1951) is a Dutch

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

musician and author of

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

se origin. The

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

is his main instrument.

Biography

Snijders was born in

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's ...

as son of Surinamese composer Eddy Snijder. He began learning the flute at the age of seven years. Later he also played guitar, piano, percussion and saxophone. In 1970, he moved to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

to study engineering at the

Technical University Delft Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public university, public Institute of technology, technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is r ...

. Then he stayed in Europe to work as a musician, he first played for

Willem Breuker Willem Breuker (4 November 1944 – 23 July 2010) was a Dutch bandleader, composer, arranger, saxophonist, and clarinetist. Career During the mid 1960s, he played with percussionist Han Bennink and pianist Misha Mengelberg, co-founding the Insta ...

, whose collective deep he served until 1977. In 1973, he won the NOS Jazz Concours in Laren. Since 1977, he has focused on working with his own band, with which he also appeared at the

North Sea Jazz Festival The North Sea Jazz Festival is an annual festival held each second weekend of July in the Netherlands at the Ahoy venue. It used to be in The Hague but since 2006 it has been held in Rotterdam. This is because the Statenhal where the festival w ...

, as in many European countries, but also in Western and Southern Africa, the Caribbean and North America. In his compositions he often draws on

Kaseko Kaseko is a musical genre from Suriname. It is a fusion of numerous popular and folk styles derived from Africa, Europe and the Americas. The genre is rhythmically complex, with percussion instruments including skratji (a very large bass drum) ...

, a musical genre of his homeland, but also to elements of pop and world music. With Kaseko he worked intensively during his musicological studies, which he completed from 1986 to 1991 at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

. On his albums he played alongside

ethno-jazz Ethno jazz, also known as world jazz, is a subgenre of jazz and world music, developed internationally in the 1950s and '60s and broadly characterized by a combination of traditional jazz and non-Western musical elements. Though occasionally equ ...

also children's songs and the compositions of his father. He has also performed with the

Metropole Orchestra The Metropole Orkest (Metropole Orchestra) is a jazz and pop orchestra based in the Netherlands, and is the largest full-time ensemble of its kind in the world. A hybrid orchestra, it is a combination of jazz, big band and symphony orchestra. Com ...

. As an author he has submitted a biography of his father, and a collection of short stories. He was appointed a Knight of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

in 2001.

Discography

* ''Natural Sources'' (1977) * "A Safe Return" (1980) * "Black Straight Music" (1981) * ''Quartz'' (1983) * ''Funky Flute'' (1985) * ''Portable Beach'' (1992) * ''Kaseko Mundial! Live'' (1996) * ''Meet the World'' (1998) * ''The Best Of'' (1999) * ''Variyento'' (2004) * ''West by West / Soulkawina'' (2005) * ''Ronald Snyders to Africa'' (2005) * ''Ronald Snijders extended funk band'' (2008) * ''The Nelson & Djosa Sessions'' (2016)

Bibliography

* ''Surinaams van de straat'' (1994), * ''Surinam Kaseko melodies'' (1996), Notes) * ''Geef mij maar een Surinamer'' (1996), * ''De man met de piccolo'' (1998; Biography of Eddy Snijders),

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snijders, Ronald 1951 births Living people Dutch flautists Dutch male short story writers Dutch short story writers People from Paramaribo Surinamese emigrants to the Netherlands Knights of the Order of Orange-Nassau