Yesterday at 6:52 PM • Modified yesterday at 8:43 PM
The carnival soap based on the song ‘Carnival, Who Doesn’t Celebrate It?!’ by Henk Westbroek and the Tilburg duo Lanterfantje reached a low point on Tuesday. The video clip was taken from YouTube by Henk Temming, who, together with Westbroek, was part of the band Het Goede Doel. Lanterfantje does not leave it at that and is considering taking legal action. “We ended up between two fighting classics,” says Lanterfanter Thomas van Groningen.
“We are sad about it,” responds Thomas, who is part of the Tilburg act together with DJ Koen Verhoof. “What we are most disappointed about is that we contacted Henk Temming’s music publisher last week. They said that they were not just going to take the song offline and that we would work it out.”
The soap between the two Henkens started last week with some arguing about the song. Its melody is based on Sinterklaas (Who doesn’t know him?)’, a song by Het Goede Doel. ‘Carnival, who doesn’t celebrate?! Carnival, carnival, and of course beer and fries’, says the parody that the Tilburg duo made together with Westbroek.
With the lyricist’s permission, Lanterfantje thought they had their affairs in order, but the other band member of Het Goede Doel thought differently. Taming felt passed over.
“Weird, inappropriate and indecent.”
“In the music world it is like this: if you want to write a different text to an existing song, you contact the person who wrote it. And then you can always work something out. Now that has not happened and that is strange, inappropriate and indecent,” Temming said earlier.
After some back and forth arguing in the media, Temming put his words into action on Tuesday. Due to a copyright claim on behalf of Nanada Music, Temming’s music publisher, the video clip was removed from YouTube.
More often bumblebees with music rights in carnival land
It is not the first time that the Tilburg duo Lanterfantje has had trouble with a carnival song. In 2023, the Tilburg DJ duo made the song ‘Ladder Zat’ together with artist Gullie, a parody of the song ‘Ladada (Mon Dernier Mot)’ by singer Claude. The song was removed from Spotify one day after launch at the request of the creator.
More carnival numbers suffer from hassle. The song Dikke Pens by De Kapotte Kachels was removed from the streaming service Spotify last year at the insistence of Universal. According to Spotify, the people from Brabant violated copyright with the song. The winning song from Kies Je Kraker cannot be listened to on the streaming platform until Carnival.
This came as a surprise to the Lanterfantje men, after the earlier phone call. They even wrote Temming an email. “We explained to him that we have no problems with him and that we did not want to pass him. We never meant it that way,” says Thomas.
The carnival artists did not receive a response to this email. “It’s been quiet for days. He just said some things about us on Facebook, even comparing us to ICE agents in Minneapolis,” says the Lanterfantje member, dumbfounded.
Henk Westbroek also bites the bullet on Tuesday on X. “The entire copyright goes to the other Henk. So it must be petty combined with carnival hatred,” he writes.
“We are in contact with a lawyer.”
Yet the artists remain undeterred. “We are in contact with a lawyer who thinks we have a case. We are thinking about taking legal action. This really has to stop, because what are we talking about,” Van Groningen wonders.
Lanterfantje has ended up in an argument that they have nothing to do with, according to Thomas. “The core of the conflict is about who wrote the song. Henk Temming has written two words about gingerbread nuts and claims the entire song. We have ended up between two fighting classics,” says the Tilburger.
The song can still be listened to on Spotify. “But it is expected that it will also be taken offline there. We hope that the carnival fans will keep the song alive and keep playing it.”
