MUSIC & THE WHITE HOUSE

4+ (group) performers

Outdoor

Event show

1,5 hour

Large hall, small hall

NL, EN

New, unique in the Netherlands-Belgium: In Music & The White House, renowned jazz musician Michael Varekamp and his band, and America expert Willem Post will play on the current election battle for the White House with music and short stories.

Music & THE WHITE HOUSE
A unique menu of music and stories
'Jazz is the big brother of Revolution' said trumpet legend Miles Davis. American blues and jazz music has always been a reflection of American history and politics, and thus, to a significant extent, the history of democracy.

In Jazz & The White House, America expert Willem Post and jazz musician Michael Varekamp juxtapose the course of the history of American democracy with that of music. In doing so, they give politics a soundtrack and music a pamphlet.

On Nov. 5, 2024, America will elect another president. The stakes are high. In the midst of unprecedented polarization, President Biden has even made the survival of democracy a stake in the election. He speaks of an all-decisive battle "for the soul of the nation.

The current discontent has roots in American history. Willem Post is an evocative storyteller and will illuminate in short, extraordinary stories the struggles of then and now. Multi-talented Varekamp lets the music speak. Music that connects people but also exposes them. Travel with Post and Varekamp through history to eventually end up in the actuality of 2024.


Famous jazz musicians have always been inspired by politics or provided the course of events with often painful commentary. Louis Armstrong no longer wanted to officially represent America abroad and canceled concerts because of segregation in his country. The brilliant bassist Charles Mingus composed Fables of Faubes (an indictment of a racist senator) and Billie Holiday broke the "deafening" silence with the heartbreaking ballad Strange Fruit about the lynching of people of color in the southern United States.

To this day, the United States is a land of contrasts. In almost every area. It is a country of great problems but also of great resilience and unprecedented possibilities. In any case, a country on which the eyes of the world are always focused. Certainly also in the presidential election year of 2024.

Willem Post was named the No. 1 America expert in the Dutch media by the Volkskrant in 2020. His affiliations include the Clingendael Institute and the Public Diplomacy Council in Washington D.C. Post has published 16 books on the United States including most recently his 'The Soul of America. Democracy on Drift.' His analyses and opinions appear in Dutch and Belgian newspapers. He also regularly comments in television and radio programs such as Nieuwsweekend, Goedemorgen Nederland and Tijd voor Max. In the latter program he met Michael Varekamp.

Michael Varekamp has been giving concerts, workshops and master classes all over the world for thirty years and has worked with Dutch Swing College Band, Branford Marsalis and Miles Davis alumnus Sonny Fortune, among others. He performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center New York, among others, received the Kobe Award in Japan and won a Golden Calf with the film Shabu for which he composed the music. At the request of Willem Post and the White House Watchers, he composed a unique Obama suite on the occasion of the president's coest to the Netherlands in 2010.
'Michael Varekamp has an astonishing sound and beautiful phrasing to the honor and glory of jazz' -****Le Monde, Paris.

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