Café Habibi

At festivals such as Down The Rabbit Hole and Into The Great Wide Open, in pop venues and even at the stately King’s Day Concert for the royal family, audiences danced to a band with an irresistible groove. The many distinctive singers and musicians — some of whom live, or have lived, in asylum seekers’ centres — created goosebump-inducing moments. In short: this is a band you have to see. It hits you straight in the heart and in the hips.

These Niemanders are unstoppable and are now taking the next step. The 12-piece musical family invites Dutch theatre audiences into their self-created universe: Cafe Habibi. The band moves through the performance like a globe on legs: from Arabic floor-fillers to opera, always with a generous dose of soul, gospel and alternative rock. The cliché “music is a universal language” has probably never been more fitting. As one reviewer aptly wrote: “If we ever have to explain to aliens what music is and what it is for, we know who to send: De Niemanders.”