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Artist Description | Kees Kraayenoord
Dutch worship leader, Kees Kraayenoord, has recently recorded a brilliant new album that has also attracted international attention. The CD is called Broken and was recorded in the chapel of a hotel 3,500 feet high in the Swiss Alps. A variety of top Dutch musicians joined Kees in this temporary recording studio where they spent a week in an atmosphere of worship, allowing the music flow from this foundation. The result will be apparent to the listener as it stirs and urges one into spontaneous worship.
“Musical excellence is not irrelevant,” says Kees, “but it’s not superior to worshipping God together with our instruments.”
Broken is the follow-up to Kees’ debut CD, This Is My Cry, which was recorded live during the Flevo Festival in 2003. That album was a significant break through for him as a worship leader. The enormous positive reactions to “This Is My Cry” led to his making plans for a second CD.
Kees came into contact quite early with spiritual music; as a youth his parents encouraged him to sing and make music. After a difficult period during which he turned his back on God and church, a converted Kees began to lead worship weekly for his church youth group. His heart began to long more and more for those moments of worship in the attic of the church. He participated in a course of “Worship Leading” at Youth With A Mission, sang in “Opwekking” (a Dutch Pentecostal organization) conferences, was involved in the CD recordings of the popular “Opwekking” songs and decided together with his wife, Nicole, to pursue a theological degree at Azusa Theological College.
Not long after graduation, Kees met recognized singer/songwriter Ralph van Manen. Since then, they have worked together in national and international settings but also in co-working on songwriting.
Kees is a sought-after speaker in churches and regularly gives courses and lectures on praise and worship. In 2005, Kees sang and spoke to approximately 35,000 youth at the annual “EO Youth Day” (EO: Dutch Evangelical broadcasting company). Currently, he is the Music and Worship Director at De Meerkerk , a fast-growing church in the western province of the Netherlands.
Next to his ongoing ministry as a worship leader, Kees is also expanding his talents as a songwriter. His new album, “Broken” consists of a number of his own compositions and teaming up with such established writers as Chris Eaton and Ralph van Manen. His songs are sung with passion and can be best characterized as a blend between up tempo pop songs and beautifully tender ballads. They each have a singular purpose: to worship God the Father and our redeemer Jesus Christ, as well as bringing a message of hope and love to a broken world filled with broken and empty people.
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