Sekan

Soundwriters came out of years of looking through record bins, books, archives and personal collections.

Eventually I realised that collecting the music was only part of the work. I also needed to document what I was finding. Writing the book became a way to bring those fragments together and leave a “record” for the next person searching.

This is why physical places matter so much to me. Second-hand bookshops, record stores and personal collections can hold histories that never made it into an institution. Sometimes you walk into a place looking for one thing and leave with a completely different piece of the puzzle.

On Sunday 16 August, I’ll spend the day exploring some of these histories through two listening sessions.

In the afternoon I’ll be at Colette & Co in The Hague, sharing music during an intimate session around the theme of “arrival”. What gets carried when people move? What changes? What survives? And what does it mean to arrive somewhere while part of your history remains somewhere else?

Then I travel to Amsterdam for Merdeka at Hotel Jakarta Amsterdam

On the eve of Indonesia’s 81st Independence Day, I’ll present another seated listening session, this time approaching music from the Indonesian archipelago and diaspora through liberation, resistance and collective memory.

The location carries its own history. Hotel Jakarta sits on Java-eiland, close to the former departure point for ships travelling between Amsterdam and the Dutch East Indies.

At both sessions I’ll be playing selections from Soundwriters, bringing some of the records that shaped the books catalog. I’ll also have copies of the book with me for anyone who wants to take it home and continue digging for themselves.

16 August 2026

Colette & Co Colette & Co 
Reinkenstraat 45, The Hague
14:00 to 16:00
Register via [email protected]

MERDEKA Hotel Jakarta Amsterdam
Hotel Jakarta, Amsterdam
17:30 to 21:30 (limited seats)
Tickets via wax.