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usic enthusiasts here might only have known a little about Amsterdam-based band Valerius before they played at Java Soulnation Festival 2011 last weekend.

But the band, which consists of two brothers Jesse Nambiar (vocals/guitar) and Kay Nambiar (guitar/vocals), Xander Vrienten (bass), Georgy Patrick (drums) and Jelte Tuinstra (keyboards), was upbeat that music fans in this country would accept them.

Judging from the audience’s swaying bodies and those who sang along with Jesse and Kay, I conclude that their expectations were justified.

Valerius may not be a popular name yet, but some of their singles are played on some radio stations, making them familiar among music lovers. Take “She Does Not Know” and “You Say When”, for example. Most of the audience sang the lyrics as if they had already known the songs for a long time.

“We have Dutch Indonesian fans and they brought it [the music] to Indonesians. Radio is one of the biggest things. I mean, we didn’t even realize that there were so many people playing our songs on the radio,” Kay said in an interview recently.

He said the “You Say When” was in the top 10 of the song chart in Jakarta’s OZ Radio half a year ago – a nice surprise for them.

“People who don’t recognize us may say ‘Hey, that’s the band that plays those songs’. It’s great to know there are people abroad who love our music,” he said.

The band members started playing pop and rock music together seven years ago, hanging out a lot at the Valeriusplein square in Amsterdam, which was named after poet and composer Adrianus Valerius. That is why the band called itself Valerius.

Kay and Jesse often used some simple Indonesian greetings in their three days performing in the festival, prompting a warm welcome from the audience. They apparently did their homework as they could easily pronounce Selamat malam Indonesia (Good evening Indonesia), Apa kabar Indonesia? (How are you Indonesia?) to Aku cinta kalian (I love you all) and Makasih (Thank you).

In Saturday’s performance, Jesse’s soft voice belted out “Always and Forever” to open the gig, followed by “Ready to Go”, “Go Good”, “Luck”, “Green Light”, “Just Say Yes”, “She Doesn’t Know” and a few other songs. Most songs have some touch of rock elements, which make them danceable, while some other ones, including “Just Say Yes” and “You Say When”, are more likely to be mellow and slow.

In the middle of the show, Kay took out his mobile phone and took some pictures of the screaming and hand waving audience to be uploaded on to their Twitter and You Tube accounts. It was a delightful night for both the band members and the audience.

Jesse told the audience that a week of visiting Indonesia was enough to make him love the people.

“There is something about Indonesia. People are always smiling. In Holland, everybody is like … [walking with face down and murky expression]. I love it over here. I like smiling people,” he said.

Valerius reached the first milestone in their career when they signed with the Universal music label. They released their first single in early 2010, “She Doesn’t Know”, which was a hit in their country.

The song is included in the first album, which consists of 11 other songs. Vocalist and guitarist Jesse said he wrote the song, which talked about a girl that a man really loved but who was playing with his mind a lot.

Is the song inspired by his own experience? Jesse was quick to answer.

“Yeah, it was. And she still doesn’t care at all,” he said, laughing.

Keyboardist Jelte said life is the biggest source of inspiration in creating their songs, but love is one of the most interesting things about life. He said they tried to avoid being cliché and boring as the market is already flooded with abundant love songs.

“The problem is, since most songs are about love, I think we just try to find another way to express that feeling, he said.

In order to save any inspiring idea that might suddenly pop up, Jelte said he will immediately write things that he feels are important enough to make into song lyrics.

“Most of the time we get something on the tape and it’s got a good beat to it (humming some melody). It slowly starts turning into words,” he said.

Valerius, which is in the process of making their second album, still has a long path to go to further charm worldwide music lovers, but they have taken the challenge and we will wait for their next melody.