"Birth of a New Age" | ||||
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Single by Jeangu Macrooy | ||||
Language | English, Sranan Tongo | |||
Released | 4 March 2021 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:53 | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) |
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Jeangu Macrooy singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Birth of a New Age" on YouTube | ||||
Eurovision Song Contest 2021 entry | ||||
Country | ||||
Artist(s) | ||||
Composer(s) | ||||
Lyricist(s) | ||||
Finals performance | ||||
Final result | 23rd | |||
Final points | 11 | |||
Entry chronology | ||||
◄"Grow" (2020) | ||||
"De diepte" (2022) ► |
"Birth of a New Age" is a song by Surinamese singer-songwriter Jeangu Macrooy. The song represented the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam,the Netherlands. [2] The music video was recorded in the Rijksmuseum. [3] In the song,Macrooy calls for resilience and authenticity. [4] [5] The song is mostly written in English and partly in Sranan Tongo,a lingua franca in Suriname.
On 4 March 2021 Macrooy and the broadcaster AVROTROS announced via a livestream that Birth of a New Age would be the Dutch entry of the Eurovision Songfestival. The next day the official music video was presented. The recordings were shot in the Rijksmuseum,in the Tropenmuseum and in the Koepelkerk (Ronde Lutherse Kerk) in Amsterdam,under the direction of Kevin Osepa and cinematography of Jasper Wolf. [6] [7]
The genre of Birth of a New Age is soul combined with percussion and the exchange of call and response from kawina,a genre that originated in Suriname,Macrooy's birth country. The choir consists of sixty voices that were recorded by three singers:Jeangu Macrooy,his twin brother Xillan Macrooy and singer Milaisa Breeveld. In addition,the voice of fellow composer Pieter Perquin can be heard at the beginning of the song. [1]
The basis of the song was from Macrooy,who finished it on December 17,2020. He worked further on it with Pieter Perquin. While composing,Macrooy and Perquin did not begin with a defined song structure like verse-refrain-verse-refrain-bridge-refrain;instead,they built it piece by piece,and tried out new elements when they popped up. With the choir at the beginning of the song,it therefore looks like the song has two refrains and an ending of its own. [1]
Macrooy had already written a poem that would become the song's lyrics before he started with Perquin to work out the music. According to Macrooy,this poem would not have existed if the developments in 2020 around Black Lives Matter had not occurred. Those gave him the feeling that the struggle of sixty years ago had not been lost. The demonstrations meant a lot to him. Being there at a demonstration,it inspired him that he did not only see black people around him,and that he saw a lot of young people there. "In fact that is the new age I am singing about," said the singer. [1]
While composing,Macrooy also decided to sing partly in Sranan Tongo;this is the language of the refrain,whereas the verses are sung in English. [1] He sings the following sentence a number of times:"Yu no man broko mi,mi na afu sensi," which can be translated as:"You can't break me,even if you think that I am inferior." The last part of the sentence literally signifies "that I'm half a cent",which was the smallest coin in Suriname in colonial times. Macrooy makes use here of what is being called an odo in Suriname,in other words a life wisdom which was passed on among enslaved. [6]
Because of his choice,Sranan Tongo marks a new step in its development. It originated in the 17th century because the enslaved were not allowed to speak Dutch,whilst they did not have a common African background. Later on,Sranan Tongo was forbidden and Dutch language made mandatory. Then,during the 1950s,Sranan Tongo was allowed,but regarded as an inferior language and discouraged socially. Since the independence of Suriname in 1975,it became gradually more accepted. "Birth of a New Age" marked the first time that Sranan Tongo was heard on the Eurovision stage. [6]
As a part of the artist project #UPStreetRotterdam visual artist Tymon de Laat completed his artwork with the title Birth of a New Age on 19 April 2021. He made a mural near Ahoy Rotterdam and signed it in the presence of Macrooy,in a joint action at an aerial work platform. [8]
On 18 March 2020, directly after the cancellation of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, the national broadcaster AVROTROS announced its intent to again host the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, and to keep Macrooy as the nation's representative for the event. [9]
As the host country, the Netherlands automatically qualified to compete in the final. It was the 23rd performance in the final on 22 May 2021. [10]
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 edition of the festival was held with a small test audience, called "field lab". [11]
Chart (2021) | Peak position |
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Belgium (Ultratip Bubbling Under Flanders) [12] | 40 |
Lithuania (AGATA) [13] | 94 |
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) [14] | 37 |
Netherlands (Single Top 100) [15] | 30 |
Suriname (Magic 10) [16] | 1 |
Sranan Tongo is an English-based creole language that is spoken as a lingua franca by approximately 550,000 people in Suriname.
The Netherlands has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 63 times since making its debut as one of the seven countries at the first contest in 1956. The country has missed only four contests, twice because the dates coincided with Remembrance of the Dead and twice because of being relegated due to poor results the previous year. The Netherlands hosted the contest in Hilversum (1958), Amsterdam (1970), twice in The Hague and Rotterdam.
The Netherlands has participated in every edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest since its inception in 2003. The country has won the competition on one occasion; in 2009, with the song "Click Clack" by Ralf Mackenbach. Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS has been responsible for the participation, selecting the nation's entrant through the national final Junior Songfestival. The Netherlands is the only country to have taken part in every edition of the contest.
The Netherlands participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Slow Down" written by Douwe Bob, Jan Peter Hoekstra, Jeroen Overman and Matthijs van Duijvenbode. The song was performed by Douwe Bob, who was internally selected by the Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS to represent the Netherlands at the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden. Douwe Bob's appointment as the Dutch representative was announced on 22 September 2015, while the song, "Slow Down", was presented to the public on 4 March 2016.
The Netherlands participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017 which took place in Tbilisi, Georgia on 26 November 2017. The Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS is responsible for the organisation of their representative at the contest. Their entry was selected through the national selection Junior Songfestival 2017. It consisted of six contestants who were divided into two semifinals, having been broadcast on 2 & 9 September 2017. The final was broadcast on 16 September 2017. The boy band Fource, a quartet consisting of the four boys Jannes, Niels, Max and Ian, were selected as the winners of the national selection. Their song for the contest, "Love Me", was released on 6 October 2017.
Jeangu Macrooy is a Surinamese singer-songwriter. He was born in Paramaribo and has been living in the Netherlands in the eastern city Enschede in the region Twente since 2014. Macrooy's music is described as modern soul. His audience is in the Netherlands, Suriname, and increasingly in Belgium, France and Germany. He was due to represent host nation the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam with the song "Grow", but the contest was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, he represented the country in the 2021 contest with "Birth of a New Age".
The Netherlands participated in and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Arcade" written by Duncan Laurence, Joel Sjöö, Wouter Hardy and Will Knox. The song was performed by Duncan Laurence, who was internally selected by the Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS to represent the Netherlands at the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel. Laurence's appointment as the Dutch representative was announced on 21 January 2019, while the song, "Arcade", was presented to the public on 7 March 2019.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have taken place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the 2019 contest with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The contest was cancelled on 18 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making the first time in the contest's 64-year history that an edition was not held.
Kawina, also spelled kawna or kauna, is a musical genre from Suriname. It originated in the last decades of the 19th century under the influence of the music and dance forms banya, laku and tuka. It is related to African music.
The Netherlands originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Grow" written by Jeangu Macrooy and Pieter Perquin. The song was performed by Jeangu Macrooy, who was internally selected to represent the Netherlands at the 2020 contest. In addition to its participation, the Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS was also set to host the contest in Rotterdam, after winning the competition in 2019 with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. Macrooy's appointment as the Dutch representative was announced on 10 January 2020, while the song, "Grow", was presented to the public on 4 March 2020.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the 2019 contest with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was set to host the 2020 contest, before it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcasters Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO), Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) and AVROTROS, the contest was held at Rotterdam Ahoy, and consisted of two semi-finals on 18 and 20 May, and a final on 22 May 2021. The three live shows were presented by Dutch television presenters and singers Chantal Janzen, Edsilia Rombley and Jan Smit, and Dutch YouTube personality and make-up artist Nikkie de Jager.
"Grow" is a song by Surinamese singer-songwriter Jeangu Macrooy. Released on 4 March 2020, the song would have represented host nation the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam.
Junior Songfestival is a Dutch televised music competition for children, held annually since 2003. It is the children's version of the Nationaal Songfestival. The winner of the contest goes on to represent the Netherlands in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, an international version of the competition.
The Netherlands participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 which was held on 29 November 2020 in Warsaw, Poland. The girl group Unity was selected by AVROTROS to represent the country through the televised national selection Junior Songfestival 2020. They achieved 4th place with 132 points.
The Netherlands participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Birth of a New Age" written by Jeangu Macrooy and Pieter Perquin. The song was performed by Jeangu Macrooy, who was internally selected to represent the Netherlands at the 2021 contest after he was due to compete in the 2020 contest with "Grow" before the event's cancellation. In addition to its participation, the Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS also hosted the contest in Rotterdam, after winning the competition in 2019 with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. Macrooy's re-appointment as the Dutch representative was announced on 18 March 2020, while the song, "Birth of a New Age", was presented to the public during a special live broadcast on 4 March 2021.
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Milaisa Breeveld, known professionally as A Mili, is a Surinamese singer. She has had two chart hits in Suriname: "Omin lobi" (2014) and "Blindfolded" (2015). She won the first prize at the Open Podium Twente in 2018; later that year, she also received the Paul Smits Award, a public prize of the Popronde Amsterdam festival. During the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, she performed onstage as part of Jeangu Macrooy's rendition of "Birth of a New Age".
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