The new, Frisian-language album will be released on 7 November In lichem fol promises by Zea aka Arnold de Boer. On this work, his poetic, minimal songs are given an enchanting, rhythmic ground by the 16-member Drumband Hallelujah Makkum. With this work, Arnold de Boer shows how powerful and idiosyncratic language can be. Not only with his own work, but also with Frisian translations of poems by poets M. Vasalis and German poet Nelly Sachs, among others. Poet Tsead Bruinja can also be heard on the album. In lichem fol promises (A body full of promise) will be released on LP, CD, digitally and as a book by Makkum Records in collaboration with Subroutine, Explore the North and Popfabryk. The premiere of the accompanying show with drum band - in which Arnold's father also plays - will be presented at Explore the North Festival on 22 November in Leeuwarden. Tickets for the festival are available via explorethenorth.co.uk.
Zea expands
Zea's new Frisian album explodes with creativity. And this time it does not come from Arnold de Boer alone; Zea expands to a foursome and on half of the album, drum band Hallelujah Makkum joins in. In that drum band, Zea started his musical career as a seven-year-old boy. Arnold's father Feddie de Boer (81) still plays in the drum band and thus also on the album. Hallelujah Makkum has been a household name far and wide for 125 years.
In lichem fol promises was recorded over three days at the Thomas Church in Ketlik (Katlijk) in February 2025. Everything was played live to take full advantage of the beautiful spatial sound. Drumband Hallelujah Makkum was recorded at the Doopsgezinde Kerk in Makkum on 31 May 2025. De Boer allows the listener/reader to sit on the cadence of drums and strings, takes us into the minimal trance of guitar, cello, clarinet and drums and plays with time and physicality.
Powerful and idiosyncratic language
In De Boer's world, in Zea-land, everything is connected to everything else and events, places, music, language, text and images magically coincide.
The LP/CD will be released along with a book full of song lyrics, stories, drawings, photos and translations. De Boer's Frisian lyrics are poetic; the accompanying drawings and photos often set a beautiful counterpoint, and the stories lead their own lives along the edges of the lyrics and music. The translations show how powerful and idiosyncratic a language can be in all its individuality and meaning.
His Frisian translation of the poem Death by M. Vasalis, set to music, sounds like a chess game between the poet and the Grim Reaper. De Boer's own lyrics echo this, from a song like Pine and tiid (Pain and time), via The tút yn the concrete clouds (The kiss in the concrete clouds) to Wer in dei tenein (Another day over).
The poem Kommt einer von ferne by German poet Nelly Sachs becomes, in translation, a song about our dealings with strangers. On the title track In lichem fol promises poet Tsead Bruinja joins in a narrative about our degeneration into bodies in a form that sounds like a shared dreamed history
Enchanting rhythmic ground under poetic songs
In lichem fol promises is an album like a dance to conjure bodies, expel pain and checkmate Death. Zea grasps time, stretches it, pushes rhythms into pulsating circles, pulls tones from the ground and conjures lyrics from his toes. For this occasion, Arnold de Boer (guitar/vocals) joins forces with cellist Harald Austbø, clarinettist Xavier Charles and drummer Ineke Duivenvoorde as well as a full drum orchestra. Drum band Hallelujah Makkum marches throughout the record and lays a fascinating and enchanting rhythmic ground for Zea's minimal and poetic songs.
Credits
guitar, vocals: Arnold de Boer | clarinet: Xavier Charles | cello: Harald Austbø
drums: Ineke Duivenvoorde | drums, cymbals, liras: Drumband Hallelujah Makkum (16 people) | guests: Tsead Bruinja (poet), Dina Popma (singer)
About Arnold De Boer
Arnold de Boer has had a prolific career as a musician and singer. Over the past twenty-five years, he has performed in over forty countries on six continents and it is striking that wherever he goes, he mostly sings in Frisian. Because of his artistic, linguistic and cultural activism, he founded a record label through which he promotes his work of spreading Frisian, as well as music and languages from all over the world. In the spirit that distinguishes linguistic minorities from minorities in general, Arnold de Boer does not belong to and is not interested in the mainstream panorama, but moves within an international network through which he promotes collaborations, exchanges, comparisons, knowledge and awareness.
Arnold de Boer is a musician, a poet, a traveller, comparing himself to other cultures within a process of osmosis, not far from the troubadour and his ethical, civic and political themes. He is also recognised for managing to be transversal, for his praise of multilingualism, for respect, for realising that each language expresses something unique and that this uniqueness, within the multiplicity, must be preserved, renewed and vitalised. He is rewarded for his ability to communicate with multiple generations and multiple cultural and social communities, to turn thoughts into music and to convey messages through the sound of the mother tongue.
Arnold de Boer, aka Zea, sees language as a source of uncertainty and pluralism, as an antidote to absolutism and dogmatism; language as a musical form that works against rigid brains and deserves widespread recognition for that reason too.
Jury report international music award, festival for minority languages Premio Ostana, Italy
About Hallelujah Makkum
In the late 19th century, musical societies were springing up like mushrooms in the Frisian countryside. So too in Makkum where, in addition to the existing band Apollo, the Christian Music Society Hallelujah was founded in 1894. Today consisting of drum band, harmony and youth orchestra 'the Nutcrackers', it has around 80 members. For 125 years, Hallelujah Makkum has been a household name far and wide, convivial, dynamic and versatile.
About Explore the North
Explore the North is a production house and festival based at Podium Explore in Leeuwarden. The organisation is a home for writers, poets and other young makers. The focus is on literature, multilingualism and stories in unusual forms told by a new generation of makers. Explore the North's interdisciplinary projects can be seen at festivals and venues at home and abroad. Everything culminates in November during the vibrant festival month, where local makers share the stage with international pioneers. This year's festival features Édouard Louis, Joost Oomen, the Poezieboys and aja monet, among others. Find out more at www.explorethenorth.nl
Popfabryk
Popfabryk is the production house for pop culture in Fryslan. Not a fabryk for standard products. Popfabryk offers innovative creative talent in hip-hop and pop culture space for experimentation, artistic development, our network and support in entrepreneurship. Besides supporting current productions, such as In lichem fol promises, Popfabryk is also initiator and partner in the Frisian Vinyl Club, the partnership NOORD with Hit the North - Up North - Go! the Platform Popcultuur Fryslân and the Kultuer Kollektyf. Internationally, she is part of the networks Excite and Stage Europe Network.
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