Rowwen Hèze

Hailing from the Netherlands, the dance outfit Rowwen Hèze performs in the Limburgish dialect and reached broad commercial success during the 1990s by blending upbeat Tex-Mex rhythms with folk material and reflective ballads. The group sustained its audience for well over a decade, attaining its commercial summit in 2006 when the album Rodus & Lucius ascended to the top of the Dutch charts. Formed in 1985 in the village of America, Netherlands, the lineup consists of Jack Poels on vocals, guitar, and harmonica, William “Tren” van Enckevort on accordion, piano, trombone, and vocals, Jan Philipsen on bass, Theo Joosten on guitar, mandolin, saxophone, whistle, and percussion, Jack Haegens on trumpet, flügelhorn, trombone, and percussion, together with Martîn Rongen on drums and percussion. Rowwen Hèze issued its self-titled debut album in 1987 and began appearing regularly on the Dutch singles chart by the early 1990s. The first release to cross into widespread popularity was Station America (1993). The follow-up records Zondag in ’t Zuiden (1995), Water, Lucht en Liefde (1997), ’T Beste van 2 Werelden (1999), Vandaag (2000), and Dageraad (2003) each reached the Dutch Top Ten, as did the twentieth-anniversary retrospective ’T Beste van 20 Joar -- Kilomeaters (2005). Rodus & Lucius (2006) became the band’s first number-one album and contained the hit single “Vechte, Valle en Opstoan.” The subsequent live set Saus (2008), which included the charting track “Nar Boave,” likewise entered the Top Ten.