AMSTERDAM... the ESSENCE a View of a Great European City, in the Words of the People Who Shape It
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AMSTERDAM... THE ESSENCE A view of a great European city, in the words of the people who shape it. DAVID BECKETT Portrait photography Joost van Manen | City photography Pim Kops | Art Direction & Design Sarah Loughran WWW.THEESSENCEONLINE.COM CONTENTS 1 Introduction INTRODUCTION INTERVIEWS Bas Kosters & 4 Lake Montgomery 66 122 Suzanne Raes Amsterdam is perhaps the most enigmatic city in the world: you can live here for years and still not know what truly makes things happen. Shirley Hart It’s a small place with an enormous reputation. Mention to anyone around the globe that you live in Amsterdam, and the reaction is universal: “How cool, that must be a great place to live!” Yet despite being recognised as one of the world’s great cities, the Netherlands’ capital is not like London or Paris. There’s no Big Ben or Eiffel Tower here. When Amsterdam’s five million yearly visitors are asked why they come, they answer, 12 Henk Schiffmacher 74 Jan Jansen 126 Job Cohen “For the atmosphere.” Yes, most visit the fabulous Van Gogh Museum and take a boat ride along the canals – but their main interest is to take in the special surroundings and the ‘feel’ of the city. In the ’60s, Amsterdam was named ‘The Magic Centre.’ For me that sums up the special quality of this city that enthralls visitors and expatriates from around the world. 20 Halina Reijn 82 Mariska Majoor 134 Nina Siegal I first moved to Amsterdam to work for Canon in 1998 and quickly fell in love with living here. When my job was moved to England in 2009, without hesitation I resolved to remain in my favourite city - and not long after, decided to write a book about what I now consider to be my home-town. Yet, despite my long association with Amsterdam, I couldn’t honestly say I understood its true essence. As I was pondering this, a chance occurrence led me in the direction of telling the city’s story in the words of the people who shape it. Coming across a Texan musician 28 Laser 3.14 90 Youp van ‘t Hek 138 Daniël Dekker as she played acoustic guitar out of a first-floor Prinsengracht window on Queen’s Day set me on a path of discovery that I could never have planned. Then again, in the words of Paul Spies [p. 36], “Nothing in Amsterdam is planned – everything is an outcome!” The development of this book matches one aspect of the true spirit of the city. I began with nothing more than an idea and a lot of enthusiasm for a rough concept called The Essence, and that concept took firm shape through fantastic co-operation from a diverse group of 36 Paul Spies 98 Mark de Kruijk 140 Peter van der Meulen Amsterdammers. Every time I contacted possible interviewees, they showed the straightforward attitude of appreciating a creative project.: He’s trying to do something new, let’s be part of it. It is exactly this spirit that has helped me bring Amsterdam… The Essence come to life. What followed was a year-long experience of encounters with fascinating characters while discovering new music venues, art galleries and entrepreneur meet-up groups. I came face to face with an anonymous street artist, protested against anti-gay violence, sat in a Red Light 38 Ahmed Marcouch 101 Larae Malooly 144 Pim Kops District window for an evening, and conducted two interviews in the Dutch houses of parliament. No matter how famous or successful, everyone involved generously offered their time and wished me the best of luck. Each time I met with these people, they taught me something new about our city. There are countless travel guides about Amsterdam, and they do a great job of telling you where to go and what to do. Amsterdam… The Essence 44 Mariette Hoitink 104 Sjaak Swart 148 Egbert van Hees brings you closer to answering the most intriguing question of all: why is the city like it is? Enjoy discovering the essence of Amsterdam. The makers of 52 Def P 110 Fya Hopelezz 149 Amsterdam... The Essence 60 Siobhan Wall 116 Marcel Ozymantra 150 Last Word (Youp van ‘t Hek) 151 Credits A new city appears in winter. A place that can be cold, yet also cosy and welcoming. It was snowing when Lake Montgomery first came to Amsterdam and still she fell in love with its charm. PAULUS POTTERSTRAAT THE ATMOSPHERE OF FREEDOM IN AMSTERDAM MADE ME BOLD AS A PERFORMER • LAKE MONTGOMERY AMSTERDAMMER SINCE 2002 SINGER/SONGWRITER FAVOURITE AMSTERDAM location – WG-PLEIN As I ambled along the canals on 30 April 2010, my mind was partly on the development of this book, and partly on the fact that my Heineken was getting warm and needed replacing. That date is Queen’s Day, a yearly celebration of the monarch’s birthday. It starts with a huge open market involving everyone emptying their cupboards and cellars, piling everything they can find onto the pavements and selling it for whatever they can get. A distinctive aspect of the experience is also the music. As the day progresses, revellers set up speakers outside their windows, play drums in the street and load disco gear onto boats. Seeing a cool, tiny woman in her mid-20s playing acoustic guitar in a window on Prinsengracht caught my attention that day. I listened for a few minutes and was especially taken with the song ‘Amsterdam’. A friend of hers enthusiastically waved a CD for sale under my nose, bearing the singer’s name. Who wouldn’t be intrigued by a musician called Lake Montgomery? A day later, CD in hand, I checked her Myspace site and it became clear that Lake’s Amsterdam story is very different to mine. Maybe she could tell me something new about this city? Perhaps she might have an insight into the real essence of Amsterdam. This sparked an idea and I wrote an email requesting an interview. While waiting for her reply, I began to realise this might just be the approach for my book that I’d been looking for: talking to people who represent the crossroads of diversity that is Amsterdam, in order to tell the story of the city from as many different points of view as possible. Lake replied a few days later and we met at WG Café on a sunny, Amsterdam spring day. And so the journey began. 4 AMSTERDAM... THE ESSENCE I was living happily in New Orleans, but makes the music scene here very accessible for a newcomer. creativity. There’s something truly inspiring about her story – when the flood happened, it broke my coming out here, a long way from home, and getting started by heart. I got the chance to go to Orléans The Amsterdam Songwriters Guild [ASG] helps a lot. It’s a group of playing on the streets. And her jail story is also impressive! in France – Old Orleans – when the city talented musicians who support each other, do gigs together, make THERE ARE SO While I was living in Orléans, I think I developed a little crush offered a gift to 20 students to come bookings for each other – man, that’s one big reason why I live here! on Amsterdam through visiting so often. I was still an outsider to France and study – free tickets, free One example: last year I did a street music tour with a couple of in Europe and visiting was like therapy. I do feel like a foreigner apartment. I took up the chance and ASG musicians and we played 26 streets in the city in three days – here, but comfortably so. I like the curiosity that being a foreigner this brought me to Europe. MANY DIFFERENT we called it ‘Amsterdam A-Z’ and got a lot of newspaper coverage. provokes in others – there’s not much of a negative side to it here. Lake first came to Amsterdam in a That’s the kind of stuff that still goes on here. It makes me proud. I Maybe that’s part of who I am; I like to be different. similar way to many others I’ve met – don’t know where else I could be doing my musical thing. Amsterdam becomes really sweet in winter, even though it gets so randomly, but destined to end up here. It’s certainly a typical spring day for this city – half an hour after we PEOPLE COMING dark in the long nights. I was captured by how beautiful it is and My first visit to Amsterdam was in 2002 to see a friend and, while start, the clouds come over and cold rain sends us scurrying inside that whole combination inspired me to play music on the streets. in Orléans, I came back many times. The intention was to stay the café. As we warm up, she explains how she’s reached a good This was a great step because I got to see how the people were in Amsterdam for a month only, because my ticket back to New level of Dutch in just a few years. living their lives; I had a lot of chance conversations with locals who TO AMSTERDAM Orleans was due to expire. It turned out differently after I met an It’s difficult to improve your Dutch speaking skills here because of responded to the music. It was a kind of training, getting pieces artist through some modelling work, and he asked me to stay for a the high level of English that almost everyone seems to have.