About

Bar Tolmai (1985) is a Bronx-based folk and jazz musician and drum instructor born in [Culemborg], Netherlands, with musical roots in Rotterdam and Amsterdam. His original compositions at the intersection of modern classical and folk music explore themes of agency, abandonment, and societal structures. He arranges intricately woven sounds with the Nickelharpa, mandolin, singing saw, double bass, piano, bagpipe, and percussive instruments in order to build narrative layers. He has performed at multiple venues in the Netherlands, Brussels, Paris, Berlin, Copenhagen and London. Outside of Europe he has played at the Heineken Jazz Festival in Bonaire, Dutch Antilles and toured around New York. As a drummer, he’s performed with many artists, such as acclaimed singer-songwriters Rina Mushonga and Michael Prins. Bar Tolmai studied philosophy at the VU in Amsterdam and drums at the Rotterdam Conservatory, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree (2009). Currently, he lives and works in New York.