2023 sees DMC returning to Amsterdam and ADE with panels, parties, showcases, competitions and a DMC40 Exhibition – a long overdue joining of forces for two of the most important brands in the dance music world.
But in the 40th year of DMC’s long illustrious history, it is worth turning back the clock for a moment and returning to October 1990 – where at venues all across Amsterdam, DMC organised the European DJ & Music Convention for over 5000 DJs, live artists, music industry peeps, tech companies and clubbers (which started small in the Melkweg in Amsterdam in October in 1988). it was the predecessor of ADE and overwhelming evidence of DMC’s long history and support for the Netherlands music scene.
DMC houdt van Nederland!
It was the legendary DJ/Producer Orlando Voorn who first made us sit up and take notice of the scene in The Netherlands when in 1986 at the DMC World Finals in London, he screamed into the mic one of the most famous quotes in DJ battle history – “what is this, a mixing competition or a scratching competition?” after losing to America’s DJ Cheese. Nobody had seen scratching in Europe before. And it changed EVERYTHING.
Not to be outdone, two years later All Star Fresh won the Dutch Final and took his place in the World Finals at The Royal Albert Hall, famously dissing the red hot favourite Cash Money with his immortal ‘Cash Money Motherfucker’ scratch routine (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JsEHWRZe5U 6:46 m.) enough for a third place and the launch pad for an illustrious production career that began with his seminal King Bee ‘Back By Dope Demand’.
“To be perfectly honest, the level of DJing was high already in The Netherlands – the DMC competition just gave everyone the pedestal we all craved” says the then DMC Netherlands Director Alex Van Oostrom. “We had an amazing music import scene in place and were not afraid to travel around the world making sure our company was represented – All Star Fresh was one of the first non-Americans to be invited to the World Supremacy in New York – whilst I was DJing over in Ibiza as early as 1982. But what DMC gave us was the limelight on a world stage.”
Alex was certainly ahead of his time; alongside discovering future stars in the hip hop based DMC World Championships, he also launched the DMC Dutch House DJ Championships in 1991 where a record shop worker from Rotterdam called Tijs Verwest tried his luck by entering. He didn’t win, but it didn’t affect his career too much… that man was Tiesto.
The DMC DJ competition also gave an opportunity for the likes of Laidback Luke, Pavo, Erick E, DJ Jean and Michel de Hey to all compete – a rich array of talent who would all make a major mark in electronic music.
“For any up and coming Dutch DJ in the 90s, it was an accepted fact that if you did not enter the DMCs, you were not seen as a credible DJ” says Remko de Jong from Dutch music platform Qisum. “And make no mistake, it was no coincidence that when EDM exploded at the turn of the century, the majority of the Dutch artists, who went onto rule the scene, already had a huge advantage with their incredible skills, techniques and tech artistry that they had learnt from years practising for the DMCs. Can we blame DMC for EDM? Maybe a little hahaha!”
And now for 2023 and teaming up with our long-time partner Technics, DMC are flying in some of their biggest World Champions, superstar DJ friends and rising stars for the future for five days of forward thinking activations… at the world’s premier electronic music conference and festival.
The talk of the week will surely be the DMC/TECHNICS SUPERSTAR SOUNDCLASH PANEL at de Brakke Grond on Thursday afternoon; hosted by Sarah Love, the panel is set to be a mouth-watering meeting of minds with three times DMC World Champion Craze joining Todd Terry, Laidback Luke, DJ Chuckie, Nago and T Sia discussing turntablism, technology and the future.
Later in the afternoon at Kanaal40, Technics and DMC present their World Champions Showcase – a masterclass in technical turntablism with 3 times World Champion SKILLZ joining fellow Champions JFB and DJ Topic – again hosted by Sarah Love. Turntable wizardry at the speed of light!
Elsewhere around ADE, DMC will be hosting a Producer Stems Competition at The Red Rooms on Friday plus showcasing their DMC40 Photo Exhibition around the walls of de Brakke Grond – a series of beautiful photography from the last 5 decades of the DMC World DJ Championships featuring the likes of Cash Money, A-Trak, C2C, DJ Qbert and The Scratch Perverts.
The week begins for DMC and Technics on Wednesday with two back to back events at the Faralda Crane with Monkey Shoulder before hitting the canals of Amsterdam with the 50Hertz Boat Party on Thursday night featuring Craze, JFB, Prime Cuts, T Sia and the Bank N’Mash DJs.
DMC. Back by dope demand.
