By Eden van der Moere
Every year, when summer is coming to an end and the last few German tourist are wandering through Middelburg, the province of Zeeland organizes an event to celebrate those last days of sunshine: the Zeeland Nazomerfestival. The festival is a weeklong event, full of performances, concerts and happenings. It revolves around theatre and music, which take place in either the heart of Middelburg, the Abbey Square, or in extraordinary locations all across the province of Zeeland.
Zeeland Nazomerfestival hosts shows of talented Dutch and Flemish artists, including the Zeeuwse band Bløf and various upcoming talents in both the theatrical and musical circuit. From August 26 to September 6, they fill the streets of Middelburg with music, color and theatrical performances. During these two weeks, you have the opportunity to attend theatre performances on the beach and concerts in the Abbey Square.
During this week of festivities, I got the amazing opportunity to attend three concerts: Dotan, Blaudzun and Kensington.
Dotan (Tuesday 2 September 2014)
Suddenly I heard it: the song that has been in our heads and hearts for the entire summer, “Home”. It is the perfect mix between folk, indie and pop, and has captured the hearts of the Dutch people, with its epic feel and sing along melody. But, what or who is Dotan, the artist responsible for this summer’s anthem?
Dotan Harpenau, a young singer-songwriter from Amsterdam, performs under his first name, “Dotan”. In 2010, he released his debut album, Dream Parade, which resulted in Dutch radio station 3FM naming him 3FM Serious Talent. Only two years later, Dotan supported Gavin DeGraw and Sinéad O’Connor during their performances in the Netherlands. Dotan’s second studio album, 7 Layers, was released earlier this year and ever since, the singer-songwriter has been on a roll. The hit-single “Home” was proclaimed to be 3FM Megahit.
During Dotan’s performance at Zeeland Nazomerfestival, it was very noticeable that the singer-songwriter is most recognized for his single “Home”. For the entire duration of the show, up until the first chords of “Home”, the larger part of the audience was sitting down on folding chairs in front of the stage, only partly paying attention to Dotan. This is such a shame, because if the majority of the audience had bothered to listen, they would have witnessed a qualitatively fine performance. The songs were well written and well performed. To me, Dotan’s performance was a reminder of singer-songwriters such as Ben Howard and Ed Sheeran – and that is quite the compliment.
Blaudzun (Thursday 4 September 2014)
Blaudzun is the pseudonym of Johannes Sigmond, a Dutch singer-songwriter. After being part of several bands and projects, Sigmond started his solo-project in 2006, under the name of Blaudzun. His title-less debut album was released two years later. Seadrift Soundmachine, Blaudzun’s second album, was critically acclaimed in both homeland and abroad. But it was not until his third album, Heavy Flowers, that recognition amongst a larger audience was granted to the singer-songwriter. The record was released in 2012, for which Blaudzun won the 3VOOR12 Award for Album of the Year and an Edison in the category Best Singer. In March 2014, Blaudzun released his fourth studio album, titled Promises Of No Man’s Land, which entered the Album Top 100 on the first place. The first single from the new album, “Promises Of No Man’s Land”, was used in the opening tune of Studio Sport during the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.
Since 2006, Blaudzun has become a favorite among festival bookers, from Lowlands to Sziget, and now, the singer-songwriter performed at the Abbey Square Stage during Zeeland Nazomerfestival. A short while before the start of the concert, the square was remarkably quiet – in sharp contrast to huge amount of audience at the concert of Dotan, who performed only two days earlier. But luckily, this rapidly changed and right before the kick-off, the square was packed. When the clock of the Lange Jan stroke nine times, Blaudzun climbed the stage.
The singer-songwriter was accompanied by his collective of multi-instrumentalists and together they created the full and complex and epic sound that has enchanted countless festival fields before, but here, at the beautifully lit Abbey Square in Middelburg, Blaudzun’s music finally matched with the surroundings. The combination of the exquisitely performed songs and the venue, created a very magical and surreal feeling.
The passion and devotion, which Blaudzun and his amazingly talented entourage performed with, were so noticeable and this was spectacular to be a part of. From the first song on – the bombastic single “Elephants” – Blaudzun had bewitched the audience. Seemingly effortless, the band performed singles from both Heavy Flowers and Promises Of No Man’s Land, as well as more unknown songs, such as “Another Ghost Rocket” and “Euphoria”. For me, the highlight of Blaudzun’s concert was an absolutely perfect version of “Halcyon”, an epic and unbelievably beautiful song from his latest album, Promises Of No Man’s Land. Another, rather surprising, highlight was Blaudzun’s wickedly delicious cover of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Games”.
Eden van der Moere, class of 2017, is an Arts & Humanities major from Goes, The Netherlands.
