Tulipe
Artist : Ilja Gort Date : 2006.07.08
Genre : Non - music Length : 3
Prodigy; at six years old he was drumming hours at a time on anything possible. One year later he received a real drumkit from his dad. At 10 years old he played in the local topgroup 'Ik en de rest' and at 12 years old in the semi-professional popgroup 'The Elements'. After trying the first class of the gymnasium three times, he was dispelled from school. In the seventies he was asked to play the drums in the band 'After Tea' from The Hague. This is where he learns to play the guitar and starts writing songs for the band and producing. Late seventies he receives a contract as record producer at Phonogram. After trying this for two years, he's thrown out because of the lack of success. Then he receives a contract at Warner Brothers/ Basart as songwriter. He's thrown out again after three years for the lack of success. Tired, sad but not broken he writes the song 'Don't come stoned and don't tell trude', the first real Dutch rap song. With a copy of this song he visits almost every publisher and record company. Nobody is interested. 'Piss off, Ilja Gort' they said 'You will never learn….'. Stubborn Ilja crashes his piggy bank, picks up his last money, rents a recording studio, musicians and singers and records the song, in which he believes dearly, all on its own time and costs.
The song becomes a top ten hit in Holland, Belgium, France and Germany. In that same period he receives the task of producing music for a commercial (Randstad Uitzendburooooo). After that hundreds of commercial songs. From this day on he never did anything else then composing music for commercials.
In 1990 he has its own, private studio in an old farm, in the village of Maartensdijk. Ten years afters that 10 studios in Amsterdam where 15 composers and sound designers are composing commercials for giant brands like Nike and Coca Cola, Microsoft and Philips. His composition for Nescafe is being broadcast in 160 countries. In 2000 Ilja sells his sound studio in Amsterdam. At the moment he lives and works in his castle in Bordeaux (making rose for Albert Heijn) and his sound studio in Amersfoort, still composes soundtracks for international tv-commercials daily.
About his ringtone he say: 'Your phone is a body part. The life wire into the world. Without my phone I feel naked and uncomfortable. A ringtone must inform the owner that someone wants to speak to him. Off course, it isn't always a good time to be called; it can be good or bad news.
That's why a ringtone should always hold a positive promise. A small party when the phone rings. One of the most fun sounds I know, is the sound uncorking a bottle of wine. You can wake me up at night for that specific sound. Only that sound wouldn't be enough, but with a positive groove behind it, it becomes fun. I can't hardly wait till someone calls!' Ilja Gort, Soest 05-05-'51 http://tulipe.nl/ (dutch)
