The Eindhoven DJ duo Showtek released the song Shine last week, containing a tune that sounds very familiar to many people. The melody is very similar to the music of the Villa Volta attraction. Although the DJs are certainly not the only ones who draw inspiration from the music of the amusement park in Kaatsheuvel.
It is of course known that the music in Efteling is catchy and sticks in your head. For example, the carnival association De Kapotte Kachels released a Dutch version of the song ‘Monsieur Cannibale’ by Sacha Distel in 2022, which was used in the attraction of the same name.
Carnival artist Johnny Gold made his own adaptation of the music of the Indian Water Lilies last year and called it ‘The Water Lily Dance’. The original song is actually called ‘African Beat’ and is by Bert Kaempfert & His Orchestra.
Now the fuss is about the Villa Volta attraction, where the Eindhoven DJs Showtek come very close to the original with their song Shine. Although there appear to be more versions of the attraction that opened in 1996. For example, The Dentist used a sample in the song ‘Scream’ in 1999.
In 2009, Low-E vs Alter Egosz released their hardstyle version of the song by composer Ruud Bos and called it ‘Vendetta’.
One of the latest released versions is by DJ Pat B from 2017. He even calls his freestyle version the Efteling remix.
Sjoerd and Wouter Janssen, aka Showtek, are now aware of no harm. “That song had been in the back of Wouter’s mind for ten years. As a child we went to the Efteling, and it probably stuck unconsciously. The melody, especially the beginning of it, is very similar to our dance song. But that was not intentional. “I swear it on my family’s grave,” brother Sjoerd told Omroep Brabant.
The rights to the music of the attraction belong to Efteling, but the rights to the melody belong to the heirs of composer Ruud Bos. “There has now been contact with music label CTM, which is marketing the rights. Ruud Bos will now get a fair share of the rights,” says Sjoerd. There was no one available at CTM who could confirm this.
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