This dialect music is not a revival of folk music, but rather an adaptation of current international styles, such as country, texmex, and mainstream pop and rock music. Noteworthy is that the lyrics are often nostalgic and concern rural matters, or at least are regionally coloured. This article explores dialect music using the results of a 1994 survey conducted by the Foundation for Dialects in the Netherlands.
Special attention is paid to the bilingual province of Friesland.
The Frisian languague's unusual status is reflected in its use in more prestigious musical genres, such as classical music and opera. Although singing in dialect goes back well into the 19th century when the elite began producing dialect songs in order to express its regional identity, the recent rise of dialect music is remarkabie. One explanation of this phenomenon is the increasing number of regional radio stations, which profile themselves by means of dialect music. Another is that this trend is part of a larger process also taking place in other countries, for example Germany.