October 7, 2014

Five top Dutch DJs adorning postage stamps

Filed under: Music by Orangemaster @ 10:49 am

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During the now world-famous Amsterdam Dance Event that runs from October 15 to 19, five Dutch DJs will receive their very own set of Dutch postage stamps with their faces on it. PostNL, who issues Dutch stamps, considers these five DJs to be, “leading names in the dance music world,” and it would be hard to disagree with that considering the monies they generate.

Then again, since DJing is too often synonymous with dance music, many other Dutch DJs probably deserve a stamp, which is what VICE argues, a few of which have inspired the ones that made it onto the stamps.

The multicoloured faces of Afrojack, Armin van Buuren, Dash Berlin, Hardwell and Tiësto are the ones on the stamps, while VICE suggests other major names like Dimitri, Antal and Joris Voorn. It’s simple: you’re famous and rich because you’re known outside the country then stamp, you’re great, but remain a domestic or European affair, no stamp. And of course, there’s the glaring lack of women such as Isis and maybe some from this list.

(Links: www.nu.nl, thump.vice.com, Image: www.postnl.nl)

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June 19, 2013

Armin van Buuren featured with vinyl records at Madurodam

Filed under: General,Music by Orangemaster @ 9:02 am
800px-Armin_Van_Buuren_2

Recently someone asked me if I had ever been to Madurodam in The Hague, an attraction many tourists and Dutch people visit, especially with kids, and my answer was ‘no’. Someone also recently asked me why Dutch DJs (music producers, really) Tiësto, Afrojack and Armin van Buuren were world-famous to which I pertly answered that Afrojack didn’t count in my books and that the other two make dance/trance music that the Dutch seem to make best.

Now that Armin van Buuren is just that much more popular than Tiësto and considered an export product like some sort of cheese, he’s now also featured in Madurodam.

As a DJ myself I am a bit miffed that Madurodam has set up turntables (you know, for vinyl records) as an attraction when in fact Van Buuren plays off CD players. I don’t care what he uses, but the art of using turntables is and will always be totally different than using CDs.

Madurodam, you’re willfully misleading children. It would be like giving them a chance to play with acrylic paints trying to mimic their favourite street graffiti artist.

(Link: www.omroepwest.nl, Photo of Armin van Buuren by Peter Drier, some rights reserved)

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March 26, 2010

Armin van Buuren wins world’s best DJ award

Filed under: Music by Orangemaster @ 11:51 am
800px-Armin_Van_Buuren_2

Dutch trance DJ Armin van Buuren has just won Best Global DJ award at the International Dance Music Awards (IDMA) in Miami, US. His record label Armada also won Best Record Label for the second year in a row. At last year’s awards, Van Buuren won Best European DJ and Best Podcast.

World-famous DJ Tiësto who won Best Global DJ in 2008 and 2009, as well as a total of four awards in 2009 probably picked up something this year (winners not yet officially announced as I write this), while Ferry Corsten was nominated as Best European DJ and nominated in other categories.

There is something to be said about the Dutch and DJing even just looking at the IDMA nominees for 2010: Van Buuren, Tiësto and Corsten as well as Laidback Luke, Sander van Doorn and Joris Voorn are all Dutch and some of them have been nominated in more than one category.

I saw Armin van Buuren live at Dance Valley in 2009 and although I am not a fan of his work per se, he really knew how to please his audience.

(Link: parool.nl, wintermusicconference, Photo of Armin van Buuren by Peter Drier, some rights reserved.)

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