East meets West

When the Dutch vocalist / bassist Henk de Laat and the Iraqi quanun player Osama Abdulrasol met each other musically at the poetry festival the Winternachten in The Hague in 2008, a magical spark jumped over to the audience.

Since then they play in duo all over the planet with great craftsmanship, passion and pleasure.

Abdulrasol was born in Babylon, but grew up in the city of Karbala, a shiite holy city where music is forbidden. He moved to Ghent in 1997.

Abdulrasol writes music for film and theater and played around the world, including Goran Bregovic, BJ Scott, Luc De Vos, Ballets C de la B, and as a soloist with several orchestras under the direction of Dirk Brossé.

Henk de Laat composed for various international theater companies and his own group Enrique Tarde. As a bass player he accompanied stars like Shirley Bassey, Deborah Brown (from whom he also received singing lessons), Marjorie Barnes, Eric Vloeimans, Denise Jannah and many, many others. Osama and Henk have been playing together for almost 20 years, in various projects and occupations. The musicians invite you to join them on a musical journey in which various cultures effortlessly merge into their original own compositions with plenty of room for improvisation. Henk de Laat – Vocals / Double bass Osama Abdulrasol – Quanun