Pitto wins Dutch grand prize

  • Published
    Mon, Dec 14, 2009, 13:40
  • Words
    Resident Advisor
  • Share
  • Utrecht's Geurt Kersjes has been voted the best dance producer of the year at the De Grote Prijs awards.
  • Pitto wins Dutch grand prize image
  • Dutch producer Pitto won both of the dance music prizes at De Grote Prijs awards in the Netherlands on Saturday night. The two accolades up for grabs were in the Dance/Producers category, the first being the panel-voted Grote Prijs award, and the second being the MCN Audience prize, which is decided on the night by both an online vote and one from each audience member after all the nominees have performed live. The Utrecht-based producer seems to have won over critics and fans alike with sample-based house tracks "Sexvibe" and "Feelin'", both of which saw a release on homegrown imprints Arearemote and Rejected. Pitto saw off competition from Audioknights, [moos], Loops and Baskerville to take both of the prizes, netting himself €6000 as well as a professional music video, studio time, and performances at the Euro Sonic, Noorderslag and Extrema events. We spoke to Geurt to ask him a little about winning the prize and his upcoming debut album.
    Did you expect to win both the panel-voted and public prize? I had a pretty good feeling about winning the public prize. I already got so much support in the last few weeks before the final. That was really amazing and very charming. Some friends of mine even organized a benefit party with a lot of colleague DJs and friends. With the money from the benefit they ordered a bus to support me during the final. The arrival of those friends at the Melkweg was indescribable. They were cheering so loud, people thought the actual prize was announced... I love them all! Though it is a competition, so you never know. The normal prize I wasn’t expecting. I could only hope for it and make a good performance. Luckily, I was really eager to perform. There was a little bomb inside of me, and I wanted to show my love for the big support for me. That worked pretty well... and now I am a very happy camper. What will you spend your prize money on? From the prize money, I'm gonna buy a proper audio card, new mixer, some new synthesizers and a good mic. But the most of it I'll try to invest in my upcoming album in all kinds of ways. How is the album coming? The album is getting closer now. I had some delay, but I guess that will be better for the eventual product, because I had some more time to really choose between possible album tracks. Really looking forward to releasing it!
RA