"Uw doet wat, precies, meneer?' My chic twentysomething hairdresser throws me a puzzled look: You're doing what, exactly, sir? I am not behaving like an Englishman. I have just told her that I have bought tickets for the Muziekfeest van het Jaar (Music of the Year festival) in Amsterdam's cavernous Ziggo Dome: a two-night extravaganza that is being recorded to be broadcast on New Year's Eve as a kind of Dutch equivalent to Jools Holland's Hootenanny,"
"Levenslied roughly translates as songs about life, and although popular throughout the land, especially in North Brabant, it is commonly associated with Amsterdam, and specifically the formerly working-class district of the Jordaan. A social and local music, levenslied concerns itself with family, friends and close associates. Stylistically, it has a connection to the 20th-century French chanson realiste of Edith Piaf and, when in a party mood, finds common cause with German schlager."
"According to Joost Heijthuijsen, programme manager at Amsterdam's Muziekgebouw, the Netherlands is a country of assimilation. At one point, the people living in the Jordaan adapted opera to their taste. Vitally, you are supposed to sing along. The key songs of the genre concern themselves with sentiments stoked up by love, betrayal, family, the law, being skint, wild parties and the quirks of local chancers."
Levenslied, roughly 'songs about life', is a popular Dutch pop genre characterized by brassy, sentimental, and often operatic songs that invite audience sing-alongs. The genre is associated with Amsterdam's Jordaan and enjoyed nationwide, especially in North Brabant. Themes include love, betrayal, family, law, poverty, parties, and local characters. Levenslied connects stylistically to 20th-century French chanson realiste and German schlager but is warmer and more forgiving, embodying gezelligheid. Festivals like the Muziekfeest van het Jaar celebrate the genre with large-scale, televised events that showcase its communal, assimilative cultural roots and party atmosphere.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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