Friday 23 May, alternative pop band Labasheeda played at the Winston in Amsterdam. Michele Carloni asks the group's drummer, Italian expat Paolo Panza, about the Dutch music scene.

London experience
Prior to coming to Holland several years ago, Paolo lived in London where he studied English and played with several bands. The English capital, a fertile ground for any emerging musician, enabled the Italian drummer to deepen his knowledge of the music world and the mechanisms which regulate it and strengthened his resolve to continue developing his talent on his return to Italy.  

 It wasn’t long before Paolo decided to move abroad again; this time to the Netherlands.  

 “When I first came to Holland I didn’t speak a word of Dutch and I didn’t have any direct contact among local people,” says Paolo.  

“Nevertheless I managed to quickly find a job, a house and different music groups to play with, even living in a small town like Leiden. I owe this mainly to the internet, which was already well established in the Netherlands at that time, while in Italy it is still striving to emerge from the many bureaucratic procedures entangling it.”

After many years of active participation in the alternative music scene in and outside the country, Paolo’s expertise allows him to straddle the music scene between England, Italy and Holland.

[Photo: Labasheeda]

“The musical nation par excellence is England” says Paolo “the professionalism of the groups, the level of competition among them and the magnitude of the business behind them is unparalleled in Europe.”  

“To be honest,” continues Paolo, “The quality of the music in Italy can be very high and it may have nothing to envy in England. Actually this is what these two countries have in common and what distinguishes them from Holland. The passion and dedication of the people who have chosen music as the artistic means to express their dreams is absolute. If in England it is the professional competition which determines the survival of a band, in Italy it is the indifference of the public institutions and the general disorganisation which spurs on the artists.”

Dutch downside
At first glance, the Netherlands appears to be the ideal place for musicians. A well-organised network of foundations and non-profit organisations, financed by the state, open the way to an intense calendar of musical events which take place in most towns – even some small villages host a music festival.

However, “this doesn’t help to preserve the quality of the music produced, nor increase opportunities for emerging groups to properly promote themselves,” says Paolo, who emphasises an even more disquieting aspect of the problem.

 “A vicious circle prevails: only the same people seem to have access to public funding and a restricted, privileged number of bands are invited to the most prestigious events.”

Undercover connections
Paolo sees that these bands appear to enjoy an extended network of undercover connections.

“A great part of the funding is wasted or badly administered in Holland by the venues. The emerging band which was supposed to be sponsored scarcely gets a refund for its own expenses, while the musicians are forced to invite their own friends to fill the pub or club, due to a poor promotional campaign,” he says, pointing out that the result of reducing competition in the business “is sometimes a depressing display of amateurish musical performances.”

More passion please
Labasheeda, a band of contrasts, whose poppy melodies are interspersed by unexpected breaks of electric violin and guitar, can be a positive example of that passion and dedication not always present in the Dutch alternative musical scene.
Despite the above-mentioned restrictions, the group has participated over the years in famous festivals such as Crossing Border and Saskia, its leader, has proved her marketing skills when promoting the band and has often succeeded in gleaning financial support from ‘unofficial’ sources.

Over the last two years, Labasheeda has toured the Netherlands as well as England, Germany, Belgium and Czech Republic. Paolo has also toured North America several times with Templo Diez, another Netherlands-based band which this summer will release its new album Merced. Paolo, with Templo Diez, will participate in next month’s festival The Music in my Head in The Hague.

Paolo finds the public ‘abroad’ – for instance in the Czech Republic or Germany - warmer than in Amsterdam’s venues. “Unfortunately,” he says, “Amsterdam does not live up to its role as capital within the Dutch music world. Maybe the best town for festivals and events is Nijmegen. Utrecht and The Hague also offer interesting opportunities.”

Labasheeda calendar for the coming weeks includes:

Winston, Amsterdam 23 May, 21.00 h

Lokaal Vredebreuk, Den Haaag 18 June, 20.00 h

Labasheeda web site: www.labasheeda.nl/ or their bit of Myspace.

Michele Carloni is a freelance illustrator living in Amsterdam.

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20 May 2008

[Copyright Expatica 2008]