With ‘Songfestival Drenthe, Pop in’ t Plat ‘, Drenthe has its own song festival this year. RTV Drenthe organizes the singing competition with the support of the house of the Taol and the province of Drenthe. The winner will be the Drenthe representative at the Songfestival region in Gelderland.
The Songfestival Drenthe is the successor of the Drèents Liedtiesfestival. “We’re going to do it differently,” says RTV Drenthe final chief Martin van der Veen. “It is not an open competition, artists are approached. Ten participants are participating.”
For years, Stichting Reur organized the Drèents Liedtiesfestival, a competition for regional artists. Last year, the De Stekker foundation withdrew from the music event. Reorn saw insufficient future prospects after a request for more subsidy was rejected.
This makes Marianne Veenstra from Coevorden the last winner of the Drèents Liedtiesfestival. Earlier Leon Moorman, Isa Zwart and Annemiek Drenth, among others, won the musical battle.
The new Songfestival Drenthe will be held in the RTV Drenthe building on 7 June. “We can’t do it at the level of worship now, it will be smaller,” says Van der Veen. “We have been asked by the province to pick this up once. The most important thing is that there is also an event this year in which Drents gets a stage.”