Palingsound (; 'European eel sound') is the unique musical sound attributed to a subgenre of Dutch pop music called palingpop ('Eel Pop'). 'Palingsound' is also frequently used as a synonym for the genre palingpop as a whole. The term references the origin of many of the artists making music this way, the (eel) fisherman's town of

Volendam Volendam () is a tourist town in the Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of Edam-Volendam, Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands, known for its streets, old fishing boats and the traditional clothing wor ...

. Palingsound refers to a smooth melodic and sometimes sentimental sound, with close vocal harmonies, combined with matching arrangements and a studio mixing style.

History

Origin

The Cats (1964 -1985) are universally recognized as the originators of palingsound. The Cats were the first

ic band to record an album.Johan Tol en Michel Veerman
''Wat is Palingsound?''
''Palingsound.com'' Their music started off as

beat music Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a British popular music Music genre, genre that developed around Liverpool in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The genre melded influences from British rock and roll, British and Music of the United St ...

and over the years evolved to be more focused on

melody A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of Pitch (music), pitch and rhythm, while more figurativel ...

and

harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

. After the lead singer was replaced by Piet Veerman in 1968, the dramatic elements of his voice became sound-determining. With their lyrical, melodical and somewhat

melancholic Melancholia or melancholy (from ',Burton, Bk. I, p. 147 meaning black bile) is a concept found throughout ancient, medieval, and premodern medicine in Europe that describes a condition characterized by markedly depressed mood, bodily complain ...

music, The Cats laid the groundworks for what would become known as palingsound. Further elements that would become influential for palingsound from this period in the music of The Cats would be the added arrangements of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

musician Wim Jongbloed and the continental European mixing techniques of producer Klaas Leyen.

1970s – Present

Palingsound would find many continuers among Volendamic artists after the original success of The Cats. Bands such as Maddog, Left Side, Next One and BZN would pick up the style and continue to expand its popularity with the general public. Over time, palingsound would no longer only be sung in English, as Dutch-language artists started to adopt the style. Examples of this include Nick & Simon, Jan Smit and Monique Smit.

Etymology

The musical style received the name palingsound early in its history. Music of The Cats was already referred to as palingsound in 1968. ''Het Vrije Volk'' would publish an article in March 1968 mentioning: "... the sound is, according to experts, 'a typical palingsound'." The name's coining has been attributed to Veronica DJ Joost den Draaijer. Den Draaijer coined the term as a reference to the fishing of

European eel The European eel (''Anguilla anguilla'') is a species of eel. Their life history was a mystery for thousands of years, and mating in the wild has not yet been observed. The five stages of their development were originally thought to be differe ...

which is common in Volendam. Another contributing factor to the naming was that Jan Buijs, manager of The Cats, would always bring some European eel for Den Draaijer when he came to the Veronica studio.

Controversy

Not all Volendamic musicians reacted positively to the name and genre. Some band members of The Cats felt like the name mocked them. They would later accept the name after the many successes it brought them. In 2008, a new controversy arose when the band 3JS reacted in frustration when their music was referred to as palingsound. They claimed that their music was not at all typical palingsound, even though they originate from Volendam. Jaap Kwakman, a band member of 3JS, edited the Dutch Wikipedia article on Palingsound to remove 3JS from the article.NU.nl (27 February 2008
"3js balen van palingsound"
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References

{{reflist Dutch styles of music Nederpop