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My brother smiling at the camera and me listening to
the radio.
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I was born in Indonesia, on 10th of august 1949. At that time Indonesia was
still Dutch, although the people of Indonesia didn't feel it that way. I agree
with them for the simple reason that during the second World War Indonesia was
captured by the Japanese who gave Indonesia its independance. It was Holland
who declared war on Japan (not the other way around!) and we lost. So after
the Second World War, when Japan had lost the war, the Dutch wanted Indonesia
back.
It took two local "wars",many lives,
and some persuation by the UN, to make the Dutch see that Indonesia should be
independant. At the time my parents and brother went to Indonesia in 1947 it
was still called "the Dutch Indies". But the Netherlands recognised Indonesia's
independence in december
1949, just a few months after I was born.
We stayed untill 1956 and a few events were important
for my musical future.
I remember coming home from kindergarten (just nextdoor) I heard
music coming from our house.
My parents had bought a grammophone and were
playing a record of Doris Day (I think it was Doris).
It was of course a 78 and my parents bought
many more in the years after of artists like Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong,
Pee Wee Hunt, Patty Page and many others.
I still have many of these records, some of them with a lable
in English and Chinese.
So I was raised with music by the artists just mentioned. I still like most of
the songs and that is not just out of sentiment.
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Lable of "Seven Lonely Days"
with chinese title underneath. |
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I can not remember this, but on this photo taken during a party in
Bogor, Indonesia, I am singing - it seems I am doing my very best because
the other boy is staring at me with amazement ;-)
The reason I show you this photo is because in Amsterdam, at
primary school, I sang too. Later on I didn't like my voice and didn't
sing anymore, but it comes back now and then as you will see on this
site. |
An event I can remember was when I played an instrument. Well, I had help
from a man who held my hand to beat the Gong. Yes, a gong was the first
instrument I played as far as I can remember. It made a deep impression on me,
because I can remember it - and I can remember very little of those years.
It was in a kampong (settlement) next to our house in Eastern Java, where we
moved to the last year we were in Indonesia. My brother played the beduk
(drums) and I the gong.
I had help playing it, but my brother could
really play the beduk because he liked drums.
| The first movie I can remember seeing (in Holland), was High Society (1956), with Grace Kelly, Frank
Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby and many more. It was a musical film but
a very good one and I still like it. The titlesong is a fabulous song
("High Society Calypso") and so is "Now you has Jazz" and
of course "Who wants to be a millionair?" |
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But what really made a deep impression on me was "True Love". Was
it the music, the romantic setting or both? Picture Bing Crosby with the beautifull Grace Kelly in a
boat in the moonlight; Bing Crosby playing a kind of accordion (bandoneon) and singing "True Love" together with
Grace. It was so romantic! I loved the song
and the romance and I
knew then that I wanted to play accordion. With my accordion I never could get Grace (or any
other girl) in a boat though. {click on the picture} |
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At first I pretended to play accordion ("air-accordion"), so
my interest could hardly go unnoticed. Here is a photo with such a moment. So an uncle of mine who had a small accordion,
lend it to me.
Within a short time I
could play "True Love" and it seemed I had talent. |
| My brothers musical interest (and talent) and mine came
from my father who was a drummer when he was young. He was the youngest
orchestra-leader in my country and mainly played in the province called
Noordholland. The orchestra was called The Merry Mooches. The photo was
taken in Amsterdam at the hotel Krasnapolsky where they performed in
1937. |
You can click the
photo to see it in large size. |
My brother Gerard also wanted to play drums, but my father didn't want him to,
because you can not play it by yourself, you always need other people to play
drums - in those days anyway. So my father persuaded my brother to choose another instrument. He went for the guitar. That also
meant that we had different interests in music: I went along with the taste of
my parents and my brother listened to country music and Rock and Roll - well,
he was 4 years my senior!
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Soon I got my own accordion, a gift from Sinterklaas - the Dutch Santa
Claus, who comes every year on the 5th of december and has a lot of help from
Zwarte Piet (Black Pete). My brother was dressed as such a "black
pete" and brought me my accordion. Unfortunately on ths photo my father
forgot that my brother had a head too.
By Christmas I had my accordion and my brother his
guitar and on the photo here we are with my mother and a christmastree.
(Daddy took the photo).
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