You might initially think of the supermarket when you hear ‘Djumbo’. But there’s a good chance that you still know big hits like Eyahe and Boya Boya Bay. If you were a fan of the girl group at the time, we have good news. The popular singing trio from the Zero’s is making a comeback! Wait, what? You might even see them at a festival or party this year. OMG.
Girl group Djumbo is making a comeback
In the zero’s you had various bands for youth, such as K3, Ch!pz and M-Kids. We also had the popular singing trio Djumbo, consisting of three girls: Lotte Prijs, Lindsy Schuman and Samantha Klumper, who joined a little later. Djumbo was slightly different from other girl groups of that time. Their repertoire consisted of songs with lyrics in English and Dutch: the languages were mixed together. The songs then sometimes became big hits. You will probably recognize songs like Hide and Seek and Boya Boya Bay. Even now, Djumbo’s songs are probably still listened to regularly. For all the people who are still fans of their songs, we have good news: the girl group is making a comeback!
In an interview with BN De Stem, Lotte says that Lindsy came up with the idea. “She called me and told me that she really missed Djumbo,” says Lotte. “That became extra clear to her when she attended a music show in Belgium with her 9-year-old daughter.” Then they agreed to spend an evening together and immediately hit it off again. “All three of us wanted to perform again,” said Lotte.
Festivals and bad parties
By the way, girl group Djumbo does have something to do with the Jumbo supermarket. At the time, the girl group was founded as a promotional stunt. Although it wasn’t purely a promotional stunt. “Jumbo boss Frits van Eerd had the ultimate wish to be number one in the top 40 and wanted to achieve that with us,” says Lotte. Unfortunately they did not reach the first place in the top 40, but the song Eyahe did reach second place in 2005. Nice!
The idea is to celebrate “festivals and bad parties” with a show of about half an hour. The girls of Djumbo are currently in the studio to rehearse almost every day. The show will of course feature their own hits, but also covers of popular songs from the 90s and zeros. “Songs by Abba, Barbie Girl by Aqua, the Spice Girls and a gabber medley. That kind of thing,” says Lotte. The first applications have already been received. For example, they will perform during King’s Day in April and will be at the Kamping Kitsch Festival in Eindhoven in June.
Best Of album?
The big question now is: will new songs be released? According to Lotte, that is not clear. At least it’s not their plan right now. The three ladies are no longer ‘girls’ these days. Lotte and Lindsy are both mothers and Lotte is also busy as a DJ. “I perform almost every week. I want to continue doing that, so it will be quite a challenge to combine all that,” she says. There is a chance that the old hits will be polished up a bit. Not only the ladies, but also the target group has become older. That’s why they want to make remixes of the songs. And: “Maybe there will be a Best Of album.”
If you want to refresh your memory, you can listen to one of Djumbo’s hits below:
