AMP na engleskom zvuči kao skraćenica za ‘amplifier’ (pojačalo). Ali je takođe poznat akronim za Arnhem Music Platform, lokalni pokret muzičara i kompozitora iz grada Arnhema, Holandija, koji su sebi stvorili podijum da izvode sopstvenu, ali i tuđu muziku. Nije bilo dovoljno što su note bile rade da iskoče iz kajdanke do instrumenta. Bila im je potrebna i scena da izraze taj lični zvuk.
I to je tako počelo pre nekih godinu i po dana.

Tjerk van der Ham i Tessa Zoutendijk stajali su iza početaka AMP projekta. Tjerk kaže da je to bila Tessina ideja, a Tessa da se to ne bi  moglo desiti da nije bilo Tjerka. Tessa ima sposobnost da ujedinjuje ljude, da ih inspiriše. Tjerk je preuzeo ulogu organizatora.

U Arnhemu je to već ličilo na fundamentalnu platformu: arhitekte i dizajneri su se sastali a vizuelni umetnici su skupili svoje snage za novi stil kul kolektiva. Da šire svoju mrežu i ojačavaju svoje pozicije kod zvaničnika i sponzora. Ali još važnije je da ujedinjenim snagama mogu aplicirati za projekte širih razmera. AMP se sastoji od grupe od oko 10 slobodnih volontera koji organizuju koncerte svake nedelje u sezoni od oktobra do maja. Prva sezona je postigla veliki uspeh, uzevši u obzir broj posetilaca i njihove reakcije pune entuzijazma.

Arnhem Music Platform se orijentiše na širu publiku. Program večeri svesno prikazuje različite muzičke stilove  kao u sendviču: svako veče ima različite stilove i žanrove. Na ovaj način ljudi iz AMP-a žele da pokažu da su tamo zastupljene sve varijacije. “Možda ljudi dođu da čuju elektronsku ambijentalnu muziku, ali čuju i neke kantautore, a mogu se i prijatno iznenaditi gudačkim kvartetom. Ovako se mi angažujemo da stvorimo otvoreni um za različite muzičke stilove.”

Mental Chamber Orchestra, Kaas Kwartet i Earshaken Pieces deo su AMP-a. Njihovu muziku možete čuti na:
http://www.myspace.com/mentalchamberorchestra
http://www.myspace.com/kaaskwartet

Say AMP in English and you hear the colloquial for ‘amplifier’. But it is also known as the Arnhem Music Platform, a local initiative of musicians and composers from the city of Arnhem, Netherlands, who created themselves a podium to perform their own and other one’s music. Not only were the notes eager to jump from the music paper into the instrument. They also needed a stage to spread their individual sound.
And it started some year and a half ago.

Tjerk van der Ham and Tessa Zoutendijk stood at the very beginning of AMP. Tjerk says it was Tessa’s idea, and Tessa says it couldn’t have happened without Tjerk. Tessa has the power to bring people together, to inspire them. Tjerk took the role as organizer.

In Arnhem were already similar ‘grass root’ platforms: architects and designers joined together and also visual artist bundled their forces in new style ‘cool collectives. To share their networks and have a more organized lobby to authoroties and sponsors. But maybe even more important by working together they can apply for larger scale projects. AMP consists now a group of around 10 active volunteers who organize concerts on a weekly basis in the season from October to May. The first season was a big success, considering the amount of visitors and their enthousiastic response.

Arnhem Music Platform orientates on a wide audience. The programming of an evening deliberately presents different music styles as a sandwich formula: every evening has different styles and genres. With this the people of AMP want to show the audience that this variation of music is all there. Maybe people come to listen to the electronic ambience concert, but they’ll hear the singer songwriter as well, and may very well be pleasantly surprized by a string quartet. Thus we endeavor to create an open mind to different music styles.”

Mental Chamber Orchestra, Kaas Kwartet and Earshaken Pieces are members of AMP. Their music can be heard on:
http://www.myspace.com/mentalchamberorchestra
http://www.myspace.com/kaaskwartet