Dan Schaumann

LOVE knows no boundaries, they say, geographical or other.

So why would people not love Merrylands?

Singer-song writer Dan Schaumann and his friend Sam Kumlu believed the suburb had an image problem and so they wrote a little ditty to spread the love.

The duo's song Merry in Merrylands took out the People's Choice Award in the Sydney Vision Song Contest, sparking a conversation in the media about perceptions of the suburb.

Mr Kumlu, who grew up in Merrylands, said he was sick and tired of people putting the place down.

"Merrylands is always seen as a neglected suburb," he said.

"Most people have negative connotations of the suburb and it's often associated with crime.

"But we wanted to show that you can be happy in Merrylands, you can be happy with the people and the friends you live with and you can have fun in Merrylands."

The song was Mr Kumlu's first attempt at writing music and he was led largely by his colleague Mr Schaumann, who has a couple of independent album releases next to his name.

The pair confessed their song was a tongue-in-cheek critique of some common negative images of Merrylands.

Traffic noise, drunk bogans, stoner kids on skateboards and rubbish-spreading ibis all get a nod in the song.

But the song's protagonist still falls in love with a girl from Merrylands near Granville Park, and so gives the suburb the tick of approval.

"It doesn't matter where you live," Mr Schaumann said. "If you fall in love with someone, it doesn't matter where they're from as long as you can connect with them." - Parramatta Sun

ONE would normally associate romance with places like Paris or Rome, but for Sam Kumlu, that place can also be Merrylands.

A Merrylands resident himself, Kumlu co-wrote the song Merry in Merrylands, which won the people's choice award at the Sydney-vision contest last month.

"Merrylands isn't very well known as a great suburb, but it doesn't matter where you're living, as long as you're in love, it's always going to be great," Kumlu said.

He wrote the song with his friend and singer/guitarist Dan Schaumann, and both agreed the song not only conveyed how Merrylands can be a great place to live, but revels in a bit of satire of the area, too.

"Why is 'merry' in Merrylands?" Schaumann said.

Kumlu said:"It's a feel-good song, it shows that love can conquer all. It's important to have a song like this so people can think 'we're in Merrylands, but we appreciate what we have'."

Kumlu added that although they didn't win the Sydneyvision contest, a fundraising event inspired by Eurovision and held at the Newtown Community Centre, it was humbling when festival-goers voted their song as their favourite.

"We thought songs on the eastern suburbs tend to do well in Sydneyvision, so we thought we'd do a western Sydney entrance," he said. "The people at the event voted it as the people's choice awards - it was a great honour."

The duo said they had fun writing the song together, which took about two weeks, as well as an extra two days filming and editing the video clip. - Parramatta Advertiser

Sydney-based singer/songwriter Dan Schaumann‘s The Fighter begins with an almost languid guitar intro—beautifully played—making the opening of The Fighter sounds more like a lover.

Half a minute into the song the tempo picks up, and just under the minute mark Dan’s voice comes in, delicious Aussie accent and all.

The verses are gorgeous with the tail end of the first sounding like Elliott Smith has stopped by, and the end of the second giving us the on ramp to a chorus that, when it comes, kicks up the energy level of the tune so that you finally hear the song is indeed about a fighter. I love this slow reveal, and I found myself wondering if fighting with this guy would be so bad.

Dan Schaumann comes close to speaking at times, a singing style that I love and prize because it shows the singer is inhabiting his body and not just his head. Stories and passions come from the body and Dan’s style conveys a from-the-gut honesty.

Dan is soon to release his debut album, A Thousand Days Beneath The Sun. Recorded and produced in Brisbane by James North Productions, it consists of thirteen self-penned tracks which predominantly reflect the rapturous, romantic and remorseful emotions experienced while residing in England for 15 months during 2008-2009 – over 16,000 kilometres away from home in Australia.

This song, The Fighter, refers to the state of emotional turmoil brought on by fighting excessively hard to hold onto a past love which has passed the point of salvage. Eventually, even the greatest fighter has to call it a day and move on.

Dan’s got a great website, click on the photo above to visit. Click on the pic below to go to his fb page.

I’m looking forward to reading Dan’s blog posts about his ghosts and dreams of electricity.

I might even browse his photos of toilets.

Hmm.

Maybe I’ll just keep listening to The Fighter instead.

Good luck with A Thousand Days Beneath The Sun Dan, and thank you for sharing your music with Sirenstories.

Hope your tour brings you to Asbury Park. - Sirenstories

Sydneyvision Song Contest: Grand Final RESULTS

“Sydney’s answer to Eurovision is back”

The results are in!

This year saw the recently revamped Dendy Cinemas Newtown play host to the Sydney’s grand final of all grand finals: Sydneyvision Song Contest 2012 on Wednesday evening 22nd August 2012. International ‘celebrities’ Yuri Andropov and Constantina Chernyka claimed they had flew into the country from overseas to MC the evening but didn’t look jetlagged.

Sydneyvision is an initiative of the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre.

For the first time ever, first place for the Sydneyvision Song Contest 2012 organised by the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre and held at the Dendy Newtown ...has gone to Newtown! Check out ‘Shooting Words’ by indie darlings Nova and The Experience who have scored a slot on the Newtown Festival 2012 lineup.

In second place was a video that came from moody rockers The Troubled Romantics called ‘Ken’s Karate Klub’ from appropriately enough, Kensington. It stars Ken-dolls whose sensitive and sensual performances were not at all plastic.

Enmore, entering for the first time, won third place with a family of hip hoppers who took punters on a magical journey through Enmore, immortalising the line ‘Newtown’s a bore we’re rock’enMore’.

The People’s Choice Award went to larrikin Dan Schaumann who won over the audience with his upbeat take on life despite all its aggravations.

This was the third year of pitting Sydney’s suburbs against each other in this Eurovision-esque affair. Musicians and filmmakers alike were invited to submit an original music video featuring one of Sydney’s suburbs whilst meeting rigorous Eurovision standards of winking shamelessly at the camera, throwing off an article of clothing or blowing a trashy kiss.

Newtown Neighbourhood Centre is a Not-for-Profit organisation dedicated to serving the disadvantaged in the community. However, community life is not just about the serious. It’s also about fun. Sydneyvision is our way of letting the community bring out its most creative streak. - Newtown Neighbourhood Centre