Since most writers for this blog are Amsterdam-based, we tend to post a Dutch language song every now & then (we did so today, see the Covid Christmas post below).
Rick Buur, who was on this blog before, send us a desafinado-version of the bitter Lyle Lovett song Christmas Morning. The original (about a man who not only lost someone, he lost his faith in everything people say and said to him) is grand. Rick's cover is sparse, just a man, a guitar and the howl of loneliness.
Also from the Netherlands, is Mensenkinderen. Bas van Nienes is the genius behind this act, if his name rings a bell you're a credits spotter. Bas was part of How To Throw A Christmas Party, the now-defunct Dutch alt.Christmas band. And he now is one third of indie pop band Dansu. Mensenkinderen is something else. On his three albums, he updated old Church songs, hymns, psalms, and gave them an indie make-over. His references are Sufjan Stevens, Spinvis and Loney, Dear.
Anyhow, Bas made his second Christmas EP. It's REALLY something special, especially the very moving, delicate song 'De Hemel' (Heaven).
Dive into Mensenkinderens world, even if you don't speak Dutch. As Holland's greatest blues singer Andre Hazes once said about fado-queen Amalia Rodrigues, 'I have no clue what's she singing about, but I feel it right in my heart.'
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