Eclectic combination of jazz rock and art-pop from multinational quartet.
THOSE WHO CLAIM to play without musical boundaries very rarely follow through on such declarations. But one group of musicians that seem to buck the trend are Amsterdambased quartet Jerboah. A live set by them feels like a trip through the history of popular music. Not that the band are entirely free of labels, as EWI (electronic wind instrument) player Dodó Kis explains:“We describe ourselves as genrebending worldbeat and post-pop.”
Jerboah’s instrumentation is highly unusual. Guitar and drums combine with the recorder and vocal talents of Brit Sarah Jeffery, while Kis’ EWI provides both bass lines and synth-style solos. This unexpected configuration evolved from the band’s original 2014 line-up, which was augmented in 2016 when Kis and Argentinian drummer Marcos Baggiani joined. It was this ensemble that recorded the EPs Bristly and Gnaw, but it took a global event to bring about major change in their sound.
Says Jeffery,“When the coronavirus came along and stopped everything, Jerboah reconfigured and we reformed it in a fresh way.”
“We all come from different musical and cultural backgrounds,” Kis continues.“That’s something that we cherish. The genre-bending allows us to combine all of that without compromising. We all listen to many different types of music and we don’t want to restrict ourselves from bringing all those influences into the band.”
Jeffery agrees:“We write songs about subjects that we’re really passionate about, like the despair of climate change or just the feeling you get when you don’t want to go out and see anybody. Humour is also
It’s hugely encouraging that a group of such eclectic multinational musicians can come together successfully in such a musical melting pot as Amsterdam.
“There are a lot of international residents coming here,” says Kis.“Amsterdam has something of an equal mix of international residents and Dutch.”
Jeffery elaborates.“It’s just so natural to have this cultural and musical mix – I can’t imagine anything else,” she says.“So that’s why when something like Brexit happens, we want to sing about that. It should be that anybody from
