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ENTITY · PLACE / NEIGHBOURHOOD

Amsterdam Zuidoost (the Bijlmer)

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The Amsterdam borough built in the 1960s as a modernist high-rise experiment and settled from the 1970s by Surinamese families arriving around independence, later joined by Antillean, Ghanaian and other communities. It is the closest thing the Netherlands has to a Caribbean quarter: the Kwaku festival has run in its park since 1975, the Reggae Lake Festival is staged at its Gaasperpark, and the Dutch Caribbean music economy of shops, halls and promoters that reggae and dancehall travel through is largely based here.

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Sources
Wikipedia "Bijlmermeer"; Wikipedia NL "Kwaku Summer Festival"; iamsterdam.com.

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Places & geographyDiaspora & global influence

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Connections

In stories

Story · ProbableThe Dutch route: reggae without a Jamaican migration

Britain got its reggae from Jamaican migrants. The Netherlands got its from Surinamese ones, a squat movement and a pirate radio transmitter.

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Compiled and researched by The Jamaica Music Atlas music desk. The sources that informed it are credited above.

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