Congratulations to
Concertzender!
In the Netherlands, public tv and radio used to maintain the educational mission of bringing "normal" people in contact with all kinds of music. Unfortunately, a lot of music styles are almost lost on these channels, unlike neighbour countries like for example France, Belgium, Germany and UK. Also there, non-mainstream music is always threatened. One could argue why is it important to want to educate people with other than mainstream music? I try to explain my point of view quickly:
The thing is: commercial music finds its way easily, there's a lot of money behind, lots of promotion, plus it is so easy to digest and catchy that it promotes itself. This music will find a place in history, being part of a generational vibe, fashion.. while other music is created by artists which are also significant. They try so see things from a different perspective and would be overlooked when having to survive on market forces only.
Personally, I am against terms like high culture and low culture because art should not have anything to do with social status, elite.
I believe that everybody should have access to all culture and therefore, a honest representation of all art forms is needed. Since the Dutch public tv and radio are failing to do so, creating musicians are very happy with zones like Concertzender.
Concertzender is filling this gap, being the platform for a lot of music other than mainstream. Yesterday, Concertzender was
awarded with the "Zilveren Reissmicrofoon", a very important radio prize (read further on
Wikipedia).
I am super happy and a bit proud of the achievements of Concertzender, celebrating its 40th jubilee this year. What do I have to do with it? I am on the board and therefore part of this enormous team effort, lead by the one and only Sem de Jongh (director) who strides for this important platform for many years now, together with only a small team of paid staff and a lot of volunteers. Needless to say that Concertzender should be supported and invested in because it delivers. Fantastic to receive this important sign of apprechiation, it means a lot to everyone involved. Actually, YOU can become
Concertzender friend and support us. And, to celebrate 40 years of Concertzender,
World Of Jazz has been launched a few weeks ago, a jazz radio channel!
Look at the
list of people who are involved! This is such a great team effort!
