ADE 2013

27-10-2013
The Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE)took place last week, (oct 16-20).
The ADE is an annual congress/festival about Electronic dance music, often referred to as dance or EDM. As many of you know, I often perform live with dj's, besides the concerts with my jazz band. The music the dj's play is between lounge, soul/funk, house..
This year I really felt the need to check out some evenings. In earlier years I often didn't have time for it. Musicians and dj's often don't go to concerts because we don't have time (performing ourselves at the same time elsewhere) or we already have an opinion about an artist we fail to have an open mind to change that behaviour.
My boyfriend, on holiday, and I started the ADE on wednesday night at Sugar Factory, went there at 0h, unfortunately it took 2 more hours until the dj i came for, would start. But finally, Black Coffee from South Africa was spinning his most soulful deep afrohouse tracks between 2 and 5 o'clock. Terribly late. The tunes were great, his mixing sublime, but at 3.45h, dreamsand was thrown around, our eyes got smaller and smaller, feet started hurting and we went home.
Thursday we went so seee and hear 51-year-old house dj Joost van Bellen, he hosted his evening at both stages of Melkweg. He played an early set and the crowd was dancing and enjoying. We had a look at the smaller stage, where a Martin Dubka did some miracoulous analogue plugging which resulted in electro house.
Friday i had to perform myself with Hardsoul Live at Heineken Hoek, Leidseplein. Although it was a last minute call it was a lot of fun, people responded great to the performance. All other dj's who performed before and after were also really good. At home at 5am.
Saturday we went so see Nile Rodgers being interviewed, the legendary guitarist, who played, wrote and produced so many hits, until this day. Unfortunately the interview as only one hour, it could have taken all day long, this man is a great storyteller! He worked with almost everyone, from Rolling Stones to Madonna, from Daft Punk to Avicii and David Guetta, and of course the likes of Grace Jones and David Bowie etc etc... Saturday night i had a performance outside of town. No clubbing that night although I was playing with a dj at a private party, so still some secret clubbing!
Sunday i started the day with a swing concert in Breda the south of The Netherlands, no electronic dance music at all, a coffee concert with a jazz rhythm section. Lovely switch! In the late afternoon i returned back home to Amsterdam to witness a set of Danny Tenaglia, also a legendary, 52-year-old techno and house dj, i already heard of but never saw at work before. It took place at Melkweg Rabozaal, there was some really amazing projections on the walls and some of the sounds were heavy and abstract. He had started at 5 in the afternoon and went on until 0h. We went on, across the street, to Sugar Factory, where the weekly Wicked Jazz Sounds club night took place. They had some special performance, the english funk dj/singer duo Smoove &Turrell. We met many friends there who also had taken part in the Amsterdam Dance Event marathon the last days and finished their crazy ADE with a drink there. We were at home at 5am.. (By the way the Amsterdam marathon had taken place sunday as well!)

Sometimes I think probably the same as you.. where do i get the energy from? Just the lust for life, the curiousity of how things work, as this crazy week was the ultimate mix of work-related research and pleasure. What amazed me that 'dance' is totally not youth culture. Dance has been growing along the generations for 30 years I guess. Most people I saw were between 25-50. Some events had more people aged 25-40, or 30-40, but always also some much older people, 60 or so. The hypnotic relaxation you get after a while of losing yourself to dance seems to be unique. Although often people are not really dancing, but rather nodding their heads holding a drink. When you would look around at the bar area people looked like the people who went to see an art exhibition or a concert in earlier days. And once more i realised that most people don't go out because of the artist/show/piece but because they want to go where it is hip and happening and where they can meet friends or bump into a hot woman or man.. As an artist sometimes you don't think for who you make art, you just want to make it as good as you can. So this was that! Have a good time and I hope I made you curious. I will always try to keep an open mind.

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BewarenBewarenBewarenBewarenBewarenBewarenBewarenBewarenBewarenBewaren - The Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE)took place last week, (oct 16-20). The ADE is an annual congress/festival about Electronic dance music, often referred to as dance or EDM. As many of you know, I often perform live with dj's, besides the concerts with my jazz band. The music the dj's play is between lounge, soul/funk, house..This year I really felt the need to check out some evenings. In earlier years I often didn't have time for it. Musicians and dj's often don't go to concerts because we don't have time (performing ourselves at the same time elsewhere) or we already have an opinion about an artist we fail to have an open mind to change that behaviour.My boyfriend, on holiday, and I started the ADE on wednesday night at Sugar Factory, went there at 0h, unfortunately it took 2 more hours until the dj i came for, would start. But finally, Black Coffee from South Africa was spinning his most soulful deep afrohouse tracks between 2 and 5 o'clock. Terribly late. The tunes were great, his mixing sublime, but at 3.45h, dreamsand was thrown around, our eyes got smaller and smaller, feet started hurting and we went home. Thursday we went so seee and hear 51-year-old house dj Joost van Bellen, he hosted his evening at both stages of Melkweg. He played an early set and the crowd was dancing and enjoying. We had a look at the smaller stage, where a Martin Dubka did some miracoulous analogue plugging which resulted in electro house. Friday i had to perform myself with Hardsoul Live at Heineken Hoek, Leidseplein. Although it was a last minute call it was a lot of fun, people responded great to the performance. All other dj's who performed before and after were also really good. At home at 5am. Saturday we went so see Nile Rodgers being interviewed, the legendary guitarist, who played, wrote and produced so many hits, until this day. Unfortunately the interview as only one hour, it could have taken all day long, this man is a great storyteller! He worked with almost everyone, from Rolling Stones to Madonna, from Daft Punk to Avicii and David Guetta, and of course the likes of Grace Jones and David Bowie etc etc... Saturday night i had a performance outside of town. No clubbing that night although I was playing with a dj at a private party, so still some secret clubbing!Sunday i started the day with a swing concert in Breda the south of The Netherlands, no electronic dance music at all, a coffee concert with a jazz rhythm section. Lovely switch! In the late afternoon i returned back home to Amsterdam to witness a set of Danny Tenaglia, also a legendary, 52-year-old techno and house dj, i already heard of but never saw at work before. It took place at Melkweg Rabozaal, there was some really amazing projections on the walls and some of the sounds were heavy and abstract. He had started at 5 in the afternoon and went on until 0h. We went on, across the street, to Sugar Factory, where the weekly Wicked Jazz Sounds club night took place. They had some special performance, the english funk dj/singer duo Smoove &Turrell. We met many friends there who also had taken part in the Amsterdam Dance Event marathon the last days and finished their crazy ADE with a drink there. We were at home at 5am.. (By the way the Amsterdam marathon had taken place sunday as well!)Sometimes I think probably the same as you.. where do i get the energy from? Just the lust for life, the curiousity of how things work, as this crazy week was the ultimate mix of work-related research and pleasure. What amazed me that 'dance' is totally not youth culture. Dance has been growing along the generations for 30 years I guess. Most people I saw were between 25-50. Some events had more people aged 25-40, or 30-40, but always also some much older people, 60 or so. The hypnotic relaxation you get after a while of losing yourself to dance seems to be unique. Although often people are not really dancing, but rather nodding their heads holding a drink. When you would look around at the bar area people looked like the people who went to see an art exhibition or a concert in earlier days. And once more i realised that most people don't go out because of the artist/show/piece but because they want to go where it is hip and happening and where they can meet friends or bump into a hot woman or man.. As an artist sometimes you don't think for who you make art, you just want to make it as good as you can. So this was that! Have a good time and I hope I made you curious. I will always try to keep an open mind.

ADE 2013

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