In the past few years, singer DINA has left a profound impact on her audience. From performing at Paradiso Amsterdam to gracing the stages of the renowned Oerol festival and embarking on a church tour through Friesland, her musical journey has been diverse. She has held concerts in unique venues such as yurts, barns, and yoga schools, even curating her own camping tour. DINA, a multifaceted artist, strives to connect with her audience by crafting music that effortlessly opens the heart.
DINA's broad worldview echoes vibrantly within her musical creations. Throughout her professional journey, she has engaged in collaborations with musicians from various corners of the globe, including Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, England, Australia, and Portugal.
In her albums 'My Own Way' (2016) and 'HEART' (2021), DINA incorporates unconventional instruments like the West African Kora, Tama (talking drum), and the Didgeridoo into her arrangements. In her 2022 EP 'Dina Up Close,' DINA presents a collection of her favorite songs in a stripped-down, acoustic style. DINA's authentic and vulnerable approach lays bare her heartbreak and experiences, creating a listening experience that resonates with shared human emotions.
In the spring of 2023, she took on the role of an independent producer to craft her album, accompanied by her book ‘medisyn,’ in her native tongue, Frysk. This language is spoken by the residents of Frylân in the northern region of Holland. Recorded in a small church, this album is a compelling narrative that delves into self-reflection in these uncertain times. Each track on the album serves as an ingredient in her "medicine," and DINA encourages her audience to discover their own components for their personal remedies.
Born in the Netherlands, DINA identifies herself as a global citizen, fulfilling different roles as a singer, composer, lyricist, and producer. Her voice, characterized by warmth and tranquility, serves as a source of solace. Amidst the hustle of the modern fast-paced world, DINA's music provides a moment of serenity, guiding individuals to rediscover themselves and reconnect with others.
Her compositions don't adhere to a fixed formula in her live performances; instead, they offer a musical journey where one can breathe and unwind. Each song concludes organically, extending until its natural completion. This approach guarantees that each live performance is distinctive, gently leading the listener toward self-discovery and fostering reconnection with both themselves and others.
DINA | 'medisyn'
a production of the Popfabryk (Leeuwarden)
“Frisian, healing, heavenly, powerful and grounded”
Singer, musician and producer DINA will release a new album entitled 'medisyn' in the spring of 2023. For the first time, she is making an album in her native tongue, Frysk.
It is October 5, 2022 and Dina Popma (1984) opens the large wooden door of the old Thomas church in Katlijk. The car of technician and producer Bonne van der Wal stops behind her. Instruments and recording equipment are brought in and set up. Together they will spend three days and nights in this beautiful space, in the nave of the church, and record an album there. 10 songs overflowing with power, heavenly melodies, trans-like, and repetitive guitar parts and lyrics that ground the Dina as a woman and as a human being, and can be increased in their musical and poetic form as a universal 'medicine'.
It all started much earlier. Dina had been walking around with questions such as, 'What do we do to reflect? And where are we going then? What are people looking for, and what do people find in the church or in other sacred places? Where did people used to look, long before the Church had an answer to their questions? Where do we find healing, or where can we heal, and do we do it alone or together?
Dina started an investigation. She found out what her way of thinking is. She started writing, and she did so in Frisian; the language that connects her to the depths of herself. And so she made an album: 'medisyn'. And with the album she made a book, in which, in addition to her lyrics, poems and spoken word, interviews can also be found. Dina talked to a herbalist, writer, doctor and she herself tells the story of her research. And, reader and listener are invited to share a recipe, a 'medisyn', and write it down in the book.
The presentation of 'medisyn', of album and book, will take place in 10 small churches spread throughout Friesland. In collaboration with Stichting Alde Fryske Tsjerken and Popfabryk, DINA will tour the entire province in the spring of 2023. Live, DINA merges story and music. She plays with nature sounds, multiple vocal lines and guitar parts, creating a melodic interplay; the construction of different layers leads to a trance atmosphere in which the audience is completely absorbed.
The churchtour came about as a collaboration between Popfabryk; production house for Frisian pop culture and Alde Fryske Tsjerken Foundation. Popfabryk sees the old churches in Fryslân as a special and widespread stage to present its small-scale productions to a predominantly new audience. Together with the Alde Fryske Tsjerken Foundation, the intention has been expressed to do a Tsjerke Tour annually with small productions appropriate to the locations.