On May 5, 2025, we celebrated 80 years of living in freedom. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of countries where this is not the case. Reason enough, then, to pay attention to something that seems so ordinary to us, with a special concert on the City Carillon in the tower of Enschede's Grote Kerk.
On this Liberation Day, between 11.30 and 12.30, city carillonist Esther Schopman played 11 international songs around the theme of peace, freedom and connection. Half of these were sung by the person who suggested the song!
The carillon concert opened with a verse from the Wilhelmus, the Dutch national anthem. Mayor Roelof Bleker played it on the carillon with Esther Schopman. Read the announcement of the concert in Huis aan Huis Enschede: “Liedjes over vrijheid, vrede en verbinding".
Programme
Opening with the national anthem (interplay of Roelof Bleker and city carillonist)
1. “Обійми (Obijmy)” – Ukraine (vocals: Veronika Tistechko)
2. “Hemmige” – Switzerland
3. “This Little Light of Mine” – United States (vocals: Daniel Sydney)
4. “תפילת האמהות (Prayer of the Mothers)” – Israël
5. “Tavaszi szél vizet áraszt” – Hungary (vocals: Mariann Vincze)
6. “Hayat Bayram Olsa” – Turkey
7. “برای (Barâye) – Iran (vocals: Azarnoush Khoddami)
8. “အဖ ွဲ့အစည််းအတွက်သီချင််း (Een lied voor saamhorigheid)” – Myanmar
9. “99 Luftballons” – Germany (vocals: Jasmin de Wilde)
10. “El Condor Pasa” – Peru
11. “Bella Ciao” – Italy (vocals: Daniela Carignani)
English 
Nederlands