If you haven’t seen Danitsia Sahadewsing’s blind audition on The Voice of Holland last month, then you missed one of the competition’s most unexpected moments (but there’s always Google!). She delivered Patrice Roberts’ 2015 hit, ‘Old and Grey,’ officially putting soca music on the Dutch map and introducing the genre to an international audience mostly unfamiliar with its infectious energy. Her performance was everything a Trinbagonian would be proud of — brave, bold, and confident.
When WE first contacted Danitsia, she was in the thick of the high-pressure audition phase, balancing the gruelling schedule of the television show with a sudden wave of international attention. She admitted that choosing a soca tune on a platform usually dominated by pop and Dutch ballads was a risky decision. “I was shaking like hell,” she recalled, reflecting on the moments just before her performance.
“I couldn’t stand still. I was very, very nervous knowing this was my chance. I had to do it for myself, my daughters, my family, my country, and the whole Caribbean, because the song I was about to sing, nobody had ever done it in the history of The Voice of Holland.”
While Suriname is geographically and culturally part of the Caribbean, Danitsia, who hails from Paramaribo, says it is often overlooked by the wider region in musical conversations. By choosing Patrice’s song, which was penned by a Vincentian songwriter, Problem Child (Shertz James), she wanted to bridge that gap and show both Europe
and the wider Caribbean that soca demands real vocal discipline and athleticism. As far as she knows, soca has never been performed on The Voice of Holland stage. “It’s soca, you need the energy, but you have to sing in tune and be able to move at the same time. It’s not something you just wake up and do.
“I felt that song the moment I heard it. It’s the culture, the music, and the singing. I wanted the Europeans to see and feel that soca is a genre too.”
Danitsia wasn’t even through the first verse before the judges began to react. Intrigued by the rhythm, they were quickly swept up in the heat of the performance. When the chairs finally began to turn, she had to fight back the tears just to finish her set. “I had to push through. It was like some kind of relief, and the way they were moving... I was so proud that it touched them in that way. I was shocked. I didn’t know how to act. I was screaming loudly, jumping, everything.”
Ilse de Lange, a Dutch country and pop-rock singer-songwriter, was the first coach to turn. She is now Danitsia’s mentor as she prepares for the high-stakes Battle rounds.
The impact of her performance reached all the way back to the 868, sparking support she has welcomed but did not expect. “I didn’t know the whole of Trinidad would be so proud. I was in tears seeing all the comments from people who did not even know me. I am in tears now writing this.”
Patrice herself was among those cheering her on. She wasted no time posting the performance on her Facebook page. “I was surprised and happy,” Patrice told WE. “It’s great to see that this song still has so much life and that she opted to use it to compete.
“Oftentimes, we wonder if our music is reaching the right people or people outside of our core diaspora, and this reinforces and reminds us of the possibilities. I am appreciative of her interpretation and wish her all the best.”
Patrice’s post quickly garnered comments from fans who were happy to see Danitsia’s video. “Only two kinds ah people in this world: Trinis and those who wish they were!” said one fan. Another noted, “My pores raised watching this. She left no crumbs.”
Patrice said the moment was a timely reminder of soca’s global potential. “You never know where your music would end up! You never know who is listening and who is inspired. Keep creating.”
Behind the fame is a woman who has been preparing for this since she was a little girl in Suriname. Danitsia, an office secretary at an accountancy and tax firm by day, has been living in the Netherlands for just over a year, having moved to chase her musical dreams and create a better life for her two daughters. Music is her inheritance; her father was a singer and musician who played the timbal in a local band, and she spent her childhood at his side during every performance.
“I was always singing,” she recalled.
“During the breaks at my father’s performances, I was entertaining the guests. My parents were my support.”
By age eight, she placed third in her first major singing competition, and by 12, she had already released her first single called ‘Tek Wan Luku’, a song which encouraged young girls to put their education first. “I knew that singing was something I would love to do for
the rest of my life.” Her early influences were Caribbean icons like Krosfyah, specifically Edwin Yearwood, who called her up on stage during ‘Pump Me Up’ at a concert in Suriname when she was just a teenager. Today, she counts Machel Montano, Kees, Nadia Batson, Nailah Blackman, and Voice (Aaron St Louis) among her current favourites.
Now focused on the Battles, hoping to book her spot in the live shows, Danitsia sees this journey as a divine answer to her prayers. “I am a strong believer. I asked God to be recognised in the Caribbean and then worldwide, and look what He did for me today. It just started.”
To her newfound Trinbago supporters, she has this message:
“I am forever grateful. You have a special place in my heart. I hope one day I get the opportunity to personally meet you and thank you, and also the soca artistes from Trinidad.”
Whatever the outcome of the competition, with the finale set for May, soca has now had its moment on The Voice of Holland stage—and Danitsia made sure it was felt.
