The Dutch have long had a love affair with techno: since the early days of legendary brands such as Djax-Up-Beats, to more underground establishments like Bunker Records, they have cultivated their own unique take on proceedings with heaps of character accompanying it. Today, you’ll still find the culture being widely celebrated across the country with that same vigour, in clubs and festivals from Amsterdam to Utrecht.

In the latter of those cities, Soenda Festival has been rocking the crowds that descend on their Ruigenhoek Groenekan site for almost a decade now. At this year’s one-dayer outdoor event, a well-balanced lineup of acts that covered everything from the soulful, disco-infused house jams of Motor City Drum Ensemble, to the relentless techno stylings of Blawan & Pariah were divided over five varied stages. Voices From The Lake performed their live set, while DVS1 spun on the Java Stage, and Virginia played alongside Steffi and Dexter on the back of her new album on Ostgut Ton. Earlier in the day, Roman Flügel moved crowds at Soembawa, while British techno titans Ben Sims and James Ruskin went back to back elsewhere. For an insight into the proceedings, we’ve put together a handful of snapshots from the festival that should help to paint a picture of one of the most important events on the Dutch festival circuit today.

All photographs: Niels Fotograaf and Michiel Ton