All the BZN hits in one show!
It will be 40 years next year since BZN had their first major hit
LEGENDARY Dutch band BZN will be singing all the hits which made them household names in South Africa in the ’80s when they embark on their South African tour at the end of October. They’ll be criss-crossing across the country, taking their music to their fans.
According to Anny Schilder and Jan Keizer, lead singers of BZN, they can’t wait to perform in South Africa again.
“South Africa has always been good to us,” says Anny. “We love the country and its people.”
It will be 40 years next year since BZN had their first major hit, “Mon Amour” and 40 years since Anny and Jan started singing together.
Anny and Jan both grew up in a small Dutch town called Volendam.
“Those days, every family in Volendam made music. So even when ‘Mon Amour’ became a hit, we knew the pressure was on. At any given time some other band from Volendam could hit the big time,” says Jan, an extremely modest and likeable guy.
“We would go on a world tour and I would come back to Volendam and go to the butcher…and then I would have to wait my turn just like everyone else.”
The songlist include BZN classics such as “Yeppa”, “Tonight”, “Wheels on Fire”, “Le Legionnaire”, “Waltzing Maria” and of course, “Mon Amour”, the song that started it all.
The two can’t help but smile when they talk about those early years. BZN was looking for a female singer and they held auditions. Anny, a friend of Jan’s sister, got the job. “We didn’t really like each other in the beginning,” says Anny. “But our voices sounded fantastic together,” says Jan. “Mon Amour” was Anny’s first song she sang with the band.
BZN has had over 50 hits in the Dutch hit charts to date and are the only music act to have had top 40 hit singles for 26 consecutive years (1973 to 1998). They recorded more than 30 albums and received countless awards and accolades.
Band Zonder Naam has truly stood the test of time. As one journalist remarked: “They should now change their name to BZE (Band Zonder Einde).”
BZN will be at Carnival City on November 7 and 8. Tickets are available from Computicket.
