Dutch music in Austin part II: Driving with 'Guus Meeuwis'

The first day I arrived in Austin I got to know a Dutch man that lives in Austin. Actually, he turned out to be a far cousin. He and his wife are very warm and hospitable and they made me feel like home immediately.
Last week I was allowed to use his car for a couple of days, just to be able to visit some things I couldn't go to without having a car. Without thinking I turned on the music and guess what I heard. "Er is een nacht, die je normaal alleen in films ziet.." ("Some nights only exist in movies..") by Guus Meeuwis. I laughed so bad, that my friend sitting next to me had to tell me we had to turn right.
Normally, I hate this song, and not just a little, I deeply hate it. You know those clubs, where everybody is throwing beer at each other and is singing odd songs? This is one of those songs, those typically, stupid, easy songs.
Though, hearing the song made me laugh. It made me realize how good it is to be somewhere else and to be able to laugh about things from your own country without missing them or without getting sad.

Please laugh about this movie and realize, if you ever want to go to Holland, avoid this.

Dutch music in Austin part I: Blof -- Oktober

Dutch music was never my favourite. The language has so many rough sounds that I just couldn't call it romantic.

Though, since I live in the United States I start to appreciate it more, it is one of the few ways through which I can hear my own language.

Blof is a band containing of four men; a singer, a bass, an electic guitar player and a keyboard player. Originally they all come from the same island in the south of The Netherlands, the same island as where I was born. Since my mom is really fascinated by their music, I started to listen to it when I was pretty young.

Blof produced a lot of albums, which are all very different but create the same atmosphere. They have a duet with the American band 'The Counting Crows' called 'Holiday in Spain' and they recorded a cd full of duets with people from every continent called 'Umoja'. Blof is going international but they stay local at the same time by recording songs about the island, the beach and the sea; their home.

Their last album is called Oktober, and released, yes, last October. Since my mom visited me in Austin at that time she gave me the album. Blof is planning on releasing another album in spring '09. 'Oktober' is a slow album with a lot of deep and thoughtfull texts, the perfect background album for serious conversations but also very relaxing. Although the music is repetitive, the lyrics are creative, sometimes even incomprehensible.

My favourite song of the album is called 'Eilanden' ('Islands').

It says:

"Eilanden in oceanen zijn lang niet zo eenzaam als wij,

Eilanden komen weer samen, als de zeebodem breekt en verschuift,

Laat me niet morgen pas lachen, maar vandaag."

" Islands in oceans are not that lonesome,

Islands come together, as soon as the bottom of the sea breaks and moves.

Let's not wait until tomorrow, I want to laugh today."

Since I am leaving in eight days, I apply texts of every song I hear to my stay here. It may sound kinda sentimental, but that is actually how I feel about leaving.

'Eilanden' can be interpreted on both a small and large scale. Different islands in The Netherlands, but also, different islands on Earth, different parts of the world. They will come together.

"Let's not wait until tomorrow, I want to laugh today." Yes, I am going to enjoy my last days to their full extend.

Here you find short a video from Blof performing 'Eilanden'.