Most people associate the Netherlands with Golden Age painting, classical concert halls, and electronic dance music. Fewer know that the country also has a long folk music tradition — volksmuziek — that faded in the twentieth century and has been revived by festivals, archives, and a new generation of musicians. Here is a guide to what traditional Dutch music is, where it comes from, and how to start listening.
Regional traditions
Dutch folk music is regional rather than national. Coastal communities kept songs connected to fishing and the sea. In the southern provinces of North Brabant and Limburg, Carnival is a major season with its own songs and brass bands. In the eastern regions of Twente and the Achterhoek, the midwinterhoorn (midwinter horn), a long wooden horn, is traditionally blown in the weeks before Christmas. In the north, Friesland has its own language and song tradition.
Instruments you will hear
- Street organ (draaiorgel): the large mechanical organs closely associated with Amsterdam's streets.
- Rommelpot: a friction drum played during Carnival and local festivals.
- Midwinterhoorn: the wooden midwinter horn of the eastern Netherlands.
- Fiddle, accordion, and hurdy-gurdy (draailier): common in dance music and revival bands.
Decline and revival
The forces that hollowed out folk traditions across Western Europe — urbanization, recorded music, and the dominance of American and British popular music after World War II — pushed Dutch folk music to the margins. A revival from the 1970s onward brought new interest. The acoustic ensemble Flairck, for example, combined folk, classical, and other influences in intricate instrumental arrangements, and folk clubs and festivals kept older material in circulation.
Frisian music
Frisian is officially recognized in the Netherlands and is spoken in the province of Friesland. Its song tradition is distinct from Dutch-language folk song. Singer Nynke Laverman, who sings in Frisian, is a good modern entry point. Read more in our article on Frisian music and culture.
Where to hear Dutch folk music today
Festivals such as Folkwoods in Eindhoven program folk and roots music, and regional Carnival and midwinter events keep local traditions alive. For research, the Dutch Song Database of the Meertens Institute catalogs a very large collection of historical Dutch songs. In the United States, communities with Dutch heritage — for example Holland, Michigan, with its annual Tulip Time festival — feature Dutch costume and traditional dance.
Want to go further? See our guides to famous Dutch folk songs and traditional Dutch instruments.