“Dutch DJ Paul Elstak to Receive Buma Golden Harp Award for Contributions to Hardcore Music Industry”

This year DJ Paul Elstak will receive the Buma Golden Harp. The oeuvre prize is awarded annually to someone who has made a special contribution to the music industry. Elstak did this mainly for hardcore music, according to the jury.

In the 90s he scored big hits with, among other things, the happy hardcore songs Love u more in Rainbow in the sky. For almost thirty years he has been active as a DJ, producer and label owner. In the broadcast of RTL Boulevard 57-year-old Elstak heard the news. “Super nice,” he replied surprised. “It still has to go down a bit, but I think this is definitely the most important award in terms of recognition.”

Elstak will receive the prize on Monday during the Buma Awards 2023. The Golden Harp will be awarded together with other music prizes in the Royal Theater Tuschinski in Amsterdam.

Buma/Stemra, an advocate in the music world, calls Elstak “one of the most important pioneers and standard bearers” within the hardcore genre. In 1995 Elstak was awarded the Silver Harp, intended for up-and-coming talent.

Elstak ensured that hardcore became more and more common. “When we just started it was said: that consumption noise is only short-lived,” he said in RTL Boulevard. “But at the end of the day, it’s a genre of music that’s popular all over the world.”

Last year, the Golden Harp went to Anna Knaup, one of the founders of the Amsterdam Dance Event.