EUROSONIC IS COMING HOME - HOSTING NATION HOLLAND IS THIS YEAR’S FOCUS COUNTRY by Robbert Tilli
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
AT THE 25 TH ANNIVERSARY OF EUROSONIC NOORDERSLAG: - EUROSONIC IS COMING HOME - HOSTING NATION HOLLAND IS THIS YEAR’S FOCUS COUNTRY By Robbert Tilli * EUROSONIC NOORDERSLAG CONFERENCE JANUARY 12, 13, 14, 15, 2011 This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Eurosonic Noorderslag music conference and showcase festival. And after years with interesting focuses on countries such as Italy, Belgium and Norway, finally Eurosonic Noorderslag is coming home. Hosting nation Holland is this year’s focus country. Birthday boy is pushing the boat out with a presentation of a range of great Dutch bands. Holland’s musical history in a nutshell The topic of the ‘possible existence of a history of Dutch music’ sometimes generates interesting discussions at the bar at the international music conferences. There’s always a group of registrants that starts singing Golden Earring’s 1972 global monster smash Radar Love straightaway, and there’s that group of hipsters who deliberately start staring ignorantly. ‘Dutch music? Yeah, yeah,’ they say. What’s that? ‘Name a few bands then?’ In recent years we’ve seen a lot of true aficionados of Dutch pop, rock and dance, but also we’ve met the sceptics, who simply denied the existence of such a thing as Dutch music. Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Gogh, okay, they acknowledge the Dutch masters of painting. But pop, rock, dance? ‘No, never heard of.’ It’s time to prove them wrong. Holland is focus country, and you’ll know it. To be fair, the awareness of Dutch pop, rock and dance history could do with a little boost. Our British friends like to discuss the quality of Dutch football rather than its rock counterpart. Meanwhile The Dutch prefer to discuss the great quality of the Brits as providers of great music rather than their poor performance at recent World Cups. We are celebrating the 25 th anniversary of Eurosonic Noorderslag, so let’s first have a proper history lesson then. Fly to the US for SXSW in Austin, Texas, for instance and you’ll soon find out that the memory of Golden Earring is still alive. Rent a car, turn on the radio, and you’ll hear the quintessential Dutch rock song within no time on FM radio. And that’s a fact. Lots of American bands playing in the Dutch clubs like to play the intro of that killer song as a nice little inside joke that they share with their crowds. However, Golden Earring is certainly not Holland’s ‘sole contribution to rock ‘n’ roll.’ Shocking Blue was the first band that hit the top slot in the US with 1970’s Venus . Quentin Tarantino single-handedly revived another Dutch chart topper, Little Green Bag by the George Baker Selection for the soundtrack to his classic Pulp Fiction . If that’s not enough to convince all of you of the impact of the Dutch class of 1972, Nike used Focus ’ instrumental rocker Hocus Pocus for its well-targeted World Cup campaign for South Africa 2010, which ended up with the Dutch national team as runners-up. Hocus Pocus, if that isn’t magic, what is? In 2002 dance producer Junkie XL (alias for Dutchman Tom Holkenborg) was Nike’s target man in the World Cup campaign with his electronic adaptation of Elvis’s (A Little Less) Conversation . Two year’s later DJ Tiësto was the musical director at the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Athens. Billions of TV viewers worldwide witnessed his trance music. That year the Olympics were coming home. Now Eurosonic Noorderslag is coming home. The hosting nation is proud of its musical history and wants to create awareness for its living history, today’s bands, singer/songwriters and deejays/producers. It’s a very exciting package. Before introducing you to today’s sound of the lowlands, we’d like you to test your knowledge about the country’s great musical history first. Quickly browsing through the Dutch pop encyclopaedia, we touch up on more golden oldies. Do you remember 1976 global hit Mississippi by Pussycat ? In the summer of ’76 it was at number 1 in the UK during that year’s heat wave. A year later Father Abraham‘s Smurf Song equalled this feat. It also helped the sceptics at the pub discussions about Dutch pop a bit. The last laugh was on the publisher of the song, one of the biggest money-makers in music’s history. The title of the King of Dutch rock is undeniably for the late great Herman Brood , often referred to as Holland’s most credible rocker ever. In Germany the rocker/painter was very popular too. He grabbed the attention with his short-lived marriage with German superstar Nina Hagen. 1978’s Sphritz album is a timeless classic. Did you know that Volendam is the only village in the country with its own music scene and industry? A band like BZN particularly did very well in the Far East. At SXSW quite often comedy rock band Gruppo Sportivo is still named as a nice little footnote in Dutch pop and rock history. Never underestimate the influence of jazz funk female saxophone player Candy Dulfer , who is big in Japan. She can also boast being a regular sidekick in the live bands of Van Morrison and Prince. Don’t overlook the impact of ‘90s heroes Urban Dance Squad either, combining rap, rock, soul and experiments. They inspired a band like Rage Against The Machine. Another ‘90s icon guitar-driven pop-band Bettie Serveert is still touring the US every year. Meanwhile ‘70s punk rock survivors The Ex have discovered Africa, while math metallers Textures have put India on their touring map recently. Sleazy rockers Peter Pan Speedrock , back after a sabbatical year, have found a niche market for themselves as well. The Dutch are quite good at heavy rock, especially with a Goth edge. In 2010 Delain supported Kamelot in both Europe and the US. In 2009 Epica got charted in the album charts in Belgium, Austria, France and Switzerland. Apart from aforementioned bands, our country has also provided great instrumentalists (e.g. Candy Dulfer), mainly guitarists. Jan Akkerman of Focus was voted The World’s Best Guitarist in the now defunct UK magazine Melody Maker in 1976. And may we remind you that Edward ‘Eddy’ Van Halen , who spanked that plank in Michael Jackson’s Thriller so roughly, is a true Dutchman by birth? Adje Vandenberg made it to lead guitarist of legendary hard rockers Whitesnake, while Arjen Lucassen took his Ayreon project successfully to Japan. Oh yeah, there’s more than just the Earring. To stop name-dropping about our stars from the past, let’s look at the export of today. Three names were constantly topping the lists in the first decade of the new millennium. Aforementioned Tïësto is omnipresent. Goth rock band Within Temptation – inspired by fellow countrymen The Gathering - has won the Dutch Export Prize many times. Especially Germany has always been good to them. However, undoubtedly by far the biggest of the lot, is classical violinist André Rieu . He’s the biggest export product coming from Holland, selling out stadiums worldwide. In 2008 he earned €4 million outside of Holland, of which €700.000 in Australia alone. Of all genres, biggest export product is dance. Tiësto, Armin van Buuren , Ferry Corsten , Sander Kleinenberg and Sander van Doorn are household names in the annual Top 10 of the world’s best DJs. Fedde Le Grand ‘s ( Put Your Hands Up for) Detroit (2007) is a recent global smash hit. In 2009 Sidney Samson enjoyed a number 2 hit single with Riverside in the UK and Australia. Laidback Luke , one of the hardest working DJs in Holland, collaborated with Swedish House Mafia. Operating in-between dance, disco and pop, Kraak & Smaak have toured the US various times. More export is to be expected from ‘big band revivalist with a touch of hip beats’ Caro Emerald , whose debut album Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room has sold in excess of 200.000 at home in the past year. Move over Amy, Caro is on her way with releases in Poland (gold album), UK, Spain, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Will she try to invade the Japanese market like jazz pop crooner Wouter Hamel already did before her? All ‘n’ all the Dutch are a significant force on the international music market (including live shows, rights and recordings) as the facts and figures in the boxed information below show. FACTS AND FIGURES In 2008 copyright body BUMA commissioned the last big export survey. It marked a 15% raise, as compared to the year before. Total value of the export amounted to € 50,2 million. (NB: Big local stars such as Anouk, Marco Borsato, Kane and Ilse DeLange have made their fortune on the domestic market only). Breakdown of Dutch export product: Live shows: - Dance: €14,5 million, 28,9% - Others, including pop/rock: €12,3 million, 24,5% - Sub total: €26,8 million, 53,4% Rights: - Copyrights: €8,9 million, 17,8% - Mechanical rights: €3,8 million, 7,6% - Neighbouring eights: €1,8 million, 3,6% - Sub total: €14,6 million, 29,1% Recordings: - Dance labels: €3,3 million, 6,5% - Majors: €2,9 million, 5,8% - Others: €2 million, 4% - International signings: €0,6 million, 1,2% - Sub total: €8,8 million, 17,5% Total: €50,2 million, 100% Eurosonic Noorderslag: a brief history of 25 years The year 1986 marks the birth of the Noorderslag music conference and showcase festival. In those days it was a Dutch music only showcase festival.