The future's oranje: Dutch bands embrace their own language (The Guardian)

As revellers head to the Noorderslag festival, more artists are finding success with their native tongue – at home and abroad

The major stars in the Dutch music scene have rarely worn their nationality on their sleeves. It is difficult to imagine No Limit by 2 Unlimited or the Vengaboys’ enduring eurodance track Boom Boom Boom Boom achieving quite the same success in the artists’ native language.

As with Nederpop, a genre of music that enjoyed its moment under the disco-lights in the 1960s and 1970s, the stars seeking international success have generally sung in English or dispensed with words altogether; Dutch was left to the folk singers. Dutch-born Eddie Van Halen, who moved to California with his family as a child, was never likely to insist that his eponymous band sang in his mother tongue.

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