Eddy de Clercq is considered to be the godfather of the Dutch club scene. A Belgian national, he moved to Amsterdam at the age of 19 and has been here, on and off, for some 50 years. He would like to have a night out with Rotterdam mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb, thinks the Netherlands is over-organised and loves Zeeland.

How did you end up in the Netherlands?
I was working as a DJ in a club in Brussels because I was too young to work behind the bar. My first night at the club was so amazing, because I did not have any records, but clubs at that time had their own record collection and “Le Club” had everything you can imagine. Blue Note Jazz, Brazilian and African records, all the latest hits. The owner had exquisite taste. I just picked what I knew and people started dancing. I was 16 years old. Then at 17 I opened a shop selling vintage clothing in Ghent. And when I was 19 I just decided to come to Amsterdam.

I sold my shop and all the contents to Lady Day [a famous Amsterdam vintage clothes store] and moved. And I got bored pretty quickly because there was no nightlife apart from brown cafés. You would sit at a table with a Persian rug and an ashtray and no dance floor.

There were only a few places to go to dance but they were overpopulated with hippies. I came from a middle class, Belgian bourgeois environment and we used to dress up to go out. So I started to create my own parties. The first was in 1977 in the Brakke Grond theatre. Since Lady Day had the best crowd, my parties attracted beautiful people.

How do you describe yourself – an expat, lovepat, immigrant, international etc?
I am a European. I don’t care about being Belgian or Dutch or whatever. I always think the best things in life come to people who can live like a chameleon, an animal that transforms itself so it fits into its environment. And that’s a good way to go.

I can also call myself a lucky man. I’m happy and lucky but I’ve worked hard for it. And I am very lucky to have found the right partner. We’ve been together 45 years.

How long do you plan to stay?
I sometimes joke that the best thing about Amsterdam is Schiphol. It’s good to leave Amsterdam for a while but it is always great to be back. I’ve lived in New York and Italy, and South Africa but this a great place to be based, to reside.

Do you speak Dutch and how did you learn?
We had Dutch lessons at high school, where we learned ABN – the official standard way of speaking Dutch as opposed to the Flemish dialect I had. We had to learn French, German and Dutch.

I don’t know why we had to learn it, perhaps they thought we were peasants? There are a lot of differences between Flemish and Dutch, such as the way to build a sentence. But the Dutch they speak on television is ABN and that’s what we learned.

When I first came here and worked at Lady Day people laughed when I talked because I used words they did not know. For example, a dry cleaners in Dutch is a stomerij but in Flemish it is a droogkuis.

What’s your favourite Dutch thing?
It was and still is the food markets. We’ve got seven daily ones in Amsterdam. The choice they offer and the prices are amazing. I’m not sure you can find anything like it anywhere else. But the most central Noordermarkt, the organic market on a Saturday by the Noorderkerk, has become too touristy, so I avoid it now unless I get there at 9 o’clock in the morning.

How Dutch have you become?
I don’t want a Dutch passport. My Belgian one is still valid until 2028. Much depends on how the politics evolve – who knows, maybe the government will want to deport me in the near future?

Which three Dutch people (dead or alive) would you most like to meet?
I would love to go out for a night with Ahmed Aboutaleb, the mayor of Rotterdam. He’s my hero. He’s like a good father, a shepherd who guides his flock.

I would like to bring Marijke [Bijkerk] from Lady Day back from the dead. My success depends partly on her and her crowd. Without her I would not have made it this far.

And there is a Dutch singer Richenel, a dear friend who I really miss. I love his voice and style. He could switch from male to female in the most natural and beautiful way. The first gender bender Amsterdam had seen. He was able to adapt to his environment, like that chameleon again.

What’s your top tourist tip?
Take a train and travel round the country. Don’t just stay in the centre of Amsterdam. Go to Rotterdam and all the beautiful little villages. You’ll encounter the real Holland if you do that.

Amsterdam is not the real Holland any more. Amsterdam has become, and I am sorry to say it, a bit like an amusement park. Zeeland is so beautiful and the food is wonderful, especially when it is lobster season. It’s easy to get around in Holland. Public transport here is amazing and will take you anywhere.

Tell us something surprising you’ve found out about the Netherlands
I love the Dutch but I hate the mentality sometimes, the way the Dutch can be so convinced of their own beliefs that there is no room for anything else. The Belgians have a tendency to undermine themselves. But both countries are very strictly organised. In Holland you are sort of free within the box you live in. There is always a chance to do your own thing. But I don’t see Amsterdam as the epitome of freedom of choice. These days you are being tolerated.

If you had just 24 hours left in the Netherlands, what would you do?
I would go to heaven, or hell, or Zeeland. I’ll adapt where ever I end up.

Eddy talks about his career in music in a new television series “In de voetsporen van de jaren 70″  (in the footsteps of the 1970s) on Omroep Max, which starts on May 11. He will appear in the last episode on June 15.