Roelant Hollander

I was born on the 10th of May 1976 in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. I grew up in a family that values music, art, culture, nature … as child I enjoyed spending time in nature, camping, traveling, drawing & painting, making music, collecting all kinds of things, and more.

I started playing violin at the age of 6 (1982) but lost interest about 6 years later, replacing the violin with my first (alto) saxophone on my 14th (1990).  

Between 1993 and 1997 I worked at Apenheul in Apeldoorn, a specialized zoo with Apes and Monkeys, first as animal attendant, later at the visitor service department.

In 1994 I discovered software sequencers and started writing music using PC and synthesizer with Steinberg’s Cubase.

In between 1995 and 1997 I played Baritone sax in the New Street Bigband (directed by Bert Lochs) and together with my best buddies we formed a Jazz band called “The Minton Jazz Quintet“. These were my first Jazz band experiences.

My parents were hobby photographers and I developed the interest as well, mostly focused on nature and animals, using their old Praktica PL Nova 1 and Praktica Super TL 2 cameras.

I wanted to study Graphic Design at the Grafisch Lyceum (University in Utrecht) but didn’t make it through the final selection round.

In 1996 I joined the Dutch Ska band “Tiny Tones” and stayed an active member until 2000.      

Between 1998 and 2000 I studied at the Jazz department of the Constantijn Huygens Music Academy (Nowadays named Artez) in Zwolle, The Netherlands (teachers: Rolf Delfos & Allard Buwalda). During my study I played different contemporary music styles with different groups and artists and started a Jazz-Hop/Nu-Jazz project called “HSS” (later renamed to “DJazz”) together with DJ Phaze (Olivier Schreuder). Due to serious health issues* I had to stop studying in 2000. 

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Not long after I emigrated to Bulgaria (BG) I started working as freelance web designer.

The first 3 years in Bulgaria I did not play on my saxophones at all but continued composing music and creating beats. The first time I performed with saxophone again (after this “sax-sabbatical” of nearly 3 years) was with Ethno-Fusion band “Lot Lorien” from Varna in 2003.

In 2005 I became father of a lovely daughter.      

From 2005-2008 I was member of the “Desi-re Project” with DJ Ivo-But-Not, Desislava Andonova (vocalist Phuture Shock), and Charlie Gotchev (guitarist).

In January 2007 Dimitar Kalinov (a.k.a. VPD) and I founded the first Bulgarian union/collective of (underground) beat creators (composers of electronic music) named Trip-BeatMiks. The main purposes: collaborations on projects and boosting the underground scene in Varna as much as possible.

I brought DJazz .OrgOnite back to live in 2007 and became a core member of JazzProfilactika in 2008.      

In 2009 I started assisting sound engineer Ivan “Tochka” Boyadzhiev at Studio 21, learning to become a sound/studio engineer using Pro Tools HD9.

In my spare time I worked on some old and new tracks for “DJazz” (with DJ Emotion, DJ Jijo, Miroslav Petkov (trumpetist) and Ivan Boyadzhiev (engineer and co-producer).

Tochka and I also formed the Electronic Production Duo “Sober & Sober” and made a couple of remixes.    

In 2012 JazzProfilactika became the focus of my attention, building up original material to perform with. I joined the Blue Brothers (Tsventan & Kalin Momchilov) formation as well.  

With DJazz we released our first EP “Ain’t So Blue“.     

In 2013 I started teaching saxophone at “Music School Bekar” in Varna.

I started blogging at Roel’s World on 27 September 2013, a philosophical, semiscientific, contemplative blog by Roel Hollander about Music, Sound, Arts, Sacred Geometry, Photography and much more.

In 2014 I started a new Jazzbient (fusion between Jazz and Ambient) project called “UFONIX” together with producer Moodix, trumpetist Neyko Bodurov and VJ Synth.    

Also in 2014 we (JazzProfilactika) started composing tracks for our debut album “Tick Tock” to be recorded in 2015/2016 at Studio 21 (Varna).

In 2014 my life as musician took another turn after being confronted again with serious health issues*. I was forced to take a break from playing my saxophones and performing.

Dear friend and “brother in arms” Ivan ‘Tochka’ Boyadzhiev, passed away in 2015. We (a crew of close friends / musicians / producers) tried to keep Studio 21 running for a while longer, but at the end of 2016 the studio closed it’s doors.

In 2015 we released the DJazz EP “Summertime In Bombay“.    

A year later (2016) I started and finished the mixing of the 9-track album “Tick Tock”.

In 2017 the search for a good label started to release the JazzProfilactika album under and soon the one was found: TimeWarp Music. The album was released on October 30, 2017, in memory of Tochka.  

2017 turned out to be a “turning point” in my career and life, due to serious health problems* I had been struggling with since the end of the summer of 2014. The stress that comes with live performance and the irregular “lifestyle” of a performing artist had become to heavy on me physically so I had to make the hardest decision in my life up to that moment: I had to stop playing the saxophone.

In my relatively short career I have had the pleasure and feel privileged to have played/worked with various bands, musicians and DJs in the past. Besides those mentioned already on this page so far also with: Constantijn Huygens Saxophone Quintet (1998-2000), Bigband Allotria (1999-2000), Desi-re Project (2005-2008 – Lounge Project), Deepzone Project (2006-2009, 2015 – House) & Deepzone Bigband, Varna Philharmonic Orchestra (2014), Bandwagon (2015), Clay Windham (2012, USA), Dimitar Semov (2012, BG), “Fingertone” (Phuture Shock, BG), Dimitar Bodurov (BG), Dean Bowman (2013, USA), Harry Sarkisyan (BG), Gueorgui Harizanov (BG), Stoyan “Ya Ya” Royanov (BG), DJ Charlie Inman (UK), DJ Asad Rizvi (UK), Tom Gillieron (UK), DJ Guney (TR), Pure Jorick (NL), DJ Max Joy (USA), DJ Peter Skoog (IS), DJ Vasquez (BG), DJ Dian Solo (BG), DJ Mitek (Sinful Dragons, BG), DJ Inspecta (BG), DJ Vagebond (DE) … and many others.

In 2019 I made plans to move back to The Netherlands to deal with the health issues* and take my life in a different direction.

Before departing for The Netherlands the final recordings were done in 2019 for JazzProfilactika’s “Ah Yeah!” – The Funky EP.

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In January 2020 I moved back to The Netherlands (NL) after having lived and worked in Bulgaria for 20 years.

Back in the Netherlands in 2020 I finished mixing JazzProfilactika’s “Ah Yeah! – The Funky EP” and we released it in June.  

After the JazzProfilactika EP I continued working on an EP for DJazz called “Double ‘O Jazz” with the intention to release that EP in the beginning of 2021, featuring Bertolf Lentink (Guitar, NL), Vito Giacovelli (Percussion IT), Etienne Lebel (trombone, CA) and Rutger Renden (Bassguitar, NL).

January 2021 started sorrowful, DJazz member Todor Zhelyazkov (aka DJ Emotion) passed away.
The EP release was postponed to April, in memory of  Todor.  

In 2021 I started exploring my options, trying to find a new direction – career wise – and took an introduction course for becoming a saxophone mechanic, a job that I would still be able to work with saxophones, the instrument I’m most passionate about. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to finance the study and make investments (equipment) then and there, so I had to put this plan “on ice” for a while longer.

In 2022 I had a period I started feeling a bit better healthwise. The medicines seem to suppress the health issues enough and I started to feel things might finally move into the right direction. Charged with that thought, I even registered at a dating site called Lexa. After various failed chats and one appointment I decided perhaps online-dating wasn’t for me. Only days before I had planned to close my account a lovely lady (Saskia de Wit) reached out to me turned out to be a great match.

In 2022 I started blogging (in Dutch) for Crohn-Colitis.nl a support site of an organisation for Crohn and Colitis Ulcerosa patients in the Netherlands.

*In case you wondered, yes, the health issues mentioned before all related to Colitis Ulcerosa.

In October 2022 I decided to pick up photography again, using a Nikon D3500 DSLR … exploring my options in photography, hoping to follow a course / study in 2022 and/or 2023.

2022 ended being a struggle. What supposed to be a hospitalisation of 6 days including surgery, turned into many months of setbacks (3 operations, total hospital time over 8 weeks in a span of 5 months). I felt (and feel) blessed by the support I had from my girlfriend, some family members and close friends.

2023 … a special year. Recovering from my medical trials, also a year with new opportunities and finding new directions in life. I decided to start of a new study*_². I also required some soul-searching. Who am I after so many big changes (end of my time abroad, end of a career, end of one relationship and the start of a new one, changes due to my medical situation, et cetera)? Who do I wish to become and how to get to that point? Could I use some help and if so, what kind of help? I am not religious and strongly resent dogmatism … so, where to go? I decided to join the Freemasons.

Now, some of you might have read odd and very silly things about the Freemasons online (conspiracy theories and cult-like weirdness). Well, believe me or not (your choice), it’s nothing like that. If I had to describe Freemasonry in one sentence: a dogma-free semi philosophical brotherhood, where all brothers work alone and together on the bettering of oneself and the world.

*_² I enjoyed fiddling around with my photocamera and inspired by my girlfriend who has studied photography and runs an webshop with analogue photo equipment I decided to start with a photography course.

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I have always been interested in genealogy and family trees … I have compiled my own: Hollander Tree line.