Steun het Radboud Fonds

When people are hit by a natural disaster, they often seek comfort from each other. Less well known is that there is a very long tradition of disaster songs: people have often sought support from each other through singing. In her research into the processing of natural disasters in the Netherlands, Lotte Jensen came across songs about fires, floods, drought and insect scourges. She is now working on a CD in collaboration with the Utrecht music society Camerata Trajectina, in which this tradition of the Dutch disaster song is brought to life. Will you help realise this project and make these disaster songs available to everyone? Spectacular detailsA selection has been made from a large number of songs from the 17th to the 20th centuries, to be performed by Camerata Trajectina. The selection paints a rich and varied picture of how people used to deal with disaster. The songs are full of emotional proclamations, comforting words and instructive messages. But above all, they are spectacular: in order to hold the attention of the audience, they are teeming with sensational details about what exactly happened. Floating corpses, distraught refugees and miraculous rescues: it’s all there. For example, a five-year-old boy is miraculously saved after a devastating explosion in the city centre of Leiden in 1807. But in a flood song from 1861, a couple see their newborn baby drown in the waves, to their unbridled consternation. The immense grief pours out: ‘t Van een gereeten ouder-hart, Beweent ’t ontroofde kroost, met rood-bekreetene oogen’ (From a broken parent heart, weeping for the stolen suckling, with reddened swollen eyes). Flood songsThe songs also tell the history of the Netherlands. This is how the battle against water runs through the Netherlands’ musical history: from the St Elizabeth's Flood in 1421 to the catastrophic floods of 1953. The flood song gets a lot of attention on the CD. Moreover, there have been catastrophes that still linger in the collective memory of the Netherlands, such as the Amsterdam Schouwburg fire of 1772 or the Leiden gunpowder catastrophe of 1807. Camerata TrajectinaMusic society Camerata Trajectina plays an important role in this project. Accompanied by music from the 16th and 17th centuries and the unique beauty of the Dutch language, Camerata Trajectina brings Dutch history to life. Playful, theatrical renditions reflect the culture and society of those centuries as well as our recognisable present. Find out more and have a listen on the Camerata Trajectina website. Would you like to help?Dutch history is brought to life through songs, which will be recorded using professional musicians and released on a CD. We show how they played a major role in coping with disaster. Music offered comfort and solidarity in times of crisis, and still does.To make this project a reality, € 10,000 is needed. Would you like to help? Then donate via this website. Any amount is welcome. Together, we can bring the tradition of the Dutch disaster song to vivid life. Want to find out more?Via the menu, you can read more about the history of the disaster song in the Netherlands, about flood songs in particular, as well as find lyrics and background literature.