Dave Sahanaja

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’

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