Another special treat for the TEDxAmsterdam audience: a suprise (and suprising) musical intermezzo by none less than the Netherlands’ most famous chanteuse, singer-songwriter and huge TED fan Wende Snijders! She used her brief time on the TED stage well, completely playing the audience away with an impressive intimate performance. Wende thus shows ideas are not only talked about, but also sung.
Since her 2011 debut at the Concours de la Chanson of the Alliance Francaise des Pays Bas, where she won both audience and jury awards, Wende’s musical road to the top was paved with gold, platinum, and almost all of the important music prizes in the Netherlands. Not only is her career path remarkable, but most of all the genre that Wende chose to express herself in: the French chanson. A genre which most people would have left in the ’50s or ’60s, but in which Wende just believed. And it didn’t took long before she made more people believers.
Photo: Maurice Mikkers & Jan-Jaap Heine
But Wende didn’t just have one good idea up her sleeve, so in 2009 she turned to English for her singer-songwriter debut. A move which initially shocked many, but turned out success on par with the chansons, and therefore proves you don’t need to stick with just one great idea. Sometimes it’s well worth it to show some courage and try something new.
This afternoon, Wende performed a brand-new song from her latest theatrical tour ‘Carré.’ In spite of the size of the main room of the Stadsschouwburg, it proved almost too small for Wende’s talent. With just a grand piano and a great stage presence, she created an almost magical moment, where everybody was enchanted. Wende’s brief performance thus reminded us that there are some ideas worth believing in, some worth doing, and some ideas worth feeling.
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