This month we released “Varen in het Donker”, an original Dutch Viking sailing song. This is the story of the early seafarers, the furious ocean, the scuttling of ships, and those who were left on shore waiting for their loved ones to return!
The year old song
This song was the very first thing I wrote on the stick dulcimer I bought from Richard Raaphorst at a local medieval fair. The instrument helped me to create the melody and the sound of it transported me back to older times. As a Dutch person, my mind automatically wandered to sailing and crossing the ocean during times when large parts of the map were still unchartered.
I remembered “Lament For The Fisherman’s Wife” by Silly Wizard. It is a song the empathises with the wife of a sailor who died on the sea when his ship went down in the waves. It must be a terrible thing to wait on the shore, expecting the ship to return any day now, and never seeing it on the horizon. This became the starting point for the lyrics of this song.
The lyrics came easy: “Do not let them sail when it’s dark, for the sea will not be calm nor will it ever stop luring the men from the shore. So stop them; don’t let them sail out…” It was now time to record. I recorded the foundations with a click track, but the song really came to life when Suzi Varga added a layer of nyckelharpa on top. That instrument, together with the dulcimer, really gives it that old folky sound I was looking for.
It took another few months to get the mix ready enough to sing my final vocals, by which time the song had been in the making for about a year. Once the backing vocals were to my satisfaction and all the instruments were mixed in place, I was finally able to sing the final lead track and there it was: Varen in het Donker!
A song with a particular purpose
The process, however, was far from done. Yes, the song and its cover art were uploaded to the distribution platform and everything was set to release on the 20th of May, but there was something else I had been meaning to do with this song. I wanted to create the best music video I had ever made.
You see, from the moment I first set foot inside the grounds of a fantasy fair (ren faire), I wanted to be like those people in the professional costumes or on stage, making everyone dance and run in a giant happy circle. To be able to instil such magic and peace into a group of strangers, that was the greatest superpower I ever encountered and I wanted to learn that magic…
Why is this relevant? Because I had set my eyes on performing at one of such festivals for a long time and I believed that this song could help me achieve that dream. So I put out a message to my friends with an ambitious plan: Let’s record a professional video for this song. A video that is so amazing, it might just win some kind of “Music video of the year” award.
To my surprise, the response was huge! Many of my friends were willing to travel for hours to arrive at the location where we would shoot the video. I wrote a storyboard, got in touch with friends who knew how to handle a camera, and on the 10th of May we recorded all the imagery I would need to then spend five days editing the footage into the video we have today.
The festivals
To get in touch with the festivals, I sent my emails and I filled in their forms. I think I must’ve reached out to about 15 festivals and celebrations in the medieval-fantasy or Viking theme. Some replied with a short follow-up question but never got in touch again. Others replied that my email arrived in good order and might reach out for next year’s addition of their festival. And one (the best one) took an actual interest…
Manuel, art director and head of entertainment at Elfia, sent me an encouraging email with a couple of questions. I couldn’t believe my eyes… Elfia, the first medieval-fantasy fair I ever visited, where my dreams started, replied positively. They wanted to know more about my act, the fee, and what kind of accommodation I would bring…
As of now, we have as good as agreed for me to come play there. I haven’t signed anything yet and they’ve not accepted my quote yet, but we’re already talking details like placement of my tent on the campsite. If all goes well, I’ll be playing four shows on two days. Each day I’ll have one show in the Bard’s Theater and one show elsewhere on the terrain. Varen in het Donker has really helped me to put the pedal to the metal and take a jab at making things happen that I have been quietly dreaming of for too long.
What’s Next?
I do not know what’s next. I will be sure to give an update once my performance at Elfia is set in stone. Until then, I would be happy to hear your thoughts about the song! If you decide to share your thoughts online, do tag me so I can read about them or reach out and contact me if you feel like sharing your experience with me personally. What do you think of this direction my songs are heading in?
Songs are experienced entirely differently from one person to the next. There is some kind of magic in there. I value such connections between the artist and the audience incredibly much, which is why I enjoy live gigs so much! So don’t be a stranger if you feel like reaching out 🙂
LYRICS
Laat hen niet uitvaren
Varen in het donker!
De zee zal niet bedaren
En zal hen eeuwig lonken…
Jagend op de maan
Rent Hati tot de morgen.
En dan zal de zon op gaan
En Skalli jaagt hem onder!
Laat hen niet uitvaren
Varen in het donker!
Zie hun vrouwen staren
Dochter, zus, en moeder.
De mannen zijn gaan varen.
Laat Rán het schip behoeden!
Hoor hun klaagzang klinken
Het overstemt de donder.
“Als mijn man zal verdrinken
Dan moet ik verder zonder!”
Laat hen niet uitvaren
Varen in het donker
Rá-a-a-a-an
werp uw net
en vang hen
Rán
werp uw net
En vangt hen nu
Laat hen niet uitvaren
Varen in het donker
CREDITS
Nyceklharpa by Suzi Varga
Guitar, Lead Vocals and Backing Vocals by Bart Bart Mesman
Master and Mix by Finn Groenestein
Original Composition and Lyrics by Bart Mesman
Bart the Bard 