Our Philosophy
Our radio show is called “Fingerpoppin Soul”. This might give the impression it is all about carefree relaxed vibes. Not so… Let us try to explain.
What is “soul”? According to the mainstream media it is Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Al Green and Marvin Gaye. One could create a playlist of about a hundred songs and that would cover 99% of what is ever heard. Overall, Soul music is vastly underappreciated and mostly ignored by the wider world of music, radio and other media. Most artists never get the recognition they deserve. Oceans of recordings are never heard by anyone.
Today, most people are only interested in music as generic background sounds or as a vehicle to dance to. If you are anything like us you will have had this experience: you are in a public place and music is played over the sound system. Suddenly a real soul sound is played. For you the world stops for a minute and you just have to focus on the music. For everyone else there is nothing to hear. They will go about their business and will pay no attention to the music.
Then there are the soul nights for specialized audiences of soul fans. The people there will want to hear their favorites, the “hits” from their particular niche, or at least sounds in the style they like (Northern, Modern, Two-step, Traditional R&B etc). At the side of the room there will be a few onlookers, vaguely bored, all the time at the lookout for a different sound, something new, something that tickles their fancy for a surprise, something not expected.
It is for these onlookers, these people interested in out of the ordinary records and sounds, that we make Fingerpoppin Soul. This is the radio show for Niche people, for curious people, for musical omnivores who like their music fresh and different. At the same time we want the radio show to be easily digested also for non-experts and casual listeners. No esoteric hour-long specials about one specific artist or sub-genre. Every 10-15 minutes we want the mood to change.
In this small universe we have created you will find every emotion known to mankind, from wild exuberance to empty despair. There will be loud music, quiet storm music, dancers and ballads, primitive and sophisticated productions, with all geographies included from the USA to Africa, from Panama to Jamaica, from Europe and the UK to Brazil.
If it is real and soulful, we will play it, but only if it sounds fresh and original, and if it hasn’t been played to death by everyone and their dog. It does not matter to us when the music was made. So our choices range from the fifties to today.
Not being restricted by Geography or specific label put on the music gives us the freedom to explore the relations between certain records from different eras and locations. We can play whatever we like and do not have to belong to any scene or type of crowd. This makes things harder for us in marketing and bringing our show to specific audiences but we still want to do it this way only.
This is our Philosophy.
We play great timeless soul music only. We do not focus on any specific genre or style. We mix it up continuously. We will play favorite artists more than others but will feel self-conscious about doing so and will make fun of ourselves all the time.
We bow our heads in respect to others doing similar things in bars, café’s and on the internet. Whenever possible we will visit these places and have the experts as guests on our radio show.
Our mission is to bring the best in all of soul music to anyone interested enough to tune in. But we will never compromise or cater to a predetermined “canon” of what soul should be. We have been doing this for 30 years and hope to continue for a long time...
Hans Diepstraten & Harry Van Vliet
Our radio show is called “Fingerpoppin Soul”. This might give the impression it is all about carefree relaxed vibes. Not so… Let us try to explain.
What is “soul”? According to the mainstream media it is Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Al Green and Marvin Gaye. One could create a playlist of about a hundred songs and that would cover 99% of what is ever heard. Overall, Soul music is vastly underappreciated and mostly ignored by the wider world of music, radio and other media. Most artists never get the recognition they deserve. Oceans of recordings are never heard by anyone.
Today, most people are only interested in music as generic background sounds or as a vehicle to dance to. If you are anything like us you will have had this experience: you are in a public place and music is played over the sound system. Suddenly a real soul sound is played. For you the world stops for a minute and you just have to focus on the music. For everyone else there is nothing to hear. They will go about their business and will pay no attention to the music.
Then there are the soul nights for specialized audiences of soul fans. The people there will want to hear their favorites, the “hits” from their particular niche, or at least sounds in the style they like (Northern, Modern, Two-step, Traditional R&B etc). At the side of the room there will be a few onlookers, vaguely bored, all the time at the lookout for a different sound, something new, something that tickles their fancy for a surprise, something not expected.
It is for these onlookers, these people interested in out of the ordinary records and sounds, that we make Fingerpoppin Soul. This is the radio show for Niche people, for curious people, for musical omnivores who like their music fresh and different. At the same time we want the radio show to be easily digested also for non-experts and casual listeners. No esoteric hour-long specials about one specific artist or sub-genre. Every 10-15 minutes we want the mood to change.
In this small universe we have created you will find every emotion known to mankind, from wild exuberance to empty despair. There will be loud music, quiet storm music, dancers and ballads, primitive and sophisticated productions, with all geographies included from the USA to Africa, from Panama to Jamaica, from Europe and the UK to Brazil.
If it is real and soulful, we will play it, but only if it sounds fresh and original, and if it hasn’t been played to death by everyone and their dog. It does not matter to us when the music was made. So our choices range from the fifties to today.
Not being restricted by Geography or specific label put on the music gives us the freedom to explore the relations between certain records from different eras and locations. We can play whatever we like and do not have to belong to any scene or type of crowd. This makes things harder for us in marketing and bringing our show to specific audiences but we still want to do it this way only.
This is our Philosophy.
We play great timeless soul music only. We do not focus on any specific genre or style. We mix it up continuously. We will play favorite artists more than others but will feel self-conscious about doing so and will make fun of ourselves all the time.
We bow our heads in respect to others doing similar things in bars, café’s and on the internet. Whenever possible we will visit these places and have the experts as guests on our radio show.
Our mission is to bring the best in all of soul music to anyone interested enough to tune in. But we will never compromise or cater to a predetermined “canon” of what soul should be. We have been doing this for 30 years and hope to continue for a long time...
Hans Diepstraten & Harry Van Vliet