A levenslied (Dutch, lit. "life song" meaning "song about the real life") is a highly sentimental Dutch-language sub-genre of pop music. Typical levenslied-lyrics are very sweet, highly sentimental and about subjects such as love, misery and far-away, sunny, exotic holiday places.
A typical levenslied has catchy, simple rhythms and melodies, with many pop and folk tunes, and is always built up in couplets and refrains. Essential, traditional musical instruments in levenslied-music are the accordion and the barrel organ. In recent years, many levenslied-artists also use synthesizers and guitars for their music.
There is no clear target audience for the levenslied; it is most popular among members of the working class of any age. Music critics are often critical of the levenslied, judging the simple and catchy chorusses and tunes as a lack of creativity. For this reason, the word "smartlap" (Dutch, lit. "sorrow scrap" meaning "sentimental song") is often used for this music style. Originally a term with negative connotations, the term smartlap is now more neutral, and almost any sentimental song is referred to as a smartlap in Dutch.
The levenslied is the Dutch equivalent of the German schlager. In addition, levenslied-music is often called schlager (especially the songs of the Dutch singer Frans Bauer), and many Dutch levenslied-artists are very popular in Germany and other German-speaking countries. Many Dutch levenslied-artists translate their own songs into German. They also translate German schlagers into Dutch.
Famous Dutch levenslied-artists:
Famous Flemish levenslied-artists: