Marlene Bakker

Dutch Folk Singer-Songwriter

Marlene Bakker is a rare appearance in the Dutch music scene. She’s a one of a kind singer/songwriter and is blessed with a stunning deep voice. Her music has an entirely unique place within the music industry because she writes and sings in a dialect called Gronings. This dialect is spoken in the province of Groningen and is part of the Dutch Low Saxon language that covers the northeastern part of the Netherlands. Marlene’s career got a kick-start after her performance of the song Wondern Van Mien Stee, which is an adaptation of Adele’s ‘Hometown Glory’. She translated the song to her mother tongue and performed it together with the Noordpool Orchestra. Since then her songs are regularly played on national Dutch radio stations and her song Loat Grunnen Nait Zakken (about the earthquakes in the province of Groningen) was even quoted in Dutch parliament by one of the parliament’s MP’S as a protest against all the gas drillings, which causes a lot of damage in the province of Groningen. In 2017 Marlene recorded a duet with acclaimed singer/songwriter Edwin Jongedijk. The single Òfschaaid was very well received and reached a number one position. On November 10 Marlene released the first single Waarkhanden (translated: Working hands) from her long awaited debut album RAIF. The song is written together with Bernard Gepken who also produced the album. Waarkhanden is about going back to your hometown and roots after have being away for a long time. The feeling of being homesick together with the fear of going back are mixed in this song, in which you can conclude that blood is thicker than water. RAIF is produced by Bernard Gepken and mixed by Luuk Cox at ICP Studios in Brussels. Marlene has worked together with highly acclaimed musicians on this album. Arjen de Bock (keys), Bernard Gepken (guitar), Nicky Hustinx (drums) and Reyer Zwart (bass) have each contributed to RAIF in their own uniquely way. The latter also wrote the string arrangements, which can also be heard on Waarkhanden.