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Introducing … |
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Pieter de Rooij, programme maker world musicPieter has been working at the Concertzender since 1993 and is a member of the editorial office of our world music department. “Everything that can be called world music is featured in my programmes. There were
times that I made two programmes in a month, but I don't achieve those
levels of productivity at the moment. Now I make a new episode of
‘Wereldmine-ralen’ every two months. This programme generally
features new releases in all genres but sometimes there is a special
that focusses on one specific genre. Best music broadcaster “I work for the Concertzender for the simple reason that it is the world's best music broadcaster - I mean it. I don't know another broadcaster that has the same diversity, both in terms of the breadth and the depth of the music. This exceptional programming is made possible by the expertise and dedication of the programme makers. They are so motivated that they are willing to make the programmes as volunteers and without payment. They include staff (and ex-staff) from the Dutch radio stations in Hilversum with a love of the music and a determination to make it more widely known. An extra bonus for the listeners is that the makers often use unique material from their own personal collections. This means that you can often listen to music that cannot be heard anywhere else.” 
A glutton for music “I have had a great hunger for music since I was young, have a broad taste and listen to many different types of music. My parents' record collection wasmy introduction to classical and opera and pop came from older brothers and sisters, but that was not all. I had a paper-round when I was a teenager and I spent almost all the money that I earned on records. I also heard a lot of music by listening to the radio. In this way I broadened and extended my musical hori- zons. In the 1970s when I was 13 or 14, I was also into blues- rock (Jimi Hendrix), (hard)rock (Led Zeppelin), jazzrock (Mahavishnu Orchestra), symfonic pop (Yes, Genesis, Camel), conceptual rock (Pink Floyd) en avant-garde rock (particularly the bands from the ‘Canterbury Scene’, such as Soft Machine, Gong, Magma, Matching Mole, Hatfield and the North) as well as Indian raga music, African traditional music and gamelan music from Indonesia. In about 1980 I also started to listen to a lot of jazz. I think that my great interest in music from India, Africa and Indonesia developed from an interest in minimal music that began in the second half of the 1970s. Composers such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass were heavily influenced by music from India, Africa and Indonesia. That is the connection.” My own world music programme “In the early 1990s I started working for the Amsterdam broadcaster called‘MART’ (Multiculturele Amsterdamse Radio en Televisie). I had my own world music programme there called ‘Kris-Kras’ that I presented live. I still have a couple of the programmes on cassette, including one about Oumou Sangaré, a female singer from Mali. I made my first programmes for the Concertzender in 1993, some time before I became part of the editoral office. These must have included at least three episodes of ‘Metamorfosen’ because I still have tapes of those programmes at home. Two of those programmes were about gamelan and one was about West- African kora music. I joined the editorial office of the world music department around 1996 and from then on I made programmes regularly. These were very varied programmes: ‘Wereldmineralen’, ‘Volksmuziek’, ‘Klankenstapper’, ‘OpgeHoesd’, ‘Let’s Movie’ and of course ‘Gharana’, my own programme about Indian ragas.” Gamelan “In 1988 I graduated in cultural anthropology from the Universiteit of Amsterdam.I also followed a number of other courses including ethno-musicology during my studies. My final year thesis was about opera. I started to play the gamelan from Java and Bali in 1982, shortly after I started at university. I did this for almost 20 years. At one time I was playing in four different gamelan groups, and did perfor- mances for radio and television. I also own a piano, but I play that purely for my own enjoyment. Unfortunately my technique is rather limited, because I did not start until I was twenty. After university I also followed the training for music librarian and started working in a public library in the 1990s before I made the move to the broadcasters in Hilversum in 1993. I worked for a year cataloging music for the Netherlands Audiovisual Archive (NAA), an organisation that is now known as the Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid.” Wereldomroep “In 1995 I started working full-time as an archivist and information
specialist for In addition to my activities for the radio and for libraries and
archives I have also worked as a music journalist. Over the years, I
have regularly written reviews and articles for festivals and
magazines. I also wrote CD reviews for the world music magazine 'Mixed'
from 2007 to 2009, but that magazine has unfortunately stopped.
And last but not least, I have been working part-time since 2000 making
music documentaries for the radio (Concertzender, Wereldomroep, VPRO)
and for my own YouTube channel. Editing a documentary for the radio or television is the best of all. I get completely involved in that. Nothing else matter at that moment, I
forget everything alse around me. Being busy with composing and editing
a programme
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