Ad Grooten (NL)

About

Ad Grooten is a multi instrumentalist from Curaçao with deep roots in folk music. He made his name as the creative force behind a string of Dutch bands: Pater Moeskroen, Cowboy Billie Boem and Mannen van Naam. His songwriting leans on storytelling, and he is comfortable mixing humour with heavier material. He also works in small scale music theatre alongside his brother Coen, a percussionist and rapper who grew up on hip hop and funk. The two are eight years apart and come from completely different musical worlds, and that contrast is the fun of it. Together they made Ellen lacht, a show built around the life of their mother, which travels from the Dutch East Indies via the Netherlands to Curaçao. It touches on the Japanese internment camps but keeps a light touch, with songs, sharp lyrics and a few raps.