What happens when traditional African music meets the adventurous spirit of modern jazz? For Dutch bassist Teun Creemers, the answer is Naamu. Born from a fascination with African musical traditions and a desire to explore them beyond Western conventions, Naamu brings together musicians, cultures and musical perspectives in an ongoing journey of discovery. After exploring the rich musical heritage of Mali on his debut album, Teun has turned his attention to North Africa. Together with Moroccan Amazigh musician Aziz, he is creating a new chapter that blends traditional Amazigh and Gnawa music with contemporary jazz and fusion. We spoke with Teun about the origins of Naamu, the challenges of bringing different musical worlds together, and why preserving the authenticity of traditional music is at the heart of everything he does.
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Introduction
Where does the name Naamu come from?
Naamu comes from Bambara, a language spoken in Mali and several neighbouring countries. In traditional Malian music, you have griots, who are essentially travelling musicians and storytellers. They come from respected families that have passed down their musical traditions for generations. When a griot performs, it’s common for the audience to respond with “Naamu.” It literally means something like “I hear you,” but it’s more than that. It’s a way of saying that the message has reached you, that you’re listening and that you want to hear more. Since the project originally started with musicians from Mali, I thought it was a beautiful name. It’s easy to remember, but it also captures something important about music: listening, connecting and being open to discovering something new.
What inspired you to start Naamu?
I’ve always loved challenging myself as a musician. Around 2016, I started playing with African musicians and discovered how much I could learn from their musical traditions. At world music festivals, I sometimes noticed artists adapting their traditional music to appeal to Western audiences. But I actually found the original music much more exciting. That inspired me to start Naamu during the pandemic: a project that embraces African musical traditions while bringing in my own background in jazz and fusion.
How would you describe Naamu’s music to someone who has never heard it before?
I usually describe it as the best of two worlds: traditional African music combined with modern jazz. Jazz is an incredibly broad genre nowadays, and that’s also how I approach it. It’s not necessarily about traditional jazz structures, but about the freedom to experiment with harmony, rhythm and different musical ideas. Each Naamu project has its own character, depending on the musicians and traditions we’re exploring. Our first album was strongly influenced by music from Mali, while the new album focuses on traditional Amazigh and Gnawa music from Morocco.
What are the songs on your new album about?
Aziz writes all the lyrics, drawing inspiration from his Amazigh heritage, Moroccan traditions and personal beliefs. Some songs are about celebrating life, like Aiwa Yalla, which roughly translates to “let’s go” or “let’s celebrate life”, and some lyrics have a more religious meanings about being an Amazigh. Since it’s not my own cultural background, I don’t always know the exact meaning behind every lyric. I think it’s important to give Aziz the freedom to tell his own stories. Some lyrics are even based on traditional texts passed down through generations, which we respect by adapting our music around them rather than changing the words.
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Roots
What inspires you musically, both within and beyond African traditions?
My musical background is actually quite broad. Joe Zawinul has been a particularly important inspiration. He came from jazz but became increasingly interested in musical traditions from around the world, especially Africa. When I started playing with African musicians myself, I realised this was something I wanted to keep exploring. Every time we play together, I learn something new that you simply can’t learn at a conservatory. Over time, I’ve also realised that I shouldn’t try to imitate an African musician. It’s much more interesting to bring my own musical identity into these collaborations. Besides that, I love playing jazz, fusion and pop, and I enjoy exploring all kinds of musical styles. Recently, I even filled in for De Niemanders, a band that makes music together with refugees, bringing different cultural influences into their sound. I’m constantly discovering new artists too. At the moment, Blake Mills is probably my favourite, even though his music has little to do with African traditions. I think it’s important to stay open to different influences rather than limiting yourself to one genre.
What traditional instruments can we hear on the new album?
Aziz plays several traditional Moroccan instruments, including the ribab, a bowed string instrument with an almost flute-like sound, sometimes it seems like you cannot do much with such an instrument, but those player are really virtuous. And the lotar, a traditional fretless string instrument. You’ll also hear qraqeb, the distinctive metal castanets used in Gnawa music, alongside traditional percussion. Interestingly, we decided not to use the guembri, a traditional Moroccan bass instrument. Instead, I experimented with making my electric bass sound like one. That’s exactly the kind of musical exploration I enjoy.
How do you combine traditional African music with jazz?
One of the biggest challenges is that the musical approaches can be completely different. Before I started this project I researched a lot of African music to make myself familiar with it. Traditional Moroccan music often stays within one tonal centre, while jazz experiments much more with harmony. Sometimes Aziz plays a traditional melody while we introduce unexpected chords underneath it. Rhythmically, it’s even more interesting. We’ve had rehearsals where Aziz couldn’t understand our rhythms, while we struggled with patterns that felt completely natural to him. Those differences can be challenging, but they’re also what makes the music exciting.
What has been the biggest challenge in bringing these musical worlds together?
Learning to understand each other’s musical instincts. Sometimes we’d ask Aziz to play something that sounded beautiful to him but felt completely unnatural to perform. He would practise until it worked, and I have enormous respect for that dedication.
Do you see yourself playing a role in bridging different musical cultures?
Definitely. I’m the initiator of Naamu, and bringing musicians from different backgrounds together is a big part of what I do. When I first played with Aziz in Amsterdam, we quickly realised that we hadn’t given ourselves enough time to truly do justice to his music. It was a relatively short project, and exploring such an unfamiliar musical tradition was simply too ambitious for the time we had. But we recognised something in each other and respected each other’s way of working. We knew we wanted to give it another try someday, with more time and preparation.
Before we started writing music, we travelled to Morocco twice to immerse ourselves in the local traditions. Aziz introduced us to musicians and organised lessons. After just a few days, we unexpectedly found ourselves performing at a festival in front of around a thousand people, playing music we’d only just learned! We were struggling with the rhythms while children and elderly people in the audience danced along effortlessly. That experience really sparked something in us, and we knew we wanted to create our own music together.
Live
What do you want audiences to experience during a Naamu show?
We can go in two directions, this summer we’ve played two try-outs at festivals in the Netherlands at Valkhof and Zwarte Cross. Sometimes we create a real party, with rhythms that make it almost impossible to sit still. But we also have music that works beautifully in an intimate listening environment. Ultimately, I want people to experience the excitement we feel when bringing these musical worlds together.I also hope it makes audiences curious about other cultures. If someone leaves our show wanting to discover music from another part of the world, that’s a wonderful result. I hope that we can be an inspiration and bring more musical diversity in the world.
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Inspires
What’s next for Naamu?
Our ambition is to build something sustainable and bring this music to audiences beyond the Netherlands. Our first project involved nine musicians, which made touring quite complicated. This time, we’ve deliberately chosen a smaller band of four musicians. We’re particularly interested in developing opportunities in countries like France and Belgium, and we’d love to perform at Visa For Music in Morocco. Above all, I want Naamu to remain a platform for musical discovery, where we can keep exploring traditions, challenging ourselves and creating something new together.