ROTTERDAM ELECTRONIC MUSIC FESTIVAL

Thursday is the the kick off for the Rotterdam Electronic Music Festival (REMF, november 9th -11th) in The Netherlands. Since it's the first time the festival is held we want to know more about it and asked festival director Joachim Marijnen to tell about it.

What is your involvement with REMF and how did you get involved?
I am the initiator of the festival and festival director alongside my partner Michel Smit who is responsible for the business side of the festival. I am responsible for the creative and program part of REMF. The idea for the festival was with me for 6 years already. We tried to do the Festival in 2001 but we were to late with funding and the climate in Rotterdam was not ready for a festival like REMF. At that time the city was "Cultural Capital of Europe" and all public funds where already given to other projects. So the idea landed in the freezer and we started to focus on other projects like the clubnight ON@Off-Corso; the "Sound Architecture" events as well as bookings. We got involved with some smaller festivals like "Technart" and "The Wide Spectrum" during the museum night at the NAI in Rotterdam and we were responsible for part of the programming for festivals such as "Isle of MTV", "Sound and Vision" in The Hague and the underground stage at the Movement Festival in Detroit (DEMF) in 2004. Actually we built the network needed to organize a festival such as REMF. At the end of 2005 the clubs, the scene as wel as the city came with the question why Rotterdam did not have a festival reflecting the electronic music scene in Rotterdam. This was the sign for me to get the REMF plan back out of the fridge and start creating the Electric City.


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