Thnx Mr. Burke

A while ago I saw a news flash on the TV. Announcing that Amnesty International was about to celebrate 60 years of human rights together with the "VARA" TV station in a TV special called "Vlammen voor de vrijheid" presented by Dutch TV presentation guru Mathijs van Nieuwekerk.

It would be a special night in which the audience was treated with a large variety of interesting people with stories about human right experiences from all over the world. Allthough they sticked to the "glass is half empty" point of view I wouldn't have minded if they focused more on the positive rather then the negative. I mean there's all of good already done in this world and it's people that live in it.

But hey that was just an introduction to where I was heading with this post...

The main reason why the news flash caught my attention was because of one name that I heard, Solomon Burke, a true music legend in my opinion (#89 in the Rolling Stone greatest singers off al time). So when I got the message I put all my effort into getting two tickets (one for my lady & one for moi), which wound up being pretty easy to do - like 15 minutes or so, a few clicks here and there + send - e VOILA!!.

The reason of really wanting to see this men perform, is quite a egoistical one, I wanted to see him before he becomes an legend in heaven like so many others. I would really love to had the chance to see a.....

Sam Cooke live, performing

"Blowing in the wind"

or "A change is gonna come" or "You send me"

Catching the Mighty Otis's energy directly - and not from an old LP, witnessing the great Donny Hathaway as he performed the wonderfull song "The Ghetto" live in front of my eyes.

So as the Amnesty International event begun I was waiting on that moment, I hoped he would do the song....

"None of us are free"



So at the end of the event Mr. Burke sat in his throne, surrounded by musicians, the guitar started only to accompinied by the organ and the words of "None of us are free". Like it was my birthday Mr Burke handed me a perfect gift. His performance was overwhelming the song he chose was just right and how he (even though sitting in a chair) got the crowd up from their feet was wonderfull to see.

So Mr Solomon Burke (and the people who do a great job @ Amnesty) thank you for being there. I had my first portion of true Soul legacy - I gotta say it tastes better then I imagined.

OtouchO Horecava Award Nominee '09

Hi there!

We just got the news (like a week ago) that we are nominated for an Horecava Innovation Award.

Something that brings me much joy as a young entrepreneur. Just to get the confirmation that you on to something is worth more (although a piece bread tastes good every now and then) than a big bag of money.

So I just wanted everybody to now this - and be happy for me! ;P

grtz

www.otoucho.nl


ps

wanna now what it's about?
Just come to the Horecava 12th of january in Amsterdam Rai

NEW Opposites - Sjonnie & Anita

Nice videoclip

Check 4 more Opposites here

The real is ova here….in The Netherlands

Last night I went to the “Volle Toeren” (Full Throttle) Tour of The Opposites, Dio & Flinke Namen (Big Names) in the venue Watt @ Rotterdam. Last week I was also present at the Paradiso Amsterdam edition, where the roof literally got blown away by the “Volle Toeren” performance.

Yesterday it became clear to me, where the Netherlands used to be a midget on the global hip hop map. Nowadays the Netherlands showcase some of the most revolutionising and original hip hop music in the whole wide world.

The Opposites - Geen Klasse, Geen Stijl (Produced by Reverse)

How did I came to this conclusion, well it’s easy it’s just adding up all the elements that are present and those that are missing in for instance America, Germany, France and the UK.

When Kool Herc started with his movement, in my opinion it started with Bob Dylans “Blowing in the wind” reaching the ear of Sam Cooke - but that’s another post, it was all about being original and innovative with next to nothing. From the basements and improvised clubs through out the NY city boroughs hip hop became bigger and bigger, with numerous icons & people responsible for the growth of this movement.

As we speak it seems that hip hop is at his highest point yet and it still shows room for more growth. But the scene, especially the US scene, seems to be feeding its people good and maybe a little bit to good. The hunger for more is absent - people are satisfied, the hunger for change and innovation to stand out seems to be replaced with “2001 sure shot formulas” in which artist most often use the same ways to brand and position themselves on the overcrowded market.

I mean you have 3892 triple six maffia’s, 16.890 Jay-z’s, 35.627 50 cent’s and were still waiting on the next line of Kanye West’s with a “Made in China” label in the neck.

So to get back on topic and speak about The Netherlands its pioneering hip hop scene.

The Cool Kids for instance, they are becoming big names and pioneers in the US scene – but the image and music they are portraying are overlapping what artist such as “de jeugd van tegenwoordig” (Todays Youth) from the Dutch scene were doing way before the Cool Kids as a group even existed.

It seems that the Netherlands are becoming global trendsetters on this part. This influence is already growing in the International Hip Hop world. For instance one of the better “music” productions from the G-Unit camp ever, Stunt 101, was produced by Jay Collin from The Netherlands only to be stolen by Denuan Porter. Nicolay made the critically acclaimed album Foreign exchange together with Justice League and is still working on upcoming projects. Akon’s right hand production man Giorgio Tuinfort co-produced allot of the latest Konvict records tracks.

In my opinion the mix off cultures and history of music in the Netherlands have made it to what it is. Most of the people that are creating the face of Hip Hop in The Netherlands all have roots that lay in other continents; South America, Africa, Asia, Eur-Asia. If you add up the fact that the Netherlands are #1 on the Global House & Dance scene you get a mix that produces the best and freshest hip hop I’ve seen and heard in a while.

Ill give you a few examples of Dutch artist, so you can look for yourselves and judge.

Examples

- The Opposites

- De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig

- C'mon & Kypski ft Pete Philly

- Dio

- Kempi

- Appa & Mr Sjaak

- Flinke Namen

Focusrite Liquid Mix Video Interview

here they are interviewing a friend of mine Koen Heldens

Here some quick info about Koen Heldens.

The Music Surgeon is a multi platinum mixing engineer who has worked with the stunning
likes of Beyonce, Britney Spears, Keri Hilson, Timbaland, Flo Rida, T-Pain, Lil' Wayne,
Juelz Santana, Fat Joe, Remy Martin, amongst many others.


For more info on Koen go to the Mirrormixing blogspot

Presidential branding

It takes companies time, effort and allot of money to create brand identity – and it can take even more time, effort and money to redesign it once it’s established. Presidential candidates operate on a much different schedule than the traditional companies or organizations. This is visible in the design management strategies concerning it’s branding. Allot of it has to be done in a short time span, therefore as Gorb states about design's central role in planning,

"design becomes the key element in the planning process of the business - the plan for the things the enterprise makes, sells, uses, or communicates with.”

But just as with products and services, after the strategy has been layed out and put into play. Once the possible voters have a collection of related images and ideas in their mind, it’s very difficult to change those perceptions.

A good example of this is, major oil companies have spent millions on marketing in the last few years. Trying to show there “green” way of doing business now and in the near future. But a 2006 study by Harris Interactive, showed that only 7% of the surveyed people believed the oil companies concern with global warming and the environment.

“Democrats saw Hillary Clinton as the best prepared, most experienced and most competent candidate for the presidency despite a lack of warmth and likability. Barack Obama had all the personal attributes Clinton lacks – but he also lacked her depth of experience. Despite efforts to address these brand weaknesses, each candidate’s success at changing these perceptions has thus far proven marginal.” Chernoff Newman

So changing a brands perception is difficult, still a brand needs to respond to change if they want to remain relevant on the market. When people became more aware about their health, fast food restaurants added salads and vitamin containing meals to there menu and further brand expressions.

For instance John McCain has a true American maverick, stable brand identity – but his brand is losing trust among Republican primary voters and the huge amount of “floating” voters. His brand value was damaged, for a large part because Obama’s campaign, linked it with Bush his brand promises and brand values. By doing so McCain was forced to distance himself and rebrand his campaign from more of the same into a innovative one. One thing he did was choosing the young conservative female Alaska governor Sarah Palin. Hereby trying to put himself as a innovative brand in opposite of the old non-trustable and outdated one.

Obama’s success proofs that with his design management organisation, in which change & innovation play a huge part, it is possible to build a massive brand in such a short timespan. Building it step by step and manipulating the momentum, changing from topdog to the underdog position.

The Democrats use of radical change in design management was the key,

“Most companies do not rely on radical innovations; they rely on incremental innovation, none more so than Japanese companies, which demonstrate so well the use of frequent redesign and modification to enhance performance and quality” Cooper, R. and Press, M. (1995)

By this they were directly answering to the needs of the US people, the need for change of old fashioned politics.

DIO - Rock & Roll (Vanaf november 2008 in de winkel! - Dutch)

Na wat snippets gehoord te hebben en laatst op stage in Paradiso DIO live gezien te hebben. Word deze man zijn debuut eentje om zeker te gaan checken. HQ music goede teksten- nice delivery en original shit.

Props naar Biggy 2 & Dio

Hier nog wat over het album:
Quote Dio's blog "Laten we om te beginnen het ff over gisteravond hebben; Wauuwww!!! “Op Volle Toeren” in de Paradiso. Het was echt heel erg hard, het was echt een toffe avond, en ik denk dat ik gister de langste crowdsurf heb geboekt.

Maar goed, backstage kreeg ik in één keer heel veel smsjes en van alle kanten te horen dat ik bij De Wereld Draait Door was, waarop ik antwoordde dat dat niet kon want ik was er nog nooit geweest, maar het bleek dus dat Giel Beelen himself in het programma het over mij had, en dat zeker niet op een slechte manier. Giel heeft een soort sampler van het album en gisterochtend verraste hij me al door te zeggen dat het het beste hiphop album is dat hij dit jaar heeft gehoord. Nou kon me dag eigenlijk niet beter (dacht ik), maar kijk ik vannacht ff de uitzending terug en zie ik dat Giel het album in zijn hand heeft en het wederom weer het album van het jaar noemt en ook nog ff een paar snippets draait, bij de Wereld Draait Door!!!!"

Check hier voor DWDD TV programma
http://www.diomusic.nl
http://www.theopposites.nl

Solva About us (peoplecounting system company that I work for)

A quick overview on what it is, that we exactly do.

http://www.solva.nl/

Drawing of Eckart Wintzen

It was quite a blow to me when I got the news about the passing of Mr. Eckart Wintzen. Not on of close relationship proportions, that would be an insult to the ones that loved and knew him. But it did do something to me…

It was @ the BID 2008 were I sneaked in to witness the cream of the crop (1500 euro's was little out of my reach) in international business discussing forum about different topics. They would switch from Wesley Clark talking about Dutch business mentality and wind energy to Louis van Gaal's vision on reaching targets & goals.

At one point this men, that stood out completely from all the others, took the stage and made his presence felt. I didn’t know the men talking at that point, but he had my attention.

Later on when we had the opportunity to mingle with each other, my courage sunk in to the bottom of my shoes. So I left it for what it was and thought: “Well we’ll meet again some place sometime”

It came all right but then in a different way. As the plane was making itself ready on Schiphol for boarding I went into the bookstore to look for some reading material. There my eyes catched a image of the men with the big grey eyebrows and infectious smile. Right before me lay the book on cell management principle, written by Eckart Wintzen. It didn’t take me long to buy it.

We hopped on the plane to Egypt and when we were back my hole body had a tan except for my head. There was a perfect square of paleness from were the book was when I red it under the Egyptian sun.

Being back for a week, I wanted to look how I could get in touch with him. But 7 days later I got the news off his passing.

It was a big loss for the Dutch business & more so for the tons of young people that still could learn allot from a person like he was.

The book is called: Eckart Wintzen notes

His website: http://www.extent.nl

The company that I work for (Dutch)

Solva valt onder de Solvatronics Group en is Europees marktleider op het gebied van elektronische bezoekerstellers en managementsoftware sinds 1993.

Het merk Solva staat voor gebruiksvriendelijke en betrouwbare oplossingen, gebaseerd op de nieuwste SolvaLution Management adviessoftware en SolvaCounter telsystemen. Onze producten worden voornamelijk gebruikt in de retail en in andere sectoren waar bedrijven door middel van klantentelsystemen hun bedrijfsresultaten willen verbeteren.

Onze werkzaamheden en applicaties verhogen de bedrijfsresultaten. Dit doen we door gebruik te maken van bezoekerstellers en onze software met koppeling naar bestaande management systemen. Hiermee meten en analyseren wij instore locatie factoren als: retail conversie, loop route bepaling, winkel routing, vlekkenplan, winkel conversie en personeelsplanning.

Solva staat voor: Professioneel, Ondersteunend, Gemak, Gespecialiseerd, Betrouwbaar, Geavanceerd en Diversiteit in onze producten. Dit heeft er toe geleid dat veel internationaal opererende klanten en resellers ons als hun partner kiezen.

Solva Peoplecounting
Schepenbergweg 13
1105 AS Amsterdam-ZO
The Netherlands
E omar@solva.nl I www.solva.nl

Obama: Internal media relevances

For the Design Management minor we need make an essay about a subject by own choice.

I am doing my essay on Design Management in the US presidential race of 2008.

One of the topics in this essay regards the internal media relevance.

- What made this election so immense popular?

- Why are there so many new registered voters?

- Why is Obama breaking record after record, in any category you can think of?

As we all know, one of Obama’s biggest share of voters are the younger people. The new generation that grew up with lesser racial barriers, deeper and wider access to global news and therefore having more knowledge about life itself. (then for instance somebody that grew up in the 70’s)

This interest isn't something that was just there and took off. From my point of view it has something to do with the ideology that is changed by these things. It resulted in a totally new audience with different expectations, needs, values and norms. An audience that emphasises more with the happenings in the world of today. Thereby engaging itself with the protection of it.

People like Michael Moore, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Al Gore & Bill Maher are becoming hero's in these world of ideology. They were here way before Obama was even thinking about running for president. All of these individuals were using their mass media stages, with great succes, to bring us content that is related to politics (War, Health care, Economics, enviroment). Most of them do this by mixing entertainment with these heavy topics, making it enjoyable to watch and absorb.

It even became a trend for big celebs to show off there commitment to the world. In almost every news and gossip media publication there was always a Bono, Madonna, Angelina, Tyra, Oprah etc etc related article that they would do something good for the world.

So to conclude my philosophy on this topic: Media's new channels changed our Ideology, it made us more aware of the things happening on the earths surface. Icons and hero's bridged the gap between the people and politics. It gave the people the feeling that we could make a change ourselves and that we could understand what was happening.

In result we have a candidate that thrives on the two topics of Change & We and uses that to speak directly in to the hearts of the people. Thereby engaging in a strong bond with the audience and releasing a revolution in US election history.

* I'll post more of the topics relating to the US election later on

Marty Neuemeier "The Brand Gap"

Since this is going to be my playground and im still waitin for the other kids to drop by, so we can build some sandcastles ;)

I'm dedicating this post on a book

@ school im finishing my Design management minor. It took the teacher quite some time to convince me on the importance of applying academic theory with the knowledge that you gather by just working. I mean i am a big supporter of just listening, observating and read what crosses my path. You won't find me sitting behind a desk and going through statistics, numbers and other deep research related material.

After he convinced me I was like, ok well what should and could be a good starters for me.

Then a classmate of mine, Lenn, gave me this book for me to read. I took it - gave the cover a glimpse - and put it in my back and took it home. Later on when i was in the train on my way to Rotterdam, i started reading it and didn't stop till i reached the final page.

What a good and most of all what a logical book it was, it adressed topics i didn't know, it opened my eyes to things I almost knew and it showed me that I was already understanding the basics to branding.

The Author Marty Neuemeier really gave a good and clean insight into the world of branding.

Here you can view the website of Marty's company Neutron LLC

Stephen Colbert speaks from the "Gut" to Bush

Speech at the White House Correspondent's Dinner (2006)

Yeah I know, it has been 2 years ago. But i just came across it, it never got any attention across the Atlantic. It was really entertaining to see that a person like Mr. Stephen Colbert stood up and took such a perfect attack on Bush and what his Political ideology stood for. Praises to Mr Colbert


Part 1




Part 2

Op volle toeren mixtape + Tour (Dutch)

De Op Volle Toeren tour van The Opposites, Dio en Flinke Namen gaat aanstaande zaterdag, 27 september, van start in Patronaat te Haarlem. Daarna doet de tour Eindhoven, Groningen, Amsterdam, Rotterdam en Utrecht aan. Om je alvast in de juiste stemming te brengen hebben o.a. The Opposites, Dio, Flinke Namen, Sjaak, Willie Wartaal en P. Fabergé een stapel gloednieuwe tracks gemaakt die door The Flexican vakkundig in elkaar zijn gemixt tot de officiële, gratis te downloaden Op Volle Toeren mixtape. Download de mixtape via één van onderstaande links:

- Directe download via de Top Notch webserver.


Op Volle Toeren Mixtape (gemixt door The Flexican) Tracklist:

01. The Flexican - Op Volle Toeren Intro (0:46)
02. The Opposites - We Zijn Op Volle Toeren met Dio & Flinke Namen (3:54)
03. Flinke Namen - Rol Je Raam (3:37)
04. The Opposites - Blijf Branden met Dio (3:25 )
05. The Opposites - Sjonnie & Anita (1:56)
06. Big2 - Steek Je Middelvinger Up met Sjaak (2:53)
07. The Opposites - Pornstar met P. Fabergé & Sjaak (3:39)
08. The Opposites - Ey Ey Ey met Sef & Mc Marboo (3:20)
09. Flinke Namen - Professioneel met The Opposites & Dio (4:36)
10. Big2 - Murder Inc. met Willie Wartaal, Turk & P. Fabergé (3:11)
11. Big2 - Je Weet Niks met Dio (3:08)
12. Big2 - Mojito met Sef & Sjaak (2:12)
13. Flinke Namen - Mensen Staren (2:45)
14. Dio - Het Is Je Boy met Voicst (3:06)
15. The Opposites - Schud Je Reet met The Partysquad (3:23)
16. Dio - Ze Roepen (3:27 )
17. Big2 - Boom Base met Sef & Mc Marboo (3:07)
18. The Opposites - 100% Vooraan met Sjaak, Dio, P. Fabergé & Sef (8:25)

Voor de liefhebber is de Op Volle Toeren mixtape binnenkort in gelimiteerde oplage op cd verkrijgbaar bij Free Record Shop.

The Opposites Op Volle Toeren tourdata:

do 16-10 Paradiso (Amsterdam)
do 23-10 Watt (Rotterdam)
vr 24-10 Tivoli (Utrecht)

Tot ziens bij één van bovenstaande speeldata! Houd TMF.nl en het TMF programma Reaction in de gaten voor nieuwtjes, acties & meer rondom Op Volle Toeren.

Meer over Op Volle Toeren

Je had er eigenlijk bij moeten zijn, de potentiele avond van je leven. Paradiso (Amsterdam) stond 14 maart jongstleden volledig in het teken van de verfrissende golf Nederlandse hiphop die The Opposites, Dio en Flinke Namen teweegbrengen. Er werd groots uitgepakt met speciale live-shows aangekleed met een fris decor. DJ Willie Wartaal, Mr. Wix en Flexican trakteerden de aanwezige trommelvliezen tussen de bedrijven door op ultieme uit-je-dak sets. Deze heilige dj-drieaanheid heb je definitief gemist, de helden waar het echt om draait kun je gelukkig bewonderen tijdens de herkansingen in Haarlem, Eindhoven, Groningen, Amsterdam, Rotterdam en Utrecht. DJ Jim Aasgier houdt de motor draaiende achter de draaitafels.

Voor meer info check: www.theopposites.nl

Mon premier bloog bloggy blog

With the idea of starting a blog, about my oh so interesting life, pending on my mind for some time now.

I've taken the giant step & just started one.

Here is just a quick overview about me:

My father was born and raised in Fez Morocco. He came to Europe around the age of 23 and after some brief stays in countries such as Sweden, France & Denmark he landed his a** in the Netherlands. Were he started in the fashion 1st standing on the market working from the back of his VW Beetle, then having his own chain of shops through the Netherlands and later on having his own clothing line.

My mother is born and raised in Castricum in The Netherlands (30 min away from Amsterdam). Together with my father she was co-owner in all the fashion companies. Later on she quitted the fashion industry to become a art teacher at school (which she does really good).

I am the eldest from 4 siblings which are my brother Rachid aka Razz, Aicha & Jamel aka Jamma (watch him he's becoming the Dutch Lil wayne ;) )

Education:
After the normals educations I did the Graphic Design education (Grafisch Lyceum Amsterdam) and graduated on "Concept & Marketing".

Right now i am finishing my last year IMM (International Music Management). Which is good education if you wanna do nothing*

My interest are very divided, i just like to be suprised to be engaged to find new challenging things. But here you have a quick and brief overview.
- Branding
- Art
- Entertainment
- Marketing

Ill keep u posted whenever I feel i got something to share with the net/ you



* Excluding the great teachers such as Iris Eshel & Willy Geurts