Special Event: Warm Hart
The first edition of the Warm Heart event: the fire and heat blazing out of their barrels go perfectly with the cold grey sky and the rippling waters of the IJ (lake in Amsterdam). The men with beards and women with lipstick are growing in numbers and Latino music is flowing out of the speakers. With a yellow coin you can buy a smoked sausage with mustard and with a green coin you can buy a warm drink: hot chocolate or gluhwein.
All visitors of the Warm Hart event get a small plank of wood upon arrival “for ten minutes of warmth”. Originally, guests had to throw their planks into a barrel to keep themselves warm. However, as this would lead to rather dangerous situations, especially once people started drinking, we had to place a fence to keep everyone at a safe distance from the barrels. The barrels were beautiful from a distance, but it did leave us rather cold. According to Jason “fire fraternizes. You’ll gaze into the flames and it keeps you warm. Pity we can’t get any closer.”
Nevertheless, despite the fence, we have a lot of fun. A game is invented in which you throw your plank into the fire from a distance: plank throwing, wood warping or barrel aiming, whatever you want to call it. “It’s best if you aim it vertically, because otherwise the wind moves it and you miss” says Rutger.
Inside, our own Makom Mokum music band is playing enthusiastically.
“It’s okay Amsterdam, you can let yourself goooooo” sings an Irish band member. Veronica is the only female band member: “Sometimes my men can be very unruly, but luckily you don’t notice that during our performances. Music is my one and only passion, it has made me value my life again.” Veronica admits to being quite nervous before she got on stage. “This was the first time I performed in front of such a big audience. I just kept reminding myself that everything would be fine, and in the end everything did go alright.”
Hadewych Minis, THE Hadewych Minis is looking at Makom Mokum’s performance before she gets on the stage herself. “I think this is such a great initiative”. She happily accepted our invitation when we asked her to come and perform at our event. “Despite having a busy life, and my own family to care for I really value such performances. These are my favourite kind of events; it gives me a good feeling to touch people with my music. It actually really doesn’t matter how wealthy you are, it matters how rich you are at heart.”
The next on stage was Rogier Pelgrim, famous from the tv programme ‘The best singer songwriter of the Netherlands’. “I consider the homeless to be a very special group of people. Besides, I think the NDSM-wharf is an amazing place, so I was quick to accept the invitation. I am also planning on playing one song together with your band and I think that’s great!”
The audience is shrinking slightly, but there remains a core group of warm-hearted people. Sue the Night has been playing for a while, when the power suddenly drops dead. Suus kept singing and Matthijs kept playing his violin. At the end of the song Suus shouts: “come closer people, otherwise you wont be able to hear any of it!” The audience is very noisy, but after a lot of hushing and shushing among each other the buzz quietens down. The next song, obviously acoustic, was a shouting blues where the audience joined in. In the meantime Theo the technician did his utmost best to get the power up and running. After a couple of minutes the first lights went back on, and then the sound. “You can switch it all off again!” shouts someone out of the audience. “This is the perfect atmosphere, the acoustic sound is so much better”. His wish is granted as the power soon drops dead yet again. Sue the Night continued acoustically and the audience enjoyed the cosy and homey atmosphere around the stage.
Marshmallows were handed out during the performance of the band Moviestars. Everywhere you turned you saw gobbling marshmallows and sharing them among each other. The consequential sugar rush of the audience led to some excellent dancing, during the performance of the Amsterdam Klezmer band. The two members of this band took the guests on a trip around the world, and usually completed their songs with an interesting anecdote. DJ Tim was the closing act of the evening. We went on too long, but wherever possible people jumped up to dance. The marshmallows had been turned into confetti, covering the whole floor into one big sticky mess, and making walking and dancing very challenging. Many positive sounds, interesting conversations, beautiful music, a great view at an excellent location, wintry snacks and a good mix of people, that is what made the Warm Hart event a smooth success.
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Text: Julia ter Beek