Studio Zeedijk

Studio Zeedijk is an independent, non profit radio station broadcasting live from Zeedijk 44 in Amsterdam. It is less a conventional concert hall than a working studio with a window onto the street, and that setting shapes how music is presented there: performances are made for the microphone and the listener at home, while passers by can stop and watch from the pavement. The station sits on one of the oldest streets in the city, a stretch that was once known for sailors and bars before the neighbourhood changed character over the decades.

The venue's main showcase is its programme during Amsterdam Dance Event. Under the name WAX, the studio runs five days and 100 hours of non stop live radio from that street facing window. More than 100 artists take part, selected through an open call that mixes first timers with established headliners. The focus is on the offcuts of electronic music: house and techno, garage, jungle, dub, afro and jazz. The days follow a rough shape, with interviews and masterclasses in the afternoon, club sets in the evening, and experimental sessions running deep into the night. Visitors can come by in person or tune in remotely.

Zeedijk also has a quieter connection to Amsterdam's music scene. The street is where the jazz group ZILT began, formed out of monthly meetings in a whisky bar on the Zeedijk between a young trumpet talent and a much older musician, and the band later played a livestream concert at Studio 150 in the city. The sources say little about the studio's size or technical setup, but the picture they give is of a small, open and unconventional room that treats broadcasting itself as the performance.