Short biography | Long biography
When 23 year old Wende Snijders decided to dig into the French song repertoire of the 50s and 60s, everybody warned her that commercial success would be out of the question. Nobody could have anticipated that one year later, in 2004, she would have an album out with those French songs, that she would receive raving reviews for both her album and her live performances, and that her first tour would be completely sold out!
Wende was born in England from Dutch parents. She moved to Guinee-Bissau, Africa where she attended a French school at the age of 6. She moved to Holland when she was 9 and became interested in French music at 21, during her education at the Amsterdam Theatre School.
For her first album ‘Quand tu Dors’ (2004) Wende chose French classics from the literary chanson-repertoire of the 50’s and 60’s. Songs by artists like Leo Ferré, Barbara, Jacques Brel and she put poems of the popular poet Jacques Prévert to her own music.
She recorded 9 songs with her own ensemble of musicians and 5 with the 52 piece Metropole orchestra. Wende injects the well known classic songs with her vibrant and energetic personality. A whole new generation of music lovers discovered these classic songs through Wende and the people who remember the originals are impressed with Wende’s powerful and gleaming new renditions.
2005 became a year of recognition. While Wende played 75 shows all over Holland, her debut album was awarded an Edison Award for best album 0f 2005. She was awarded the British American Tobacco Award for most promising newcomer, as well as the Zonta Award.
Later that year she released ‘Au Suivant, a dvd that combines filmed live performances with documentary footage.
In September 2006, Wende presented her new album ‘La fille noyée’ to the public.
This album was also awarded with a Edison.
In 2006/2007 she toured the country with a nine piece band, played a packed Concertgebouw with the Metropole Orchestra, and performed at the Amsterdam Paradiso. In March of 2007 Wende was awarded the Gouden Notenkraker. The jury for this prestigious Dutch award consists of fellow musicians and actors.
In June 2007 Wende starred in the exclusive one-run show ’Adem’ for the Oerol Festival, which she produced herself. Besides singing and acting, Wende could also be seen dancing in this show with choreographer/dancer Annabelle Ochoa Lopez.
In July, Wende was one of the main attractions of the North Sea Jazz festival in The Hague, and in August she gave a 50 minute open air concert with the Metropole Orchestra in the centre of Amsterdam. The show was televised live on national television.
In april 2008 Wende’s song ‘De wereld beweegt’ (The world is in motion) was awarded the Annie M.G.Schmidtprijs for best Dutch song of the year. Wende was awarded as composer, lyricist and performer of the song.
The album is entitled ’Chante!’ and contains songs sung in French, English, Dutch, Spanish and South African. On this self produced album, Wende performs in an intimate jazz-inspired setting. ’Chante!’ was released on 19 september 2008.
Documentary filmmaker Roel van Dalen made a documentary film about Wende: ‘De wereld beweegt’ (The world is in motion). It premiered at the Dutch Film Festival in Utrecht in September 2008 and was broadcast on national television.
Wende’s second album ‘La fille noyée’ reaches the gold status.
October 2009 saw the release of her fourth solo-album entitled ‘No 9’ as well as the start of a new club tour. It would be her first project in the English language, and the entire project was composed, written and produced by Wende and her co-producer Jan van Eerd.
In 2009-2010, Wende toured the country in four different set-ups. In November 2009 she toured in the big clubs (Paradiso, Paard van Troje etc.) in Holland with her own band. In January 2010 she started with a tour of the large concert venues of Holland with the 23 piece all string orchestra Amsterdam Sinfonietta, which was followed by the extreme opposite; A solo tour, in which Wende was the sole musician (vocals, piano, guitar) as well as the only person on stage. This solo-tour was an experiment in theatricals, with exciting and innovative use of video projection. The fouth tour of 2010 was a continuation of her 2009 club tour, with a renewed line up.
But the main Wende-event of 2010 were her all new large theatrical concerts, in which she combined the experiences from the three earlier tours of 2010 into one spectacular show.
She rounded up this tour by making her debut appearances at the Royal Carré theater of Amsterdam. These performances were filmed and televised on national tv.
In March of 2010 the recording artist Wende and her album ‘No 9’ were awarded the BUMA Gouden Harp, an annual award for exceptional artists who make major songwriting contributions to the Dutch music scene.
On May 11, Wende was awarded the anual ‘Duiveltjes’ award. A jury of fellow musicians called her Best Singer of the year.
October 2011 saw the release of her second DVD, simply but elegantly entitled ‘Carré’. It contains the performance at the Royal Carré Theater as filmed in December 2010, as well as an audio CD with the 10 best tracks from the live show.
Performing at Carré had always been a major dream for the budding artist Wende. With the release of her new DVD, Wende became an ‘indie artist’. Carré is the first release of her Tathata label.
Discography
CD: Quand tu dors 2004 (platinum)
DVD: Au Suivant 2005
CD: La fille noyée 2006 (gold)
CD+ DVD : Chante ! (live album with dvd) 2008
CD: No.9 2009 (gold)
DVD+ CD: Carré 2011