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 Sahand Sahebdivani shares a few stories about his father from the Mezrab kitchen — a place where Ali-Reza cooked hundreds and thousands of pots of red lentil soup. 

Every month, Mezrab team picks a theme and asks people to share their thoughts on the subject!  In this video, we are talking about hope. 🙂

Elyzabeth Gorman shares a story about Pride in Amsterdam: what happens nowadays, and how it all started. 

Listen to this amazing cover by Yinske Silva of Sam Cooke’s A Change is Gonne Come. What a voice and what a passion. Carrying her is the piano playing of Rogier van der Zwaan.

They did it again! They Knights of Love are back with a new song, all written and performed in their own lockdown locations, culminating in this funky jam:

What does a writer like Canan do when they find themselves in a situation that angers and scares them? When you have so much to write about but the words won’t come?

Gus is a Mezrab regular with a love of historical stories. Here he tells us the funny and tragic history of how European scientists discovered what most already knew: Wash your hands!

One of the things we miss about our physical location is hosting our monthly Club Amsterdam Klezmer nights. These guys are immortal. 

Here’s a video that Anastasis made for the Mezrab live show. An improvised song that came together when each of the quarantined members improvised their lines from home:

We tell ourselves a lot of stories to make sense of our lives. Sometimes these stories take on a live of their own. Listen to Anastasis unpack one of the myths he grew up with.

Many of the storytellers who tell in the Mezrab have other interesting jobs. Some are teachers, tour guides, IT specialists and so much more. Bipin has a bit of a different field of work:

Esra tells us a story of her best friend. The one who developed breasts, before she did, and discovered boys, before she did. 

As we’re preparing for the next show here’s something special for you. A video of Mama Mezrab making the famous Ash soup. Feel like trying it to create that Mezrab mood at home?

Sometimes transformation takes place in unexpected places. Here’s a story of one that took place in a Turkish Hammam:

Mezrab founder Sahand tells us a story of the very particular dread you felt growing up in the 1990ies. A time we miss and also are happy are behind us:

Margo van de Linde looks back on her childhood and reflects on how much her impression of Zwarte Piet has changed since then. 

Sahand and Raphael open Amsterdam Storytelling Festival 2020 with stories about their mothers and rebirth. The show is accompanied by music and songs by Haytham Safia and Yinske Silva.

Another edition of Sahand and Raphael’s quarantine conversations: this time, they tackle the subject of love. Can we all love each other just as much if we have to keep the distance between us?

Raphael and Sahand continue their online conversations in times of isolation. In this episode they talk about the meaning of home.

You might know Sahand and Raphael from their nights in the Mezrab, here’s the first video they made as an artistic response to the lockdown:

The End of the World is a collaborative visual poem made by the crazy minds in our backyard. The story is by Chris Elyassi, animation by Irina Koriazova and music by Moons Archives.
Sahand tells us the story of the Lion and the Rabbit, a known tale that’s told in the Caucasus region, and warns us of what happens if we don’t get rid of the lion’s who terrorize our lives.

Faarjam is a Dutch-Iranian superstar, and a friend of the Mezrab! Here’s the song Ba Chashmanam (with my eyes), that he performed on our stage. Turn the volume up!

This video is an olden goldie. In fact, it’s the first video we recorded to put on our YouTube channel. It has the UK heavy weight storyteller Peter Chand doing a delicious folk tale: 

The insane genius of Mezrab is Chidi. A storyteller and host with an incomparable style. Apart from his stage performances he has been producing creative videos for your enjoyment:

If you’re done listening to stories for the day here’s something completely different. 5 years ago we were visited by the Faran ensemble, here’s the full concert!

This relatively older video is recorded a while ago, when we hadn’t put on the black curtains yet. A younger, more innocent age, when master theater maker Ogutu Muraya still lived in Amsterdam!

Lara is the child of an intensely atheistic father and a Mayan spiritual mother. How does the child of this meeting end up? Listen to her warm and funny story to find out:

As all people who saw the premiere episode of Mezrab TV know, this song is going to blow up. Have a listen at the anthem of our times!

Lubna is not only a Mezrab fan from the very first location we had, here she absolutely rocks the Open Stage!

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