Singer Caro Emerald has won this year’s prestigious national pop music prize at the Noorderslag music festival.

The jury said Emerald is ‘a phenomenon with international allure such as the jury has seldom seen in the 25 years of this competition’.
Emerald’s jazzy hits include A Night Like This and Back it up.
Exports
Meanwhile, the export of Dutch music abroad rose for the fifth year in a row last year and is 29% up on 2008, performing rights organisation Buma Stemra said on Saturday.
Germany is the biggest market for Dutch-made music, followed by Belgium, Britain and France.
Some 40% of the €65m generated abroad is down to djs, such as Armin van Buuren, Tïesto and Ferry Corsten. Classical violinist and orchestra leader André Rieu is the biggest individual earner.
Most popular Dutch song abroad was again Venus, the Shocking Blue hit from 1970.