The brother duo Kirsten and Kyle Schlebusch, better known as Dream Syndrome. (Photo: Facebook/Dream Syndrome)
The brother duo Kirsten and Kyle Schlebusch, better known as Dream Syndrome, conjured up a special surprise for their prospective Dutch fans.
Their runaway hit, “Hey zonnebloem” is now also available in Dutch as “Hey zonnebloem” and also boasts a new music video.
This song has been booming on various Afrikaans playlists since its launch in April 2022 and has been played more than 1.3 million times on the music streaming service, Spotify.
Kirsten wrote “Hey Sonneblom” after a seaside holiday, and his inspiration was precisely to capture that fresh feeling of holiday and relaxation with music.
“The purpose of writing about the sunflower people in each of our lives was to draw a parallel with that feeling of complete happiness that one experiences during a seaside holiday and with the sunflower people in our lives,” he said. then said about this feel-good song.
The decision to translate their hit was made in the run-up to their first Dutch concert, which will take place on May 11 at the Melkweg music venue and cultural center near Leidseplein in Amsterdam.
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The two blonde brothers will do a pre-show for Van Pletzen and Early B at this venue, where celebrities such as U2, Nirvana, The Pixies and Prince have also performed.
“We wanted to challenge ourselves a bit and give the Dutch crowd the opportunity to hear our music in their own language. We also wanted to take the risk to see what doors could possibly open internationally with such a translation. After all, we have always dreamed big and want to teach people that you have nothing to lose if you fully pursue your dreams,” Kirsten tells Rhewal.
Kirsten and Kyle from Dream Syndrome in the Rhewal studio. (Photo: Leonie Bezuidenhout/Rhewal)
With the help of their Dutch uncle, Bram Petrus Paaijmans, the song was translated and arranged without too much difficulty.
“Our uncle comes from the Netherlands, so we gave him the basic Google translation and Afrikaans lyrics so that he could adapt the sentence construction correctly for us in particular. He also sent it to his family in the Netherlands for final approval and to make sure that the song has been translated correctly, but is still beautiful and easy to sing.”
Kirsten says it feels like new life has been breathed into the song.
“It sounded quite strange to us and our family, for whom we played it beforehand. Almost as if it were completely different people singing it,” he teases.
“It just makes us excited about it beforehand.”
He and Kyle are looking forward to performing their new adaptation in front of Dutch audiences, but confess that they are still nervous to see how it will be received.
“We are curious to see if my pronouncement will be easy to understand. Unfortunately, we will only find out when we get there.”
According to Kirsten, the date of their Dutch performance also has special meaning.
“The Melkweg is a historic venue, so for us it is a huge privilege to be on the same stage where legends like Nirvana have already sung, barely a year after we founded our group. And on top of that with a Dutch translation of our own music. Unbelievable!”
Watch the music video here:
