Now that the dust of the whirlwind that is ADE has settled, we have taken some time to look back at our first time participating in the madness!
We kicked off the week with an invitation to a brand new addition to Amsterdam’s nightlife. iNN opened a couple weeks before ADE, so what better way to test the soundsystem than to invite not one but two DJ collectives. Together with Girls Don’t Sync, DRIIA and Tiffany Calver, we got to showcase our UK oriented side. We all love a little bassline from time to time, so this was a linkup for the books.
On friday we were joined by local heroes Jolani Jhones and Jarreau Vandal (among others) for a special ADE edition by the Amsterdam-based collective threesïxty in Bitterzoet. The last time we played at Bitterzoet was back in May when we hosted our own event there (IYKNK), so it felt good to be back behind the decks (which were placed in the middle of the crowd in a crazy boiler room-type setup). While Wednesday we were given the chance to set the mood with an opening set, on Friday we were asked to tear the place down from 3 to 4. Shout-out to all the dancers who put up with Karel’s baile funk experiments and Malik’s breakbeat attacks.
This year, ADE attracted a record number of half a million visitors. As a contrast to all the networking events and warehouse raves, we felt the need to organize a little get-together for the community. So on the last day of ADE, we decided to give the acronym a little twist, turning Sexyland into Antiano Dance Event: Koi Kansá. Starting at 20:00 with pastechi’s and ròm bèrdè, we turned the club up on a Sunday, alongside an all Curacaoan lineup of DJ Lele, Amadeus, and Tera Kòrá. From the Ritmo Kombina of Lele to the Roadfire of Malik, the event was an ode to music and culture from the Dutch Antilles, and it felt good to see so many people from the community enjoying themselves on a chilly Sunday evening in October.
One of the most precious moments of the week was the look on Lennert’s face when he first heard the edit of Cura classic Donkey Kong by DJ Iski, that he and Tera Kòrá made, being played by another DJ in the wild on Saturday (shoutout to the boss Tida Kamara).
This edit is one of eight tracks we released on the occasion of our first own ADE event. As the first installment of a series of edit packs, this volume flips several certified classics every Curaçaoan will know into heavy hitters ready for the club. Check out the edit pack on our Soundcloud and Bandcamp and stay tuned for more. Finally, we’re putting together a special something on the 9th of December so save the date…