North Sea Round Town
Dawn: A Trilogy of Sound
Rotterdam Wihelmina Pier
June 28-29, 2019

North Sea Round Town is a community-based festival in the port city of Rotterdam (largest port in Europe) situated in the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta at the North Sea. With its 365 concerts spread over 125 locations in the city for 18 days it is an upbeat to the three-days commercial mega North Sea Jazz Festival. The locations are equally as diverse as the broad range of presented music that, for a large part, is integrated in the daily life of ordinary people in the boroughs of the city with its multi-ethnic make-up. More than 50% of the population of Rotterdam are of non-Dutch origin with people from Suriname and the Caribbean, from Turkey, Morocco and Cabo Verde as the largest ethnic groups. This article deals with only one very special event of the program, an 8-hour night concert 100m high above the ground in the largest building in the Netherlands with a broad 3600 view on the city, the river, and the iconic Erasmus Bridge.

Rotterdam Dawn Trilogy

This nightly 8-hour continuous stream of improvised music was entitled "Dawn: A Trilogy of Sound," henceforth referred to as Rotterdam Dawn Trilogy (RDT). RDT was an affair of playful particles amalgamating through free improvisation in an hours-long continuous stream thereby generating significant sonic gestures and lines, which worked as sound track of the surrounding real urban life at the gates of dawn. The building served as a relay between the ongoing music, the inner world of the audience members, and the sensations from the exterior, the urban activities and the shifting night—a real dream.

Where

RDT was happening on the 31st floor of the building De Rotterdam, a 3600 space of 890m2 more than 100m height above the urban ground, situated at Rotterdam's Wilhelmina Pier. De Rotterdam, dating from 2013 and designed by Rem Koolhaas, is the largest (not the highest) building in The Netherlands. With its three towers, 44 floors, 160 000 square meters and 150 meters height it offers a magnificent view on the 802-metre long iconic cable-stayed Erasmus Bridge. It is conceived as a vertical city with plenty of functional facilities.

When / Who / How

The performances lasted from midnight to dawn into early morning. The music was an 8-hour continuous stream of free improvised music, coming out of small sound gestures wondrously amalgamating, floating, permeating and transforming the space of the 31st floor, enchanting and expanding the senses of the audience. The decision to attend is also a decision to step out of one's own ordinary daily routine, not knowing if you will fall asleep, stay in a waking dream, enter a trance, or will drop out after a while.

The night went in three parts: WHITE MOON (2 hrs); BLUE HOUR (4 hrs); GOLDEN LIGHT (2 hrs) were played by three configurations. WHITE MOON was performed by Belgian guitarist Bert Cools from Antwerp. The four-hour middle part BLUE HOUR was performed by multinational unit L'Ensemble Ensemble comprising French pianist/flautist