Popronde Rotterdam

Matrix in Rotterdam opened in 1966 as a concert hall for the young followers of the Catholic Church. Over the following decades the building went through several lives. It first turned into a lay venue, and from the 1990s it became a place where visitors danced salsa on some nights while African rhythms took over on others. Today it houses the Wereld Music Centrum Matrix, which many people know as Folkhouse Matrix, and its programming centres on world music and acoustic sounds. Since 2016 the venue has been led by artistic director Yaşar Saka, who was born in the Turkish hinterland and has made Rotterdam his home. Under his direction Matrix regularly puts on popular and classical concerts that range across Anatolia, India and Andalusia. Past programming has included flamenco and jazz, an Anatolian rock night by the band Makas, and a concert by Nadara Gypsyband that traced the history of Romani music and migration. The room has a cosy, stripped back feel, and the audience sits close to the performers. Matrix has built its reputation largely through word of mouth and personal networking. Musicians describe a simple route onto the stage: send a message and a recording, and if the programmer is convinced, an evening gets organised. Conservatory students and former students of the Rotterdam Conservatory are a regular presence, and Saka, a music producer by profession, always reserves space for them in the schedule. He also puts real effort into video production, filming with two cameras and keeping cables and earphones out of the frame so that the focus stays on the artists, their instruments and their voices. It is something he says no other place in Rotterdam does, and his way of giving something back when fees cannot always be as generous as he would like.