AMSTERDAM: Amsterdam kicks off year-long celebrations on Sunday to mark its 750th anniversary with one ancient and formerly down-at-heel neighbourhood playing a starring role in the festivities.

Sitting cheek by jowl with the city`s Canal Belt, the once working class Jordaan neighbourhood is the setting for a new musical which its producers said captured the essence of the Dutch capital and its residents.

`We specifically designed a musical to celebrate Amsterdam`s 750th anniversary,` said Marc Muller, producer at the DeLaMar Theatre where the musical `Onze Jordaan` (Our Jordaan) hit the planks to a full house on Wednesday evening.

`From October 27 the city will enter its year-long celebration and we thought amusical is an ideal way to contribute to the festivities,` Muller said. Any mention of the Jordaan in the Netherlands will immediately be greeted by a knowing smile.

For many Dutch citizens, Amsterdam is best exemplified not by its gritty and notorious red light district, but by the Jordaan. `This is the best neighbourhood in the Netherlands,` Evert Jansen said during a visit.

`The best actors, the best singers, the best footballers are all from here (Ruud) Gullit and (Johan) Cruyff. The best comes from here,` said Jordaan born-and-bred Jansen, 82, sporting a typical Amsterdam flat cap.

Built in parallel to the Canal Belt during the so-called Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century, many of its streets and canals today still carry the names of plants and flowers.-AFP