Heiko Dijker

Heiko Dijker is an Amsterdam based Tablaplayer/Producer whose playing is marked by enthousiasm and energy, depth of knowledge and rythmic poetry. He left Holland at a young age to find true Soulfullness in Music and Life. Hitch-Hiking around the world on his own, Heiko was drawn into Classical Indian music and the beauty of India.

After years of traditional training with Shri Bhaswaraj Bhendigeri in India, living in a small clay hut and doing saintly practice in the Himalaya, he continued to learn with grandmaster Faiyaz Khan in the Guru-Shisya (Master-Disciple) system. For 10 years, he was totally absorbed in his Sadhana, practicing and listening only classical Indian acoustic music.

Holding a Masters-degree in classical Tabla of the Rotterdam Conservatory(learning with excellent teachers Ustad Faiyaz Khan and Ted de Jong), Heiko has been working with great Indian classical and not so classical musicians and dancers, as well as with fusions of traditional and innovative music and dance. Just to name a few: RaviChandra Kullur(Carnatic Bansuri and Beyond), Meeta Pandit (Indian vocal), Pandit Birju Maharaj(the legendary Kathak dancer), Ustad Fariddudin Dagar, Bahauddin Dagar (Roudra Veena), Amine and Hamza M'raihi(Tunesian Oud and Kanoun), Kailash Ensemble, Praful, Sandhya Sanjana (Indian vocal), TablaTronic Violince, Aesh, Het Nieuw Ensemble (contemporary western), Scapino Ballet, Concerto Rotterdam (with Jacob ter Veldhuis), Lenneke van Staalen, Sharat Srivastava, Taal Vadya(rythm group with South-Indian percussionists), Shinske Ishihara(Japanese Marimba virtuoso), and many more.

Next to enjoying his performances, he has been an accompanist of great masters like Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia(Bansuri) and Pandit Buddhadhitya Mukherjee(Sitar) at the Rotterdam Conservatory, is a teacher at the SKVR music school in Rotterdam, and has given lecture-demonstrations/workshops for Conservatories and institutes all over the world.