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Dave Sahanaja
Supportive, Melodical, Intuitive, Commanding, Lyrical Bassplayer | Producer | Educator
About Me
Biography
Dave grew up in a household filled with
music. His father Joop Sahanaja, was a
musician. Joop Sahanaja was the
guitarplayer for the bands The Mena Moeria
Minstrels and The Amboina Serenaders.
They were famous Moluccan/ Dutch groups
in the ’50 and ’60. They reinvented
traditional Moluccan music by injecting it
with a healthy dose of jazz. Besides
traditionals they played original
compositions and Hawaiian traditionals.
Dave grew up listening to their records.
Their heritage is in his dna.
In the Sahanaja household Dave was
exposed to the great jazz vocalists and
groups of the ’50 and ’60. Listening to the
recordings of Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole,
Count Basie and Duke Ellington, Dave’s ear
and taste was formed. Dave was exposed
to a variety of music, ranging from country
to Latin, jazz and R&B.
In his early years Dave played various
instruments. At the Sahanaja house were
regular rehearsals of his dad’s bands. Dave
was exposed to the ritmesection at a young
age. Being a baby he was placed in a carry
cot next to the drummer. No surprise that
his first love was the drums. As soon has he
was able to handle drumsticks, no pots and
pans were safe at the house. Dave has been
playing the drums since his 5th year. His
first string instrument was an ukulele. At
age 5 his father taught him how to play the
ukulele. At age 9 the guitar and accordion
followed.
Around age 13 Dave got interested in the
bass. Playing along with records on his
acoustic guitar Dave found himself being
drawn to the bass sounds he’d hear. Being a
contrabass player himself, Dave’s dad gave
him some pointers in the right direction.
From there Dave started to investigate it
further.
Being formally self taught it never occurred
to Dave that he could become a full-time
professional musician. It wasn’t until his
early twenties that Dave started to think
about a career in music.
For more then 30 years Dave has been
involved in music. Since the early ’90 Dave
has been a contributor to the Amsterdam
and Dutch music scene, playing with groups
such as Horn of Plenty, Seraph, Captain
Hook and artists like Iman Spaargaren,
Kirsten Michel and Saskia Laroo.
Keywords in Dave’s playing are:
‘ Supportive, Melodical, Intuitive,
Commanding, Lyrical’
