Peer Reviewed Dutch House Music
This is not a music history lecture.
Most people who've danced to Dutch house music have no idea where it actually came from. The scene Amsterdam is now internationally recognised for has a history that's almost never been properly told — let alone credited.
After Surinamese independence in 1975, a large diaspora settled in the Netherlands. In the cities of the 1980s and 1990s, they mixed their rich musical heritage with the cosmopolitan club culture around them — experimenting with house, techno, and garage in ways that shaped what Dutch dance music would become. The deciding factor wasn't geography. It was people, and the music they carried with them.
Mo Wrights has spent years researching that story from the inside. As a DJ, cultural analyst, and co-founder of Amsterdam music platform Steppin' Into Tomorrow, he retraces histories buried inside records — through digging, archiving, sampling, and cross-referencing. For Mo, DJing is a research practice. Genres are just chapters.
This lecture unpacks how that practice works, the histories it uncovers, and what it means to use music as a primary source. Mo will explore what the Surinamese diaspora built, why it's been overlooked, and what recovering that history tells us about how culture actually travels.
Then the lecture ends and the music keeps going. Stay for the set.
The format
Doors open at 19:00 — come early, grab a drink, mingle before it starts. The talk begins at 19:30: 45 minutes, followed by an open Q&A.
Then Mo gets behind the decks. This is the part you don't want to leave for — grab another drink, stay in the room, and let the records do the rest. No official end time. The bar stays open and so does the dancefloor.
The talk is in English.
About Lecture Lounge
A bi-monthly series of expert-led talks, held in bars — never a lecture hall. One subject, one speaker, intimate enough size to ask anything. Somewhere between a bar and a classroom. Every event so far has sold out.
FAQ: Why does my card show as charged when I join the waitlist?
If you've joined the waitlist for a sold-out ticket type and noticed your bank app showing a deduction, don't worry — no money has actually left your account.
When you join a waitlist, we place an authorization hold on your card rather than charging it. Most banks reduce your available balance immediately for a pending hold, so it can look identical to a completed payment in your banking app — but it isn't. The funds haven't been captured, and they're only captured if and when you're approved off the waitlist.
If you're not approved (or you cancel), the hold is released right away on our end, though it can take your bank a few extra days to clear it from your statement — that timing is on their side, not ours.
If you have any questions about this, feel free to reach out to us directly.