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Symfonische en/of progressieve rock. Deze muziekstijl is nog steeds
springlevend. Bands van over de hele wereld
dragen hun steentje aan
het genre bij. Niet alleen Engelstalige symfo, maar vele bands
zingen in hun moederstaal
en voegen zo een stukje eigen cultuur aan hun muziek toe.
Maar
nog nooit zong een Nederlandse progband in de
eigen taal.
Het
team van Progwereld brengt hier nu
snel verandering in.
Progwereld presenteert: PROG NL
Enkele reacties van
kopers:
-
“De cd besteld uit nieuwsgierigheid (en enige scepsis, prog in
het Nederlands...). Na de eerste luisterbeurt kan
ik jullie al wel vertellen dat de cd me zeer heeft verrast.
Complimenten!".
Geert
-
Goedemorgen, zojuist de Jubileum-cd gedraaid die ik gisteravond
heb mogen ontvangen. Uniek exemplaar waar
Progwereld geschiedenis mee schrijft. Bedankt voor deze machtig
mooie klanken die als het goed is per
draaibeurt meer van hun pracht zulllen laten zien. Op naar de
volgende 10 jaar en blijf jullie volgen!" Ronald
-
“Eerste
feedback en indruk: Wat een geniale plaat! Echt heerlijk om te
luisteren. De cd begint gewoon al goed
met "Half mens, half machine", supertof nummer! Natuurlijk is
"Vleugellam" van 21EoR ook geniaal. Ik zeg:
volledig terecht dat deze bands op deze cd staan en dat ik deze
cd gekocht heb, want het is helemaal top!
Ik ga hem ff platdraaien!" Rindert
Recensie door onze vrienden van
DPRP
Our
esteemed colleagues of ProgWereld (www.progwereld.org), a Dutch
online Ezine also dedicated to prog music, exists 10
years on 13th April 2011 and
to celebrate that they decided to do something special and assemble
and release a special compilation album. A bold plan, even more
since they came up with the rather interesting concept to produce an
album on with all groups sing in Dutch! With the occasion of their
anniversary as the initiator they wanted to do something special for
their readers and also to provide an extra stage for Dutch bands,
giving them some extra exposure.
Thinking about this concept I realized I can't think of even one
famous prog group in the world of prog heads that sings in Dutch;
despite the considerable amount of good Dutch prog bands. I know
prog groups singing in German, French, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese,
Icelandic, Swedish, Norwegian, Japanese, Chinese and surely there
are several local prog bands who sing in their native language
around the globe. But despite the fact I'm pretty familiar with the
Dutch prog scene I can't think of any prog band singing in Dutch. So
that's one reason that makes this project so special.
All bands were free in their choice to either re-record a song of
their own, with Dutch lyrics or record a brand new song especially
for this album. Most of the groups choose the 'easy way', but four
wrote and recorded a brand new song for this album: Leap Day,
Harvest, Flamborough Head and Nice Beaver.
All bands recorded and produced their own song, but Gerben Klazinga
of Knight Area did the mastering and was very active in the studio
for this project. There are some differences in recording quality
between the songs, since every band did that on his own with his own
equipment and possibilities, so as a whole this album truly sounds
as a compilation from various sources.But that really isn't a
problem listening to it, certainly not when knowing the background
story of it.
But there are some more surprises to be noted on this album, for
instance Spanish group Harvest, what are they doing on this 100%
Dutch album? Well actually their female singer Monique van der Kolk
is Dutch (now living in Barcelona) and joined the group when they
were searching for a singer for their group Dracma. Another surprise
comes from the notorious Flamborough Head that hails from the
province of Friesland whose people never miss an opportunity to make
clear that their own local language is a true language and not just
a dialect. Considering the fact that I hardly understand a word when
they speak Fries I must admit they seem to have a point. So bearing
that in mind the song that Flamborough Head wrote and recorded
especially for this album is sung in Fries, it's actually the odd
one out as it is actually not sung in Dutch. Maybe this is even the
first prog song ever recorded in Fries, who knows? If the flat
dialect from The Hague can be considered as true Dutch is another
point of discussion, but the very tongue-in-cheek song PBII
contributed automatically makes any Dutchman smile as it is a
well-known dialect often used by people with a slight (posed)
attitude.
Well, what can be said about the music on this special compilation
album? First of all that it doesn't sound weird at all to hear prog
songs sung in Dutch; hey, it's prog isn't it, so everything goes.
But seriously, sometimes English songs translated into Dutch sound
very peculiar and forced just like something that is cramped within
a surrounding that doesn't really fit. But in this case I really
can't say that this is the case; either the lyrics are so well
translated or altered that it doesn't sound unnatural or the lyrics
in itself are already sophisticated enough that also a translation
doesn't loose the intended atmosphere. If you don't understand Dutch
these songs will sound to you just as any other one in a for you
strange language; it certainly isn't so that the Dutch language with
its harsh sounds (someone once said that Dutch sounds as if you have
a sincere throat infection) isn't appropriate for prog songs or any
other sort for that matter! Many Dutch artists were asked why they
don't sing in their native language, and the two answers mostly
given are that they feel it's necessary to sing in English to enable
a possible international career and secondly that Dutch isn't apt
for singing. Well, I think that the second reason is herewith
undermined; well of course some categories of music really sound
better in some languages; can you imagine a chanson not sung in
French or Rammstein not singing in German; they tried that once and
it sounded awful. But clearly prog can handle the Dutch language.
The opening song by Leap Day, especially written for this album,
directly sets the standard high; this is certainly not a left-over
song donated for this album, but a truly fine symphonic piece of
music that makes the listener curious to hear more of this group;
definitely one of the highlights on the album. 21 Eyes Of Ruby is a
new name for me; their song starts like a true ballad with a minimal
decoration, but after the long slow intro the bombast kicks in and
it all becomes rather epic; just too bad about the fade-out ending;
but still another group to further explore. Spanish group Harvest
delivered a brand new song, with strong Marillion influences, but
with a south-European touch; the a bit whispering singing style by
Dutch singer Monique makes it sometimes difficult to understand
what's she's singing and it sounds like she's already living abroad
for some time since her Dutch is not totally accent free anymore.
Still quite a nice song, although a bit flat in variation and
excitement all way through. Bruut Pitt is actually the musical
project from Ruud Rijnbeek who's running, together with Gerben
Klazinga, the Studio The Pitt. This is the only other artist that is
yet unfamiliar to me. The song he produced here is not so licked as
the famous actor he sort of named himself after; the Dutch lyrics do
sound a bit unnatural on some spots as if they don't fit in there,
but as a matter of fact there aren't much lyrics in the song anyway,
the guitar-driven instrumental second part of the song rocks solid
though. The Aurora Project re-recorded one of their ballads for this
album and their long stretched vocals work very fine in Dutch too.
Seagulls open the song Flamborough Head wrote especially for this
album and with this song they again prove what a vast crowd of
insiders already know; this is one of the best Dutch prog bands
ever! For some reason never received the recognition they deserve,
but their, very Renaissance influenced, contribution to this album
should be another clear indication to check out more of this group!
Definitely one of the highlights on this album. Knight Area already
accomplished a well deserved worldwide acknowledgement, and they
prove that a real solid rock ballad also sounds good in Dutch; in
fact I even prefer their Dutch version over the original English
version since it just sounds a bit more powerful and contrasting in
this version!.
Ulysses is another name not so familiar to most, still building up
their name and even though they delivered a nice song it's clear
they don't have state-of-the-art equipment at their disposal since
the recording of their love ballad sounds a bit flat and dull. Nice
Beaver is actually one of the very few to produce a more heavier
sound on this album; I truly don't believe the Dutch language isn't
apt for faster and heavier songs, but somehow almost all artists
choose a slower, often ballad like song for this compilation. Their
song Tijdlijn (Timeline) includes sound fragments of some breaking
news moments in recent Dutch history (for instance the killing of
Pim Fortuyn); this is clearly a song with a message. A message,
pollution of the seas, is also included in the song by PBII (formerly
known as Plackband), that starts with the sound of whales. But the
Den Haag accent used together with the lyrics itself bring a smile
to any Dutch listener bringing back fond memories to Jacobse & Van
Es, the 2 characters played by Dutch comics Koot & Bie who became so
popular 2 decades ago that they easily could have been elected into
parliament (which they wisely choose to avoid). Besides that this
protest song from the Den Haag based band with a clear message to
the politicians residing in their own city is also musically seen
another highlight on this album, very varied and with some
surprising ideas.
So all in all I'm very enthusiastic about this album, not only
because it's unique, proves a point and is a nice compilation of
good Dutch prog bands, but also since musically it's a well worth
listen! I actually want to throw it into the face of all these
nagging Dutch artists saying Dutch sung music is so underrated and
then come up with the 753th version of some tedious ballad,
sing-a-long or tearjerker that only people who can handle no more
than 20 notes per minute really like; if these people are sincere
about giving more attention to quality Dutch sung music let them
play this album to really prove a point! But I find it difficult to
rate it since it's a compilation of various groups and exists of a
mixture of re-recorded and new songs, so I'll just recommend it. The
first 100 people who purchased a copy in the advance sale (to partly
finance this project) are mentioned in the booklet. Lyrics for al
songs can be found on the website www.prognl.nu. Besides the
pre-sales copies a limited edition additional batch was made of this
album. At the moment of writing less than 100 copies are still
available, so I advise you to hurry to order your copy at:
www.prognl.nu The price is only 10 euros for the The Netherlands and
12,50 euro for the rest of the world (both including postage costs),
so order now! The only thing I don't like about this album is: why
didn't we come up with this idea.....? respect to Progwereld!
Conclusion: Not Rated,
But Very Recommended !!!
JORIS DONKEL
De Tracks
1. Leap Day – Half Mens,
Half Machine (6:51)
2. 21 Eyes Of Ruby – Vleugellam (3:42)
3. Harvest – De Stille Zwerver (5:19)
4. Bruut Pitt – Twijfel (5:51)
5. The Aurora Project – Alles Is Een (5:19)
6. Flamborough Head – Rixt Fan’t Oerd (7:25)
7. Knight Area – Rijk Der Schaduwen (5:55)
8. Ulysses – Verloren (5:31)
9. Nice Beaver – Tijdlijn (6:31)
10. PBII – Haagse Soep (7:47)
Totale speelduur: 60:11
Tien Nederlandse topacts nemen een Nederlandstalig nummer op. Dit
kan een bestaand eigen nummer zijn,
maar
een aantal bands heeft een
nieuw nummer geschreven speciaal voor deze verzamel cd. Kijk links
op deze
pagina of bij het menukopje
“BANDS" om te zien
welke bands meedoen aan dit unieke project. En
zelfs de
Friese taal wordt niet geschuwd, en er gaan ook geruchten
dat een Haagse band....
PROG NL
is een eenmalige actie ter ere van 10-jarig bestaan van
Progwereld. Het
PROG NL
verzamelalbum kent
een strikt gelimiteerde
en beperkte oplage. Op is echt op. Het album zal in april 2011 het
lentelicht zien. Bestel
hier alvast jouw exemplaar, want dit wordt een
volstrekt uniek collectoritem!
Wij
houden je op de hoogte van alle ontwikkelingen. Dit doen we met
verslagen, foto’s en video-impressies vanuit
de studio’s. We houden
je van elke stap op de hoogte.
Volg
PROG NL
ook op
twitter!
PROG NL
is een uniek en eenmalig project. De oplage van deze
verzamelaar is beperkt en op is echt op! Wees
er dus snel bij en verzeker jezelf van een exemplaar. Deze cd zal niet in
de winkels te koop zijn en kan alleen
via deze website besteld
worden.
Progwereld.org
De
Nederlandstalige website is al tien jaar een begrip in de wereld van
de progressieve en symfonische rock.
Met meer dan 3.000 cd
recensies, het laatste nieuws, concertverslagen, interviews,
specials en columns is het
een van de meest uitgebreide websites op
dit gebied ter wereld! Wist je dat Progwereld.org meer dan 40.000
bezoekers
per maand kent? Uniek is ook de Wereldse Tien, de enige interactieve
maandelijkse lijst van wat er
momenteel
hot is in de progwereld.
Progwereld is eigentijds, eigenwijs en nieuwsgierig.
Om
ons tien jarig jubileum te vieren brengen wij in samenwerking met negen
Nederlandse topbands het
verzamelalbum
PROG NL uit.
Mis het niet!
Met vriendelijke proggroet,
Het Progwereld team
(bestaande uit 16 fanatieke
en enthousiaste medewerkers).
ps. Check de site op
www.progwereld.org, meld je aan op de
mailinglist en blijf altijd op de hoogte.
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