Holland Focus July/August/September 2016

holland focus

the iconic Bijenkorf

hidden surprises on de Veluwe

Lenny Kuhr lets her feelings speak in her music July/August/September 2016

frontpage: the Zaanse Schans, photo Odi Busman

CONTENTS

ARTICLES______________________ 4 The Holocaust of Abraham Reiss 8 Commander in the Order of Oranje-Nassau 9 Information about the Backpay scheme 12 Amsterdam and Rotterdam

facing the 21st century 26 The Iconic Bijenkorf 30 The history of Australia 38 Tasty Comedy, Entertainment with taste at

De Pier in Scheveningen 46 Hidden surprises on De Veluwe 56 The illustrious combination of fine food and art 50 Tax in the Netherlands 60 Tasmania’s Wooden Boat festival

celebrates with Dutch theme 63 Dirk Hartog information 64 Lenny Kuhr lets her feelings speak in her music

ADDRESS 38-40 Chalet Road, Olinda Vic. 3788 T +61 (0)3 9751 2795 M 0419 465 516 E editor@hollandfocus.com www.hollandfocus.com

REGULARS___________________ 10 Gedicht Belicht - Frans Hertoghs 11 Dutch/Flemish movies The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun 18 First ever Dutch Festival in Northern NSW 20 Kaaskoppen - Scheefwonen 22 Tegenvoeter - aardappel - potato, Ruud Hisgen 34 Taals Taaltje - Reken maar!

44 book review - Jan Vennik:

the Dutchman at Eureka 52 King’s Day celebration in Sydney 54 Verbeeldingen - de blaasbalgmaker

ABN 40 118 310 900 editor and publisher iet fuijkschot contributors to this issue: D. Arnold, Y. Edens, E. Feenstra, F. Hertoghs, R. Hisgen, M. Hols, M. de Knecht, T. van Rooij, M. Visser van Klaarwater, R. van Voorst, P. Westbeek

advertising sales: T +61 (0)3 9751 2795 E advertising@hollandfocus.com

INDONESIAN SEA TREK ADVENTURES

DISCLAIMER: Any views and opinions expressed within Holland Focus are solely those of the individual author or other information source and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Holland Focus.

No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the editor. © holland focus ISSN 1833-4253

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photo Joost Weddepohl

Aussie wine delivered in Europe have been despatched from their Hamburg warehouse.”

“We did the comparison” says van Ruyven. “Arranging to send wine from here is outrageously expensive. The customs and taxes to get it into the EU are hell. It spoils a gift if the recipient has to pay a tax or go and collect the parcel from the customs office.”

Melbourne retail executive and daughter of Dutch immigrants, Jane van Ruyven, has faced the challenge of buying gifts for relatives in the Netherlands for as long as she can remember. This time, on the occasion of a favourite cousin’s wedding in Holland, she was keen to hit the right note in sending something from Australia.

‘We couldn’t get to the wedding but wanted them to receive something personal and Australian, that they’d enjoy” explains mother of two, van Ruyven. “The possibility to send quality Australian wine that they could use in the toast at the wedding was perfect”.

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“By using waterthroughgrapes we pay similar to local retail prices and local delivery costs. Delivery is quick because the wine is already inside Europe when you order it” she says.

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And the reaction from the family in Holland was very positive. “The bride and groom were delighted to have the Australian branch of the family represented with some great wine from their adopted country” says van Ruyven. “We had a few messages during the wedding telling us how they made a toast to the family down here and how impressed they were with the quality of the Australian wines.” www.waterthroughgrapes.com.au

We were delighted to hear about waterthroughgrapes and their service delivering Aussie wine in Europe and the UK. “Shopping over the internet is pretty quick and easy but you want confidence that you’re dealing with a legitimate company. These guys have been around for over 20 years. They are based in Melbourne. You pay in Australian dollars and they let you know when the goods

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©Hans de Bruijn

The Holocaust of Abraham Reiss to paint his grandfather’s fate, Jeroen Krabbé lived in total isolation for three months.

4 ©Hans de Bruijn

The Wall Street stock market crash You really start to know Abraham Reiss. We see him in the Spanderswoud, in Hilversum (1904). He also walks on the beach in Oostende (1929). As a rich diamond trader he recently had been hit by the Wall Street stock market crash. All the time you see him lonely and alone, like a prologue of his imminent death.

During the massacre six million Jews perished, amongst them 104,000 from the Netherlands. One of them was Abraham Reiss, Jeroen Krabbé’s grandfather. In nine paintings Jeroen tells the life story of his opa, shown in the exhibition ‘de ondergang van Abraham Reiss’ (the death of Abraham Reiss), from 16 May till 2 October 2016 in the recently opened Nationaal Holocaust Museum, Amsterdam.

Astonishment On 20 June 1943, the biggest razzia (raid) of the Holocaust in the Netherlands took place. No less than 5,500 Jews were arrested to be killed. Amongst them is the opa of Jeroen Krabbé. He is transported to Westerbork. From the painting his expression of utter

Some survivors cannot talk about it at all and others can only write it down. Being the only survivor of her family, Jeroen’s mother did not talk about it. After the birth of his first grandchild Jeroen decided to conduct some research in the death of his grandfather.

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painting by Jeroen Krabbé - deportation, Westerbork 20 juni 1943. De ondergang van Abraham Reiss, 2010. To emphasise the rawness Jeroen made the painting dirty. ©Hans de Bruijn

What did I get myself into?

“I realised that my opa had never been able to play the role of grandfather. I decided to portray it. I did not know what it would turn into. And often thought: What did I get myself into? I used my profession as actor to put myself in his shoes.”

loneliness and the not understanding speaks for itself.

Jeroen explains: “You think you are safe in your own house. Suddenly you are thwacked from your house and transported to nowhere. Without knowing where you are, where you will be transported to.”

Photos with him His daughter Els Reiss, the mother of Jeroen, is also in Westerbork. After a short stay in Westerbork follows the journey to death camp Sobibor. Els writes: “Poor pappaatje (daddy), he has to move on so soon. All photos I love of you and Tim, he took with him.”

To be able to paint the Holocaust Jeroen Krabbé lived in isolation for three months.

In a chosen (by himself) isolation of three months Jeroen, as an artist, looked for and found a form to cope with the foredoom of his opa. By doing research, he completed iconic images from the Holocaust and sometimes by imagining it. He also read the book ‘Vernietigingskamp Sobibor” (Death Camp Sobibor) by Jules Schelvis, 1993, and letters written by his mother.

Submission Abraham Reiss has been locked up in the dark, pressed together with strangers, for more than 72 hours. The

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toilet bucket overflows. It stinks. Then the doors open.

were naked in front of their children.” Abraham, like the crucified Jesus, spreads his arms like a sign of surrender.

Death camp Sobibor the end station of the Holocaust In the book ‘Vernietigingskamp Sobibor’ by Jules Schelvis Jeroen read about the further development of this episode in the Holocaust. “The Jews have to undress outdoors. For most of the men it was the first time they

The cackling of geese After that the command to walk naked to the bath house followed. The prisoners heard the cackling of geese in the distance. The animals were kept there to drown down the

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cries of the victims in the gas chambers. The next load of 30,000 Jews awaits this fate an hour later.

Impressive art Jeroen’s art touched me considerably because: . details like the tie of his opa, because you had to look neat . the use of raw material, like sand, ashes and gel to make the paintings dirty to emphasise the roughness of the time and situation . the use of charcoal, to point out the people that are almost gone.

With this and many more personal accents Jeroen portrays an image of his grandfather.

Abraham Reiss has returned With his nine paintings and fragments from the letters by his mother, Jeroen gives his grandfather his life back.

“Someone says his name and therefore he exists again.”

Did you know Did you know that the Nationaal Holocast Museum is the new branch of the Joodse Cultureel Kwartier (Jewish Cultural Quarters)?

This consists of the Hollands’ Schouwburg (during the war a deportation centre), the Jewish Historical Museum, JHM Children Museum and the Portuguese Synagogue.

Visitor Address Nationaal Holocaust Museum (formerly Hervormde Kweekschool) Plantage Middenlaan 27 1018 DB Amsterdam

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images previous page: Jeroen Krabbé, Sobibor 9 July 1943, about 11.00am. (De ondergang van Abraham Reiss, 2010) Jeroen Krabbé, Amsterdam - April 1942, after the last family photo of Abraham and his wife Kaatje, their two daughters Els and Margreet. Els would become Jeroen’s mother. this page: Jeroen Krabbé, Sobibor, 9 July 1943, about 11.30am, (De ondergang van Abraham Reiss, 2010). photos: Joods Historisch Museum below the entrance to the Nationaal Holocaust Museum

Commander in the Order of Oranje-Nassau On 27 April, prominent New Zealand citizen Boyd (Boudewijn) Klap was awarded a high Royal Decoration of the Kingdom of the Netherlands - Commander in the Order of Oranje-Nassau, which is awarded very rarely indeed. The decoration was presented by Ambassador Rob Zaagman at the reception to celebrate King’s Day, the national day of the Netherlands. Minister Chris Finlayson (photo below right) was the first to congratulate Boyd Klap. Over many years, Boyd has been indefatigable in his extraordinary efforts to create and strengthen links between New Zealand and the Netherlands in many and varied ways. Also, he has undertaken numerous activities for the ‎Dutch community in New Zealand and Boyd is also the chairman of the Anne Frank Exhibition Australia (Photo above and below right by Bridget Tangaere) (source Embassy of the Netherlands in New Zealand).

8 photo Christine Hofkens

INFORMATION about the Backpay scheme On 25 December 2015, the State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport introduced the Backpay benefit scheme in consultation with the Indisch Platform. The scheme is implemented by the Department for Members of the Resistance and Victims of War at the Leiden office of the Sociale Verzekeringsbank.

Who qualifies for Backpay?

The Backpay scheme provides for moral compensation in the form of a net one-off payment of â‚Ź25,000 under the following conditions.

The person concerned was still alive on 15 August 2015 and was a civil servant or KNIL soldier in the service of the Dutch-East Indies government on 8 March 1942. He or she received little or no salary during the period of the Japanese occupation. The person concerned was not convicted for collaboration with the Japanese and did not have Japanese nationality during the occupation.

If a person who would otherwise qualify for Backpay died

on or after 15 August 2015, a claim may be submitted by the heirs. The last date for submitting claims is 31 December 2016.

Assessment of entitlement Claimants who were 16 years of age or older at the time of the KNIL capitulation and who were known to us from other pension or benefit schemes will have already been assessed for entitlement to Backpay. If evidence of their employment is contained in our records, they will be awarded Backpay automatically. In principle, claimants will be informed whether their claim has been accepted or rejected within 13 weeks.

How to submit a claim An information leaflet and claim form can be downloaded from our website at www.svb.nl\wvo, or obtained from the Sociale Verzekeringsbank, Department V&O, Postbus 9575, 2300 RB Leiden, the Netherlands, telephone number + 31 71 535 6888, or you can send an email to info.wvo@svb.nl.

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GB

Het is een vreemd soort taal, gedichten. Normaal gebruiken wij onze taal alsof het geld is: je geeft het uit en je ontvangt het. Maar je kijkt er eigenlijk nooit naar.

Je werkt ermee, maar je ziet het niet. In gedichten gaat dat anders: Dan kijk je in het hart van de taal. In het hart van de mens.

edicht

elicht

Ghequetst ben ic van binnen, Duerwont mijn hert soe seer, Van uwer ganscher minnen Ghequetst soe lanc soe meer Waer ic mi wend, waer ic mi keer, Ic en can gherusten dach noch nachte; Waer ik mi wend, waer ic mi keer, Ghy sijt alleen in mijn ghedachte

Gewond ben ik van binnen, Mijn hart gewond zo zeer Door jou geheel te beminnen Doorwond, steeds meer en meer.

Waar ik me ook wend, waar ik me keer, Ik vind geen rust, in dagen of nachten Waar ik me wend, waar ik me keer, Alleen maar jij bent in mijn gedachten.

Tot over je oren verliefd zijn is iets van alle tijden. Dat bewijst dit ontroerend lied, dat meer dan een half millennium oud is. Je voelt meteen met de schrijver of schrijfster mee. We weten niet zeker wie het geschreven heeft, maar het kan best Margaretha van Oostenrijk zijn. Van haar is bekend dat ze wel vaker persoonlijke gedichten schreef. Ze heeft niet gezocht naar mooie woorden, naar pakkende vergelijkingen of naar hoogdravende zinnen. De woorden zijn zo simpel dat je mijn ‘vertaling’ nog niet eens echt nodig hebt. Ze schrijft gewoon op wat ze voelt. En wij voelen met haar mee.

Natuurlijk zijn er al eeuwenlang liefdesverklaringen gegeven, opgeschreven zelfs.

Maar een persoonlijke klacht die zó recht uit het hart komt, zo’n juweeltje kom je in de geschiedenis maar heel zelden tegen. En al helemaal niet van een vrouw.

Het gedichtje kreeg al lang geleden een melodie en werd ook gezongen. Een mooie versie van RUM is te vinden via deze link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ7aaAEfifs

schilderij van Bernard van Orley: portret van Margaretha van Oostenrijk (Royal Museum of Fine Arts,Belgium) links: De liefdesverklaring van Reinier Andriaansz aan Saartje Jans (1803) door Sara Troost, Teylers museum 10

Dutch/Flemish movies The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun

words Darren Arnold

The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun is a Belgian adaptation of Sebastien Japrisot’s 1966 novel of the same name, or alternatively a remake of the 1970 film version of the book, which starred Oliver Reed and Samantha Eggar and was directed by Anatole Litvak.

This new film is directed

by Joann Sfar, someone who’s far better known for his work in the world of comic books, although back in 2010 he did make the highly entertaining biopic Gainsbourg.

Excepting the two films of the one book already mentioned, Japrisot’s novels have made it to the big screen on several other occasions - One Deadly Summer, A Very Long Engagement and CostaGavras’ feature debut The Sleeping Car Murders are all based on Japrisot’s work. His writing doesn’t readily lend itself to the cinema screen, but all of the films based on his books have made for interesting viewing, and this new take on The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun is no exception.

Dany (Freya Mavor) is a secretary who is asked by her boss Michel (Benjamin Biolay) if she can work some overtime at Michel’s house. Dany used to work with Michel’s wife Anita (Stacy Martin) and is happy to take on the assignment as she’ll get to see Anita again. The typing job involves an overnight stay, and the next day Michel asks Dany to come with him and Anita to the airport so she can then drive their car home while the couple fly off on a trip. While driving the expensive car back, Dany decides that no harm will be done if she takes a bit of a detour,

so she heads off on a trip of her own, first stopping off for a shopping spree. So far, things seem pretty normal, but all this changes when Dany is approached by a woman who asks if she’s feeling better, and claims that Dany visited the woman’s café while unwell. Dany tells the woman there’s some mistake, but the woman insists, and a bemused Dany drives off. Later, while stopping at a petrol station, Dany is attacked in the bathroom and suffers an injury to her wrist; when several members of staff come to her aid, one of the mechanics doesn’t seem to believe her, but rather is adamant that she visited the station the night before with her wrist already hurt. A very annoyed Dany continues her journey, but it’s not long before she starts to question her own sanity.

The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun will play best to those who don’t already know the outcome, as Dany’s story is resolved in an interesting and memorable way that doesn’t carry the same punch second time around.

Of course, the same could be said of many books and films, but those new to the story will have the most fun here with what is a slick and stylish thriller. A region 1 DVD is available from amazon.com.

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Hofplein, Rotterdam before and after May 1940, photo RCE

Amsterdam and Rotterdam

facing the 21 century st

words Erik Feenstra Rotterdam,1940plein with Ossip Zadkine’s sculpture “De Verwoeste Stad” photo Ttzavaras (2015)

Rotterdam, May 1940 This year Rotterdam is celebrating 75 years of wederopbouw, this Dutch term is basically used for repairing damage throughout the country after World War II. May the 14th of 1940, Rotterdam was hit hard by German bombardments. The heart of the city and its surrounding neighbourhoods were completely destroyed.

Soon plans for reconstruction were made. As disastrous as the damage had been, it offered opportunities to create a brand new modern city and solve a lot of typical big-city problems. The few buildings that had survived the bombing, were demolished as well. The only remaining old buildings were the Sint-Laurenskerk (the large city church), stadhuis (city hall) and the Schielandhuis (nowadays a museum).

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The wederopbouw of Rotterdam Apart from cleaning the city of debris, hardly anything could be realised during the war. After the war architects designed a brand new city centre. Like all over the western world, separation of work and living was a new urban outlook at the time: a centre consisting of offices, shops and other central functions, and housing in the suburbs. The city plan used before the war made place for a new plan with major roads, to handle traffic efficiently. New elements were office buildings (bedrijfsverzamelgebouwen)], like the Groothandelsgebouw next to the Central Station, and the Lijnbaan, a traffic-free pedestrian zone. Shops have their entrance along this street, while at the back ‘expedition yards’ were created to deliver goods. Meanwhile in 1968, a metro opened, the first one in the Netherlands.

groothandelsgebouw Rotterdam, photo RCE

Those were the years of optimism and growing welfare.

The wederopbouw of Rotterdam was enthusiastically accepted by the majority of the people.

Other big cities and their longing for modernity In the meantime, other city councils also strived after modernity and wanted to upgrade their old city centres.

Some cities had experienced a lot of demolishing during the war, for instance Groningen, Arnhem, Nijmegen and Venlo, while in other cities some neighbourhoods were destroyed, e.g. in The Hague and Amsterdam. Both cities designed radical changes: not the inner city like Rotterdam, but vast areas around the city centres, often built in the 19th century and consequently in quite a

People gathering during the bombing of Rotterdam, May 1940. The Sonneveld House on the right. Photo from the archives of the Sonneveld family. The New Institute Collection, BIHS Archive The Sonneveld House was built in the early 1930’s, it’s a perfect example of the ‘Nieuwe Bouwen’ functionalist style, designed by architecture firm Brinkman and Van der Vlugt. Much of its furniture was designed by W.H. Gispen. It’s now a House Museum preserved

by The New Institute and open for the public. The Sonneveld family’s personal archive and the architects business archive contain great quantities of useful information about everyday life in the house and how it was designed and furnished (photo het Nieuwe Instituut-architecture collection).

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galerijflat in Rotterdam (photo OEP)

Prinses Beatrix and prins Claus join the driver on the first ride on the Rotterdam metro, 9 February 1968, Nationaal Archief, archiefinventaris 2.24.01.04 fotonummer 921-0599, Eric Koch / Anefo

bad shape or demolished during the war. The remaining crooked houses should be demolished, to make room for broad avenues and high office buildings. In the sixties, in the outer-suburbs of all Dutch cities, gallery flats (galerijflats) arose, often between nine and twelve storeys high, with apartments along galleries on each floor. The Bijlmer in Amsterdam became a notorious example of a ‘failed suburb’ for various reasons.

Amsterdam wanted a metro as well, to connect this brand new suburb with the inner city. At the time, technically it wasn’t possible yet to dig tunnels under the wet Dutch soil. Caissons were constructed on street level; huge concrete skeletons, when ready they were taken down by removing the soil underneath. Problem was that all buildings on the construction site had to be demolished to make room for the huge skeletons. But at the time that was no problem for city planners: it created ideal open spaces to effortlessly build highways along the city centre.

The troubled 70s In the 70s people started to regard the wederopbouw as ugly, too business-like and uninviting [ongezellig].

People didn’t want to live in anonymous galerijflats and were opposed to the drastic demolishing for metros, car traffic and big office buildings. In Amsterdam, the so-called Nieuwmarktrellen (New Market riots) were a new phenomenon in history. The metro was designed underneath the Nieuwmarkt-area, with plans to build a city highway on top. In 1974 many people rioted against the megalomaniacal project. The protesters lost their case: the buildings were demolished to make room for the concrete skeletons, but when finished, not a highway, but a complete new living quarter arose, with houses the same size as in the neighbouring inner city. It was called ‘stadsvernieuwing’: renewal of old city structures by filling in gaps. This policy became very common in the 70s, and an example for towns in other European countries.

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clockwise from left: riots at Nieuwmarkt, Amsterdam (Anefo); flats in the Bijlmer, (Mojito) Amsterdam; pamphlet for demonstrations

The ‘weird’ 80s In the 80s, hardly any high building arose. While Rotterdam constructed a second metro line, the Amsterdam city council didn’t even dare to use the word ‘metro’ anymore. It was the period of frumpy building. In the new polder Zuidelijk Flevoland, the city of Almere was created to become the fifth largest city of the country, some sort of escape for Amsterdam inhabitants who wanted to leave the old city for various reasons. Almere-Haven was the first built neighbourhood, constructed in the early 80s, with an ‘Amsterdam-like’ canal and ‘Amsterdam-like’ frontages. As a reaction to the huge constructions of the 60s, measures should be ‘humanly’ and citizens had a voice in the building process.

Everywhere in the country frumpy small-sized buildings

arose. So far, technically, high-rise building seemed to be impossible on the soft wet Dutch soil, and the Dutch didn’t want it anyway.

New times – new ideas It changed at the end of the 80s. On the remaining open spaces in Rotterdam – like the Weena –more spectacular high-rise buildings were constructed, and next to the Central Station the highest building of the country arose: around 150 metres high. One of the first high office buildings was the World Trade Centre in the heart of Rotterdam, and the people loved it. The soft wet soil seemed to be no problem anymore to build skyscrapers, and many more followed, first in Rotterdam, later in other cities as well. Only office buildings, until in Rotterdam 16

to keep the thirteen rusks that come in a roll fresh. For this we can thank Verkade, the Dutch company from Zaandam that first started selling their rusks in a tin in order to preserve their freshness.

Although, I must admit to not owning a tin myself, and to not eating a whole lot of rusks, I still have a weakness for them and will happily indulge in them from time to time. Especially if they’re topped in one of the following ways.

Perhaps a bit of inspiration, should you want to try something other than the more traditional toppings. three semi-tall apartment buildings the ‘Boompjes’ arose Beschuit Vitello thinly veal and along the river. Tonato: It was a Tuna huge salad, success – thesliced apartments capers were sold in no-time - and it was the beginning of Beschuit cheese flavoured with sugar creating‘Cupcake’: many moreCream high-apartment complexes. and vanilla, sliced strawberries and freshly-grated dark Rotterdam became a hotspot for architecture tourists. chocolate Amsterdam followed, not because of skyscrapers, for Green Mean Beschuit: avocado, olive oil instance people came Sliced here to see howlime thejuice, harbour and garden cress frontage had been changed into a spectacular urban area.

Beschuit Italiano: cherry Tall buildings did Pesto, rise in mozzarella, the capital as well,tomato but notand in the basil city’s centre. As a protected city sight no high buildings Sunshine Beschuit: Soft goat’s cheese, baby are allowed in the heart of Amsterdam, butspinach aroundand it sun-dried tomatoes more and more skyscrapers appear. Although, not as high Beschuit Parisienne: Scrambled egg with black truffle Beschuit Elvis: Peanut butter and sliced banana Spanish Beschuit: Sliced Manchego cheese and figs Nordic Beschuit: Cream cheese, smoked salmon and chopped chives Nutty Nutella Beschuit: Nutella and chopped hazelnuts

THE CLOG BARN Experience the colour & charm of Holland without leaving Coffs Harbour

highrise buildings at Weena, Rotterdam, photo Smiley-toerist

as in Rotterdam: Schiphol Airport doesn’t allow buildings to be higher than 70 metres in their flight zones. And a new subway? Also underneath the ground, nowadays it is technically possible to dig very deep through the sand, underneath the weak and wet soil. Next year, the Noordzuidlijn will be opened, the second major metro line right through the heart of the city.

Would you like to know what’s happening in the Netherlands? Please go to www.eropuit.blog.nl (a website in Dutch), or to www.wereldnieuws.blog.nl, if you are interested in main news.

Clog Barn Take a leisurely browse through the Clog Barn, where you will discover a treasure of souvenirs - e.g. Delft blue pottery - and special gifts and fascinating daily clog making demonstrations. You can also view the North Coast’s largest collection of Diecast Collectable cars and motorbikes.

Clog Making Demonstrations 3 times daily 11am, 2pm and 4pm.

www.clogbarn.com.au

Dutch Village

Don’t miss OMA’S COFFEE HOUSE Delicious meals Dutch pancakes, Croquettes, Uitsmijter, Bitterballen, Poffertjes

Take a delightful stroll around the model Dutch Village with working windmills and working trains! Free admission to the Dutch Village.

A Family Fun Adventure

215 Pacific Highway, Coffs Harbour phone: 02 6652 4633 open 7 days from 8 am

FIRST EVER DUTCH FESTIVAL IN NORTHERN NSW

Murwillumbah and Mount Warning in the background

Preparations are well in hand for the first Dutch Australian Festival and Cultural Exhibition ever to be held on the Far North Coast of NSW, in conjunction with the celebrations of the 400-year anniversary of Dirk Hartog’s landing on the west coast of New Holland on 25th October 1616.

The venue has been booked and program details are being finalized by a small committee of dedicated Dutch Australian residents of the Tweed Shire in northern NSW, The Festival is scheduled to be held on Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th September this year. These dates fall in the middle of the Queensland and Victorian school holidays and at the start of the NSW holidays.

The venue is the Undercroft of the Anglican Church of All Saints in Murwillumbah, the centre of the popular subtropical tourist destination of the Tweed Valley.

Murwillumbah is near the border with Queensland and close to the well known tourist attractions of the Gold Coast with its theme parks and surfing beaches.

Budget motel accommodation is available in Murwillumbah and there is plenty of more up-market accommodation available in nearby Tweed Heads.

For programme details, accommodation and tourist information, contact the Festival Coordinator: Thea Shepherd, 07 5599 2784, gtsheps@hotmail.com

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leuke spreuk

Dutch Clocks in Oz

Twee variaties op: Wie een kuil graaft voor een ander, valt er zelf in.

Wie een kuil graaft voor een ander, zit nooit zonder werk Wie een kuil graaft voor een ander, is een sociaal mens

• Zaanse, Sallanders, Schippertjes, Frisian Tail Clocks • and a variety of other clocks from Holland located in Springwood, Qld, 4127

visit by appointment only ring Rob Schmidt on 0432 832 800 www.dutchclocksinoz.com.au

accommodation in Australia

accommodation in the Netherlands

Lelystad

Komfortabele appartementen te huur Volledig ingericht met TV, telefoon en internetaansluiting.

45 min. van Schiphol en Amsterdam.

Wasmachine en 2 fietsen aanwezig.

1 pers: 36 euro per nacht.

2 pers: 44 euro per nacht. incl. lakens en handdoeken.

Korting vanaf 1 week.

APARTMENT FOR RENT

Luxury 3 person apartment 60 Euro per night mobile: +31 629095974 Corry van den Broek Prins Clauskade 39 2405 CA Alphen aan den Rijn

Brochures en foto’s: Ria Luikink- van Uum Moezelstraat 12 8226 LA Lelystad. The Netherlands Tel: +31 320 254316 Email: Frans-Ria-Luikink@planet.nl www.luikink.nl

Email: broek.rijnview@kpnplanet.nl Website: www.appartementalphen.nl

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KAASkoppen discusses actual affairs that keep the Nederlanders busy

a glance at the current Netherlands

scheefwonen

words Yolanda Edens

Low-income earners in the Netherlands who cannot afford to buy a house rely on rent accommodation.

However, over the last few years the government has introduced new rules to prevent ‘scheefwonen’.

Scheefwoners are people living in cheap rental houses, but their income is too high for the low rent. That seemed to be an excellent idea as it would mean that more cheap rent accommodations will be available for low income earners. In practice, however, it shows an increase in the amount of scheefwoners, but the other way around: the amount of people who are forced to life in houses that are too expensive for them is increasing!

A second introduced rule was the verhuurdersheffing: since 2013 housing corporations have to pay tax on houses they own. The reasoning behind the introduction of this rule was the shortage at the Treasury: extra money has to come from somewhere!

This renter’s charge results in an enormous increase in rent and no new investments could be made to build new rent accommodations.

To pay for this extra charge many rent accommodations that became unoccupied were sold by corporations to property developers. Therefore, the amount of available rentals decreased by half. The houses bought by the property developers were again offered on the rental market. The income requirement has been changed from 3- to 5 times the basic rent amount. Thus creating scheefwonen.

The third rule has been implemented this

left: rent accommodation 20

year: suitable allocating. This rule implies that the rent of the house should be in proportion to the income of the tenant. People looking for a house can only do that for houses that come within the margins set by the system.

The consequences are disastrous: waiting time has almost doubled from 8 to 14 years and regularly leads to remarkable stories. Recently a 53-year-old woman said

in an interview that after almost 10 years of waiting, she finally qualified for a rent accommodation. According to the system of suitable allocating she could only rent a house for 650 euro (per month). The offered house had a rent of 650.71 euro. To her astonishment she was told that she could not move into that house, it was over her limits.

Apart from that it is compulsory for the councils to offer a certain percentage of the rent accommodation to status holders: asylum seekers who received a residence permit. They get preferential treatment when it comes to housing, over other people who are on the lengthy waiting lists.

The Woonbond, an organisation checking the rent accommodation policy of the councils in the Netherlands, has started an investigation to check the effects of these regulations. Regulations where the jargon ‘scheefwonen’ is quite fitting...

scheef huis not scheefwonen

: admin@naasa.org.au

21

community-admin@naasa.org.au

TEGENVOETER

paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Van Gogh Museum

AARDAPPEL potato

When he was working on his first major painting, ‘De aardappeleters’ (The Potato Eaters), Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) wrote to his brother Theo in his letter of Thursday, 9 April 1885: ‘Ik [ben] bezig opnieuw aan die boeren om een schotel aardappels. Ik kom er daarnet van thuis – en heb bij het lamplicht nog gewerkt eraan – ofschoon ik het bij dag ditmaal heb aangezet. Ziehier hoe de compositie nu geworden is. Ik heb het op een vrij groot doek geschilderd en zoals de schets nu is, zit, geloof ik, er wel leven in.’ words Ruud Hisgen

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up to 60, their women 40 and children 25 potatoes per day. But, I hear you say, how could they afford the luxury of coffee or tea, as can be seen in Van Gogh’s painting?

Right, but wrong… What the lumpish woman is pouring, isn’t coffee or tea but a brew made from cheap chicory (yes from a plant related to the vegetable LOF, chicory).

([…] I’m working again on those peasants around a dish of potatoes. I’ve just come home from there — and have worked on it further by lamplight — although this time I started it in daylight. See, this is what the composition has now become. I’ve painted it on a fairly large canvas, and as the sketch is now, I believe there’s life in it. http:// www.vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let492/letter.html

In the nineteenth century many Europeans had become completely dependent on the potato. And when in 1845 the blight, the catastrophic potato disease raised hell over Europe, millions of people vanished. Holland and other many European countries were hit but not as hard as Ireland which was sledgehammered. The blight not only killed one million Irishmen, it also caused a massive emigration to Britain, the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Look at the date: 1885! Only five years later this misunderstood genius (aged 37) would die from a gunshot wound. Within this short period he painted all his work of posthumous fame. And then compare this gloomy Dutch masterpiece to his exuberant French paintings from 1888: the irises, the sunflowers, the lilacs, the roses and the wheat fields… incredible, but true.

Look at the way Vincent van Gogh portrayed the grotesque Brabant farmers in 1885: their thick lips, protruding mouths, cheekbones and their large eyes wide open. No, he was not making fun of these potato eating famers and their potato-coloured skins. Van Gogh admired their simple way of life so much that he had to paint it. Such was rural life in the heart of Brabant, in the poor farms of the Netherlands, of Europe.

As a result Dutch gardeners tried to grow potatoes that were immune to potato diseases. Kornelis Lieuwes de Vries (1854-1929) was a teacher in the Frisian village Suameer who cultivated 125 new potato varieties in his spare time. Of all those varieties one high yielding potato was so successful that it is still widely grown in Europe and North Africa. In 1905 he named it ‘Bintje’ after the 17-year old Frisian beauty Bintje Jansma, one of the pupils at his school. Bintje is ‘een veelzijdige knol’ (a versatile tuber) used for boiling, baking, French fries and potato chips. http://www.bintje.info/index.php/deoorsprong

Poor farmers consumed a lot of potatoes in those days.

The starchy tuber dominated their daily menu. Their work on the land was so exhausting that men had to eat

potatoes by Silver Spoon

23

Today we still eat a lot of potatoes. Ever since the plant was cultivated in the region of Peru and Bolivia some 8000 years ago, and since it was introduced to Europe by the Spanish in the second half of the 16th century, it has spread around the world.

The English word potato comes from Spanish patata. The Spanish borrowed the word from the Taíno Indians who called a sweet potato ‘batata’ and from the Quechuan who said ‘papa’ (potato). The 19th century New Zealand word ‘spud’ is probably related to Dutch ‘spade’ (shovel) or Danish ‘spyd’ (spear). The pointed shovel was used for digging holes before the planting of potatoes.

The German word ‘Kartoffel’ thanks its existence to Italian ‘tartufolo’ (truffle), because potatoes are the look-alikes of truffles. The Dutch share the name AARDAPPEL with French ‘pomme de terre’ (apple from earth). Funny that Old-English and early Dutch also knew the ‘eorðæppel’ even though no potato had been spotted on European soil before 1565. So before 1565 the word AARDAPPEL usually referred to a cucumber or a melon.

The word PATAT is also known in the Netherlands but it refers solely now to chopped spuds fried in oil and served usually in a pointed paper bag with mayonnaise. Apparently this habit is repulsive in the eyes of people who did not grow up in the Netherlands with a PATATJE MET (fries with mayonnaise), as

24

it is popularly known. Remember the hilarious dialogue from Pulp Fiction: Vincent: You know what they put on French fries in Holland instead of ketchup?

Jules: What?

Vincent: Mayonnaise.

Jules: Goddamn.

Vincent: I’ve seen ‘em do it, man. They fuckin’ drown ‘em in that shit.

Jules: That’s some fucked up shit.

If you think this is weird, just think of this: nowadays many Dutchmen also drown their fries in peanut butter sauce (satay sauce). Yes, believe it or not, PINDASAUS! The colour of it even matches Jules’ profanity. But, I can assure you, it is absolutely delicious: PATATJE MET PINDASAUS.

image previous page: painting by Hein Kever (1900) peeling potatoes. this page: pulp fuction

LOOKING FOR

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If the answer is yes, then why not join us?

Visit www.ncca.com.au for membership and forthcoming events.

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Phone: 0413 581 362

Networking for Business

Amsterdam, photo Jorge Láscar

The Iconic

about 1920

Bijenkorf

Some of the things I missed most when I moved from New Jersey to the quaint and quiet village of Borger in Drenthe, were malls and large department stores such as Macy’s, Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue. I grew up five minutes away from Manhattan, which meant that I was only a short trip away from what I considered to be shopping paradises. Macy’s was a favourite, especially during the holiday season. As a child, nothing was quite as exciting as seeing the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade or visiting Santa Claus shortly before the big day, and as a teen, I could spend hours there with friends, sampling the latest perfumes or trying on new outfits. In the Borger of 1997, there were only small shops that sold the basic necessities: a clothing shop or two, a supermarket and a few small versions of popular Dutch shops such as Blokker and HEMA. Only when I moved to Almere – a city that is just a hop and a skip away from Amsterdam – did I discover a department store that not only reminded me of the ones from my youth, but even managed to go above and beyond all my expectations. That department store was de Bijenkorf (in English, ‘The Beehive’).

words Paola Westbeek 26

The Hague, Lunchroom

1889, that things started to change. That same year, the shop fell in the hands of his nephew, Arthur Issac, a man who witnessed the first key steps in the direction of de Bijenkorf’s success. During expansion plans in 1912, he relocated the shop to the Dam, thinking this would only be a temporary solution, but when turnover increased fivefold, he decided to settle there permanently. The small shop was on its way to becoming the country’s most trendsetting department store.

Currently situated on the ever-popular Dam Square (where the former Stock Exchange once stood), the luxury department store imposingly towers above the busy tourist hub, commanding attention today, just like it did back in 1915 when it officially opened its doors.

The historic building is the work of architect Jacques van

My first trip to de Bijenkorf in Amsterdam was on an early December morning, shortly after opening time, when the store was still somewhat quiet. I remember marvelling at the beautifully decorated window displays and at the majestic Christmas tree, but what impressed me the most was the dazzling array of shops. With its five floors of high-end brands, designer fashion, homeware, fun souvenirs and even food, the Amsterdam department store is not only a shopping mecca, but also a place one definitely needs to visit when in the city.

To think that de Bijenkorf started out as a small haberdashery shop opened by Simon Philip Goudsmit on Amsterdam’s Nieuwendijk in 1870. Back then, the shop’s limited inventory consisted mostly of textiles, threads and buttons. It wasn’t until after Goudsmit’s death in

photo Aloxe 27

The Hague, photo Kathinka van HemertSignatus, The Hague, 1926, photo Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam

Straaten and is somewhat similar to the architectural style of the Royal Palace, just on the opposite side of the square. It is in good company as other noteworthy buildings and structures, including the Krasnapolsky Hotel, the New Church and the National Monument are some of its close neighbours.

From the beginning, de Bijenkorf has attracted artists and acquired fame for its unique window displays, especially at Christmas. Those famous windows have also been the site for artistic happenings. They have served as a stage for the National Ballet and the Holland Festival, and one time, a book was written there in just a single day.

Clever marketing strategies such as these led to de Bijenkorf’s success. Just a little over a decade after the main store opened in Amsterdam, a second location followed in The Hague.

The chosen spot was Grote Marktstraat, a street dating

to the late 1920s and often called ‘Holland’s international shopping boulevard’. The architect assigned to the project was Piet Kramer, a leading representative of the Amsterdam School; he was chosen out of a group of six distinguished architects. After three years of building, The Hague’s Bijenkorf proudly opened on March 25th, 1926. That day, approximately 20,000 eager shoppers or those who were simply curious passed through its doors.

Dutch writer P.H. Ritter Jr. was so impressed that he even referred to the store as “the palace of life’s delights”.

With its striking forms and expressive shape, the building is more modern than the one in Amsterdam. Many consider it to be the final and most stunning example of the Amsterdam School style of architecture. A reinforced concrete frame supports a rounded curtain of undulating red brick walls, and vertical panels of stained glass windows add to the beauty of the imposing edifice.

28

Rotterdam 1930, before bombardment, photo KLMAerocarto

The decorative element of the façade is enhanced with sculptures by notable artists such as Johan Polet, Hildo Krop and Hendrik van den Eijnde. The interior decór made use of fine materials and is equally impressive.

It is interesting to note that it was in this building that escalators were first use in the Netherlands – quite an innovative attraction for those who visited the store at the time.

Throughout the decades, other Dutch cities opened their own Bijenkorf, and ultimately, the 13th branch opened (online) in 2009. However, new developments in recent years meant the closing of five stores in order to shift the focus to the flagship locations in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Eindhoven, Amstelveen, Maastricht and also The Hague. In 2013, de Bijenkorf started to work towards providing clients a ‘premium experience’ and made plans to invest some 200 million euros within the following five years. The main goal of the new strategy is to offer an atmosphere of luxury shopping with international allure.

With this new goal in mind, price-driven promotional

Rotterdam 2007, photo Hanhil

campaigns no longer seemed fitting. Therefore, 2015 saw the final edition of the ‘Drie Dwaze Dagen’ (Three Crazy Days), an extremely lucrative sales event that had been taking place every September since 1984.

Striving for international prestige also includes inspiring clients outside the sales floor. In Amsterdam, for example, a cultural project called Room on the Roof, was launched in January 2015 in cooperation with the Rijksmuseum.

The department store’s roof tower was transformed into a studio for artists. They are given the opportunity to display their work both in the store and online. Those who visit in November, are encouraged to check out the spectacular event, Turn on the Lights. Taking place since 2009, it officially kicks off the festive season with theatrical performances and culminates in the lighting of de Bijenkorf’s building, one of the city’s most iconic landmarks – a department store that falls nothing short of the great ones in the United States… and the rest of the world.

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THE HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA

An old map has come into my possession and it is a very exciting old map. It is a map of Australia, with all the explorers who discovered each part, with the names of their ships and the co-ordinates where they discovered it.

It is entitled 1519 – 1901 By sea and Land The Discovery and exploration of Australia published by H.E.C. Robinson Ltd. What is exciting about this map is, that Robinson, the map maker, shows that different colours indicate the different times of discovery and by whom. words Monica de Knecht 30

left: a quokka on Rottnest Island by Vicsandtheworld, right Swan River by Nachoman

Firstly, the map states “First Actual Sighting of land in any part of Australia” appeared to be by the Portuguese captain Sebastian del Cano in 1519 on a voyage from Timor to the Cape of Good Hope in his vessel “The Victoria”, when he sighted islands on the Tropic of Capricorn. However, this sighting was recorded by Galvano in 1555, thirty-six years later.

Del Cano, himself never mentions it in his logs or diaries.

The land explorers are detailed from Wentworth, Lawson and Blaxland in 1813 to F.S Brockman in 1901.

The map also shows the former Dutch names of places, such as Peter Nuyts Land in the South west and the Land of the Leeuwin ‘The Lioness’ (right in the south west corner); Also the Land of the Eendracht ‘Unity’ (due West), the ‘Zwanenrivier’ named by Willem de Vlamingh in 1697 because of the multitude of black swans and others such as Rattennesteiland, Arnhem Land and van Diemen’s Land etc.

On the furthermost left side, on one side, are the names of the voyagers and on the other side are the land explorers.

Matthew Flinders was chartered by the English to circumnavigate Australia and he took off most of the Dutch names that are shown on this map. But he missed some e.g. Dirk Hartog’s Island and Arnhem Land. Also ones that were not completely eliminated were anglicised like the Swan River (Zwanen Rivier) and Rottnest Island (Rattennest eiland), “rats nest” because the place seemed to be infested with rats. In reality these were quokkas, a type of small wallaby.

The dates of the voyagers and their ships and the coordinates where they either landed or sighted land are described from Willem Janszoon in “The Duyfken” in 1606 to Matthew Flinders in 1803 in “The Investigator”.

It is interesting to note that Captain James Cook was 16th on the list of the voyagers and another Englishman named William Dampier was 14th on the list in his ship “The Roebuck” in 1699. Why didn’t the English of the day mark his achievements. “William Dampier was the first Englishman to explore parts of the coast of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnavigate the world three times. He has also been described as Australia’s first natural historian, as well as one of the most important British explorers of the period between Sir Walter Raleigh and James Cook.” (Britannica).

To me, he is terribly important. However, in my opinion, the English disregarded his achievements because William decided to become a privateer (a delicate name for a pirate). Therefore, it seems to me that the English didn’t want a pirate to claim land for England, with his band of buccaneers. They needed somebody respectable – an English gentleman like James Cook. Food for thought!!

James Cook never claimed to discover Australia. He knew it as “New Holland”. Everyone in the 18th century called it New Holland. He was disappointed because he never considered “New Holland” a discovery. He had said “I have only discovered what others have discovered before me” so he had to be content with charting around the coast of Australia and also the coast of New Zealand (discovered by Abel Tasman in 1642). In fact, he only claimed the east coast of Australia which had been partially discovered but never claimed. He drew a line and said “This is English (the east side) and the other side (all the western side) he left to the Dutch as being discovered. However, years later, after his tragic death, the English were not very happy about that.

31

In his journals it states Wednesday 22nd August 1770 Having satisfied myself of the great probability of a passage tho’ which I intend going with the Ship and therefore may land no more upon this Eastern coast of New Holland, and on the Western side, I can make no new discovery, the honour of which belongs to the Dutch Navigators, but the Eastern coast from the Lat. Of 38 degrees S. down to this place I am confident was never seen or visited by any European before us: and notwithstanding I had in the Name of his Majesty King George the 3rd took possession of the whole Eastern coast from the above Lat. Down to this place by the Name of New Wales, together with all the Bays, Harbours, River and Islands, situated upon the said Coast; after which we fied 3 volleys of small Arms which were answer’d by the like numer from the Ship”.

the world of science is often overlooked.

If Cook had never got that data, it would have been another hundred years before scientists knew the size of our solar system.

That seems a lot more important than merely discovering a piece of land.

In my opinion, the British were not fair at all to either history or James Cook, as they took no notice of his more remarkable achievements. First of all, he was a brilliant cartographer, charting around the coasts where he landed in extraordinary detail. Also on 3rd June, 1769 he observed and recorded the transit of Venus on the Island of Tahiti during his first voyage around the world.

However, the English convicts were not the first convicts at all. When the Batavia, a VOC ship, was wrecked on a reef of the Houtman Abrolhos, the ship’s master Francis Pelsaert set off to get assistance from the Governor of the Dutch East India Company in Batavia. He returned weeks later to find that the survivors of the shipwreck had massacred 125 men, women and children. Pelsaert restored law and order and had the worst offenders tried and flogged and their hands cut off, before being hanged.

The lesser offenders were taken back to Batavia where they were also executed. He allowed two men their lives.

18 year-old Jan Pelgrom de Bye and Wouter Loos, but left them to survive on the mainland. These two men should therefore be known as Australia’s first European convicts.

In conclusion, the Dutch were not interested at all in claiming Australia or New Holland as it was then.

Why – There were no spices, there was no gold, there was no silver. No trade at all. It was not verdant for agriculture. What use was it to them? Even the English, who discovered the more fertile side of the continent, were really not interested in settling it, at first. But it was a good place to get rid of the ‘dregs of their society” the convicts, as they had just lost America, where their convicts were originally transported.

When Cook got back to Europe, a French mathematician, Lalanne, using Cook’s data, calculated the Earth-sun distance to be 153 million kilometres. This number, while not exactly correct, was within five per cent of the modern understanding of the distance between the Earth and the sun and despite all that, Cook’s contribution to

32

References Dutch Maritime History and wikipedia Map of the discovery and exploration of Australia by sea and land (H.E.C. Robinson) – 2nd Edition (1927).

Bibliography - The Journals of Captain James Cook in Australia edited by A.W. Reed, 1969, Halstead Press, Sydney Australia.

image previous page: The routes of Abel Tasman. Made

by Andre Engels based on a public domain map from CIA. right: William Dampier: Project Gutenberg eText 15675: A Voyage to New Holland, by William Dampier, painted 1698

www.tnbtulips.com.au

Reken maar!

TaalsTaaltje door Frans Hertoghs

Taal en rekenen.

Dat waren vroeger de belangrijkste vakken op de basisschool, toen die nog gewoon Lagere School heette. Taal was voornamelijk hardop lezen en netjes schrijven. Maar rekenen, daar ging een knappe hoop tijd in zitten. En sommige mensen – waaronder ikzelf – die leren het nooit. Maar ja, die zijn dan misschien weer goed in taal.

34

een van de eerste personal computers (Science Museum)

veel systemen voor. De meeste hebben het eigen lichaam als basis. Tien vingers leveren het tientallig stelsel op, dat tegenwoordig door iedereen gebruikt wordt. Maar als je de tenen meetelt, dan heb je een twintigtallig stelsel. En er zijn ook twaalftallige stelsels geweest, waar wij nog steeds dozijnen van hebben overgehouden. Denk maar aan serviezen, eieren en de uren van de dag.

En computers die hebben helemaal een onbegrijpelijk systeem: het tweetallig stelsel, met alleen maar de getallen 0 en 1. Duizelingwekkende reeksen enen en nullen.

Je moet er toch niet aan denken dat wij dat over zouden nemen.

Getallen horen bij ons leven.

We rekenen alles uit, hoeveel geld we hebben of krijgen, hoeveel meters, liters, calorieën, graden en nog véél meer. Zoals de jaren van onze jaartelling. Toch zijn tellen en rekenen pas zo’n vijfduizend jaar oud. Je kunt je haast niet voorstellen, dat je zou leven in een wereld waar het hele rekensysteem bestaat uit de getallen 1, 2 en véél. Reken even mee. Hoeveel is veel min een? Dat kan álles zijn - behalve 1. Gek zouden we daar van worden.

Een van de oudste vormen van rekenen is streepjes op een kerfstok.

Maar dan moet je al wel kunnen tellen. Daar had je Thot met de Ibiskop, god van de wijsheid, secretaries der goden, hield de tijd en daarmee de eeuwigheid bij op een nerf van een dadelblad, waarin hij kerven sneed.

Een bos met kerfstokken.

35

Rekenen is een mooi oud woord. Het hangt samen met het jammer genoeg uitgestorven woord reken, met de betekenis ‘klaar, in orde’. Letterlijk is rekenen dus zoiets als ‘klaarmaken, afmaken’. Daarnaast kennen wij ook de Latijnse vorm, calculeren. In het Engels hebben ze hetzelfde woordpaar: calculate naast reckon. Calculeren en calculate zijn afgeleid van calculus, wat oorspronkelijk waarschijnlijk ‘kalkje’ betekende. Later werd calculus ook gebruikt voor ‘steentje’. Je mag dus gerust aannemen dat de voorouders van de Romeinen oorspronkelijk telden met kiezelsteentjes.

3ZZZ, Dutch radio is on-air every Monday from 4 – 5 pm, and every Friday from 8 – 9 am.

Please tune into 92.3 fm.

Behalve rekenen en calculeren gebruiken we ook vaak het oeroude woord tellen.

Dat woord hangt samen met getal en betalen. Niemand weet waar die woorden vandaan komen. Je mag dus aannemen dat ze oeroud zijn. Het grappige is dat het ook nu nog duidelijk is, dat die woorden heel nauw verbonden zijn met het woord taal. Je kunt gemakkelijk woordparen maken om dat te laten zien. Naast betalen heb je ook ergens naar talen, waarbij talen staat voor ‘praten’. En het mooie woord vertellen laat dat haarfijn zien. Vertellen lijkt helemaal op taal te slaan, totdat je je bij het afrekenen vertelt. En het Engels is met zijn tell en tale natuurlijk helemaal op de taaltoer.

Wat blijkt dus? Dat we op de lagere school eigenlijk alleen maar taal kregen.

Rekenen is gewoon tellen en tellen is taal. En als we dan op school goed op onze tellen hebben leren passen, kunnen we nu gewoon vertellen dat we ons vertellen.

SBS Radio Dutch Wednesday and Saturday / 11am - 12pm SBS Radio 2 How to listen Sydney: Melbourne: Perth: Darwin:

Reken maar!

• • • •

telsteentje (Louvre, Parijs)

36

97.7fm 93.1fm 96.9fm 100.9fm

Adelaide: Brisbane: Canberra:

Analogue or digital radio Digital TV Live and catch up at sbs.com.au/dutch SBS Your Language App

106.3fm 93.3fm 105.5fm

Overal in de wereld GRATIS de beste Nederlandse tv

Kijk online tv op je smartphone, tablet, laptop en PC via www.bvn.tv/bvnlive

BVN is de publieke televisiezender voor Nederlandstaligen in het buitenland.

Dagelijks zenden we een selectie uit van het televisieaanbod van de NPO en VRT. Onze programma’s zijn 24 uur per dag te bekijken via internet, satelliet en in duizenden hotels.

37 Kijk voor meer informatie op www.bvn.tv

Four of the people behind Tasty comedy, with from left to right comedian Jรถrgen Raymann, founder, co-owner and manager Rick Gemser, coproducer Kees Abrahams and chef Ramon Beuk.

Tasty Comedy

Entertainment with taste at De Pier in Scheveningen Double enjoyment during a night out by getting served up the cream of the crop among the comedians while consuming a delicious four-course dinner. That in a nutshell are the two pillars on which the culinary comedy-show Comedy Tasty, performed since 6 May last, rests. Well, two pillars... Much more actually, since all shows take place at the fully refurbished Pier in Scheveningen.

words Ton van Rooij 38

Jörgen Raymann, here during one of the Tasty Comedy evenings: “With Tasty Comedy, we have a new comedy concept in our hands where guests can spend an evening laughing ánd eating.”

(Photo: We Are Designerz)

Mix of humour and gastronomy at unique location Tasty Comedy was developed with just one goal in mind: optimal entertainment with taste. No ordinary night out, but a special combination of all the elements that people look for when they want to enjoy themselves. All night long, visitors get entertained with the most hilarious and recognisable jokes by performers from home and abroad, while they cosily dine at the same time. The latter is done according to the shared dining principle, which means that you share small dishes with each other. And all in a location that offers a phenomenal 360-degree panoramic view over the sea, the beach and the Kurhaus!

The creative brain behind Tasty Comedy is Jörgen Raymann, one of Holland’s most famous comedians.

He is responsible for the selection of the humorous artists and four to five times a month, he himsélf shows what he’s capable of. Furthermore, Raymann scouts talented newcomers in the comedy world. At every show, an established name in the Dutch comedy craft is supplemented by a new talent. From the rich Dutch comedy pond he so far fished, to name just a few, Howard Komproe, Harry Glotzbach, Anuar, Kristel Zweers, Martijn Oosterhuis, Tom Sligting and the talented newcomer Wouter Monden. Among the attracted international comedians are three worldwide acclaimed artists: Jeff Hess (USA), Johnny Filion (Canada) and Peter Shub (USA).

Driving forces behind Tasty Comedy Founder, co-owner and manager of Tasty Comedy is Rick Gemser. Together with producer Robin de Levita and Kees Abrahams, owners of the theatre, film and TV company Imagine Nation, he took up this adventure.

While Raymann takes care of the laughing human being, the renowned, famous TV chef Ramon Beuk looks after the inner man and woman. All the menu creations have his signature, whereby he takes into account seasonal products. With a responsible and exciting menu as a result.

Gemser is strategic marketeer with a focus on entertainment, events and theatre. He conceived and led Palazzo, a dinner-show at gastronomical top level which was performed from 2006 to 2012 in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Since September 2015, he’s working as a marketing director at Imagine Nation.

Live music is also being played. One of the vocalists standing on the Tasty Comedy stage at regular intervals is a singer Floortje Smit, who became known for her participation in the talent shows Idols (second place, 2005/2006) and The Voice of Holland (third place, 2012), and the rock musical We Will Rock You (2010/2011). “We have four bands that play in rotation and all are moulded in the same concept,” Gemser explains. “We have three female singers and one male singer who’s also a pianist.

Levita’s and Abrahams’ track record adorn, among other things, Soldier of Orange – the Musical, the theatre production ANNE (see Holland Focus of July/August 2014), and the 3D musical SKY (see Holland Focus of April/May/June 2016).

39

All four sing the same repertoire. Every single one of them is an exceptionally good vocalist.”

Comedy immensely popular in the Netherlands The idea of Tasty Comedy more or less fell into Gemser’s lap. “One day, I was approached by people of real estate company Kondor Wessels, one of two companies that in 2014 had bought De Pier, had renovated it and wanted to market it,” he says. “They once had visited Palazzo and they said: ‘Hey, would it not be great fun to set up Palazzo at De Pier?’ Then I started calculating and looking, and found out very quickly that a Palazzo show at De Pier was not possible, because the space envisaged for that was not high enough. And then I thought: ‘What is running well in the Netherlands?’ Of course, comedy! Even at the Ziggo Dome [an Amsterdam concert hall with room for 17,000 people], comedy artists today perform and ensure sold-out shows. And there’s not one Dutch TV station nowadays that doesn’t have a comedy programme that scores very well. I thought: ‘I’m going to combine food and comedy with one other.’ This is how Tasty Comedy arose. You should see it a bit as Palazzo 2.0, but adapted to current times. Palazzo really was variety theatre, a

little in the vein of Cirque du Soleil, complemented with humour and with the focus on the culinary. There we worked with big chefs from Michelin-starred restaurants like Ron Blaauw, Robert Kranenborg and Cees Helder.

With Tasty Comedy, we also work with a big culinary name, Ramon Beuk, but this show we have deliberately made more accessible by substantially lowering the admission fee. A night Palazzo cost between € 100 and € 130, while a ticket for Tasty Comedy costs € 59.50 or € 69.50. So not only the style is quite different, so is the target group we are aiming at.”

Jörgen Raymann: from restaurateur to comedian Jörgen Raymann, born in the Netherlands but grew up in Suriname, where his roots lie, wanted nothing more after his high school time than to go to drama school. But upon advice of his parents, who felt that this study offered little prospect for the future, he didn’t do it after all. Instead, he studied economics at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. There he joined the Rotterdam Interfacultair Studenten Cabaret (RISC) and eventually broke off his studies. Also in Restaurant Pomo in Utrecht, where he was employed for some time, he displayed his passion for 40 40

entertainment. He then returned to Suriname where he worked briefly in the timber industry and subsequently started Restaurant Pedro with his wife Sheila. One evening, he and some friends decided, just as a joke, to have a comedy jam session at Pedro’s. These evenings were a resounding success, which led to him being asked to make a New Year’s programme for the Surinamese television. Next, he made two more programmes for it: Examen TV and Raymann praat laat (Raymann talks late).

Meanwhile, he had also hit the stage and in 1998, he came to the Netherlands with his theatre show. He then started working for the Dutch TV station NPS (now called NTR) as host of The Comedy Factory. When he emigrated to the Netherlands in 2001, he received an offer to make a late night show for the NTR. This became Raymann is laat! (Raymann is late!), which moved to Sundays in 2011 and therefore was renamed Zo: Raymann! (Zo is the abbreviation of Zondag, Dutch for Sunday, and non-abbreviated, it means So.) In Dutch theatres, he appeared with shows like Slaaf of niet verslaafd (Slave or not addicted), In Holland staat mijn huis (In Holland is my house), Familyman and, accompanied by rapper MC Brainpower, Twee-eiig (Fraternal). Together with Sheila, his by far most famous character, Tante Es (Aunt Es), wrote the cookbook Koken met Tante Es (Cooking with Aunt Es).

Raymann welcomes the fact that Tasty Comedy has been founded: “We provide a platform to all the comedians of the Netherlands; both established names and young talents pass in review. With Tasty Comedy, we have a new

comedy concept in our hands where guests can spend an evening laughing ánd eating.”

Ramon Beuk’s predilection for culinary entertainment The Surinamese-Dutch chef Ramon Beuk learnt the secrets of the Surinamese kitchen from his mother and grandmother. He started his career at department store HEMA, where he developed culinary concepts. On Dutch television, he acquired recognition with programmes like Born2Cook, Bosch, Beuk & Haan, Wereldwijnen (World Wines) and Terug naar mijn Roti (Back to my Roti). He wrote several cookbooks, of which Wat van Fair (What from Fair) in 2009 was declared cookbook of the year.

In 2012, thanks to the Dutch postal operator PostNL, he became ambassador of the World Food Programme of the United Nations.

Over time, Beuk introduced several new culinary concepts, such as his successful pop-up restaurant VOOREENMAAND (FORAMONTH), where eating out and entertainment seamlessly merged into one another.

“Eating out has to become more entertainment,” he already advocated years ago. So just like Gemser and Raymann, he is no stranger to the combination of tasteful amusement and dining either.

Beuk is proud to be part of Tasty Comedy: “Tasty Comedy is all about a nice evening out and having enjoyment together. For this reason, I have chosen for a shared dining concept, where during each course guests get served up special, exclusive and above all tasty dishes at their table, with sharing occupying centre stage.”

Jörgen Raymann and Ramon Beuk on De Pier in Scheveningen.

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Every evening eight blocks of comedy and live music About the selection of the comedians for Tasty Comedy, Gemser says: “I brought the best ones of Palazzo to Tasty Comedy. For selecting the other comedians, we gathered around the table with Jörgen Raymann, in the Netherlands thé face of comedy, and made grateful use of his expertise and knowledge of the stand-up comedy world. Almost every evening new comedians join us.

Jörgen, for instance, recently said: ‘Tony Woods from America, who I know, is in the Netherlands for a few days.

Shall I ask him for Tasty Comedy?’ Now had we done this without Jörgen, we would not have had those contacts,

because he has súch a strong connection with that world.

And on top of that, Jörgen is a fantastic, fun and nice guy!

In the Netherlands, you see a truly húge scene of comedy performers. And they all want to work, which of course is great for us.”

With the hitherto contracted performers, Gemser is more than satisfied. “We’ve managed to ensnare various big names. They also act as the MC, the master of ceremony, the person who in between performances talks to the audience. Among the Dutchmen, these topclass comedians are Jörgen Raymann, Howard Komproe,

De Pier characteristic and iconic structure

One of the most characteristic and iconic structures of the Netherlands: De Pier in Scheveningen.

The Scheveningen Pier is without doubt one of Holland’s most characteristic and iconic structures The original Pier, a wooden construction on a steel base, was opened by Prince Hendrik on 6 May 1901. Here people could walk around, shop or, in an octagonal pavilion, enjoy music performances, stage plays and acrobatics. On 26 March 1943, the pavilion burned out completely, after which the German occupation forces demolished De Pier.

17 September 1959 marked the beginning of construction work for a new Pier, which was opened by Prince Bernhard on 19 May 1961. In the ‘80s this hospitality, retail and entertainment complex fell into serious disrepair because of overdue maintenance, as a result of which many of the retailers and other users closed their doors. In 1991, hospitality concern Van der Valk took over De Pier for the symbolic sum of one guilder, after which the complex was renovated, rebuilt and partially redecorated. Since 2004, no entrance fee is charged anymore.

In September 2011, a fire broke out, due to which the amusement hall suffered heavy damage and another section, the treasure island, had to be closed.

In January 2013, the two companies in which Van der Valk had housed De Pier went bankrupt. Nine months later, it was closed because the safety of visitors could no longer be guaranteed after years of deferred maintenance. In October 2014, De Pier was bought by real estate company Kondor Wessels and hotel company DanZep, which started an extensive renovation right away. This allowed the so typical seaside resort building to be opened for the public again – to a large extent at least – on 18 July 2015. Not much later, the major refurbishment was completed, making the entire Pier accessible again.

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Culinary-wise, Tasty Comedy is in fact one big tasting of delicious small dishes.

Tom Sligting and Harry Glotzbach. Of the international comedians, Peter Shub is a really big one. At Palazzo, he has been the leading artist for an entire season. In addition to being an outstanding stand-up comedian, he’s also one of the best mimes in the world. These are the A-list names we are working with over the next two months. After this period, they make room for other comedy heavyweights, who also stay for two months. But Tasty Comedy is also a platform for up-and-coming talent.

Every evening, there are four comedians: one big name, one up-and-coming talent and two international artists, one of whom brings stand-up comedy and the other one physical comedy. Each time we have a different line-up, so no evening is the same. The comedians all perform two times, so you get eight blocks of comedy, larded with music and a four-course dinner. This all adds up to an evening-filling programme of nearly four hours of laughing, shrieking and feasting.”

Lovers of good food served hand and foot Gemser feels most fortunate to have Ramon Beuk in the Tasty Comedy ranks. “In culinary terms, Ramon puts a very big stamp on Tasty Comedy. Additionally, he is very committed to Tasty Comedy: eight out of ten nights, he’s present. He devised all the recipes and in close consultation with him, we composed the Comedy Tasty menu. I am enormously proud of this menu. I think we’re placing something very beautiful, and also for little money, on the table with this. It’s a set menu, but for vegetarians or people who do not eat fish or are allergic for something, we customise it of course. Furthermore,

the menu will look different in the winter than in the summer.”

He explains how at Tasty Comedy the shared dining principle works. “We start with a large platter of antipasti with all kinds of tasty snacks, comparable to tapas, but with a Surinamese twist that Ramon has added to it. In doing so, we make sure that of every snack, there are as many as the number of members of the party. If there are, for example, four of you, then each snack is lying on the platter four times. So it’s not that you have to cut something or literally need to share food with each other. During the second eating moment, we serve very tasty soup, prepared according to the recipe of Ramon’s grandmother. You can, if desired, garnish this with all sorts of delicacies that we put on the table in small bowls.

The third dish is chicken as Ramon’s grandmother had intended it – sheer delight as well. You take it out of a pan and add, if you wish, vegetables and/or sauce. Also in the dessert you see a variety of snacks, ranging from chocolate bitterbal and panna cotta to a coconut cookie.

What you get during an evening therefore is not so much a dinner, but rather one big tasting of small dishes!”

Practical information Tasty Comedy is performed at De Pier, Strandweg 1 in Scheveningen.

During high season, Tasty Comedy can be visited seven days a week, in the low season from Wednesday till Sunday. On Friday and Saturday two shows are programmed: a regular show and a Late Night Comedy show. For the Late Night Comedy shows an adjusted admission fee and programme applies.

See for further information www.tastycomedy.nl.

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Jan Vennik: The Dutchman at Eureka

by Ballarat author, Yvon Davis The shared history of the Netherlands and Australia began in the 1606, when Willem Janszoon journeyed south via Java and discovered the west coast of the Cape York Peninsula on the Australian continent.

The discovery of gold at Poverty Point near Ballarat immediately captured public attention in spring 1851, and this brought thousands of eager prospectors from different parts of the world – including the Netherlands - to the goldfield in search of riches.

Jan Vennik was born in a small village in the north of the Netherlands; who -in 1852- left his work as a carpenter behind to travel half way around to world in search of gold at Ballarat.

This book explores whether Vennik was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time; it investigates where he came from and where he went after his acquittal on all charges, at the Eureka Trials in early 1855.

Background Jan Vennik: the Dutchman at Eureka tells the story of a Dutchman who was present in the vicinity of the Eureka Stockade on 3 December 1854, before he was arrested and charged with Treason together with 12 others.

Yvon Davis, former SBS Radio broadcaster, provides new insights into the story of Eureka by researching public records and interpreting the contents of eye witness accounts published in local and overseas newspaper articles.

Follow the story of Jan Vennik’s life on the goldfields of Central Victoria, before and after the Eureka Rebellion, in this beautifully designed, locally produced 48-page book.

Includes full colour photos and illustrations - available from bookshops across Ballarat. RRP $14.95.

Book plus postage within Australia $20.

Pay by cheque (Yvonne Davis) or bank transfer Commonwealth Bank BSB 06 3502 account no: 1094 4384 - Yvon Davis, P.O. Box 1119, Bakery Hill 3354, Victoria. email: yvondavis1956@gmail.com - Don’t forget to include or email your name and postal address. picture: battle of the Eurela stockade, Ballarat, drawn by J.B. Henderson, State Library of NSW

44

Windmills in Baburen, photo Albert Netjes

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45

Hidden surprises on De Veluwe One of the most beautiful and extensive national parks in the Netherlands is De Veluwe. The area measures about 1000 km², enclosed by the IJsseldal, the Veluewerandmeren, the Nederrijn and the Gelderse Vallei.

An area of 91,200 ha has been named Natura 2000-area.

words and photos Yolanda Edens 46

Upon hearing the name De Veluwe people often think that it is about the Nationaal Park De Hoge Veluwe.

This is indeed a part of De Veluwe, but covers less than a twentieth of this area. De Veluwe includes different national parks with a large diversity of flora and fauna. A large part of De Veluwe contains forests and is hilly. Large parts are dams formed during the Saale ice age. North of Rheden, in the Nationaal Park Veluwezoon, near the Rozendaalse veld, is the Signaal Imbosch, the highest spot on De Veluwe at 110 metres. This is the highest dam in the Netherlands and the highest spot of the Netherlands, outside Zuid-Limburg. In the north, amongst others, is the drift sand area Leuvenhorst and the Leuvenumse Bos; near Apeldoorn is the Crown land Het Loo, measuring 10,400 ha making it the largest estate in the Netherlands.

De Veluwe has many hidden spots where visitors will be pleasantly surprised by special monuments, animals, nature and activities. You just have to know where to look for them.

Wildlife Thinking of De Veluwe wild pigs and fallow deer come to mind. Nowadays many roam here freely again. Wild pigs can be a nuisance, because they dig the ground with their snouts. The Vierhouterbos conceals a lot of wildlife. In the woods are their zoelplaatsen; pools where they take mud baths. While riding your bike you will regularly see

Kootwijk - drifting sand dunes

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tracks were they dig, sometimes over long distances.

Fallow deer can be spotted there. Especially in the morning and around dusk many fallow deer will come out of the woods. During the last century the deer were near extinction in De Veluwe through poaching.

In 1956, to protect the fallow deer the Ugchelse Bos was chosen to be the state’s wildlife reserve. In 1988, the amount of deer walking around had increased to an extent that the conservation screens could be taken down. In the meantime, the deer have spread via ecoducten (bridges for wildlife) from the Speulderbos in Putten to the Veluwezoom in Rheden. By this spreading the risk of collision has increased. Warning signs and speed adjustments let the drivers know of the dangers.

Especially during the mating season (August-September) the traffic accidents caused by wildlife increase.

Wildlife excursions The fun part, of course, is to quietly observe the deer, fox or badger with binoculars. On different spots in De Veluwe wildlife-screens have been placed where visitors can spot wildlife. Some are open to everyone, but others are only open to guided tours. Between Ugchelen and Hoenderloo is the Nature theatre, a real skybox for wildlife spotters! Here, a view over a wild field, where pigs, deer and doe love to come to eat the grass that has been sown here. At the bottom of the hill is a zoelplaats

photo Stuart Bassil

photo Jorg Hempel -a shallow lake, where wildlife drinks or take a bath. From April till September different excursions with the ranger will be organised to the Nature theatre.

In Wildarena-Hemellootjes and Witte Hoogt while sitting on wooden benches, wildlife can be observed through view slits. Because it is in the open one has to be very quiet, so it is super exciting. This too is only to be visited with a guide.

European bison On the Midden Veluwe European-bison from Germany can now roam through a new area of 400 ha that has been provided by Staatsbosbeheer. Wild hoofed animals, like deer and wild pigs, also live here. The bison with their behaviour and grazing are a nice supplement. This new habitat adds to the conservation of this animal. The habitat of the bison is only open to the public by guided excursions of the Stichting Wisent op de Veluwe.

Sandy soils, heathlands and natural forest In the past, timber was needed for use in the mines.

However, there was already a shortage of forests. On the other hand, the Netherlands experienced an increase in sand drifts. Therefore, on 21 July 1899, Staatsbosbeheer was established. That happened at the Boswachterij Radio Kootwijk. Staatsbosbeheer planted trees on the wild sandy soils of De Veluwe. Tidy (pine) forests with the trees nicely placed in straight rows. Those very organised forests have disappeared from the landscape now. De Zaadeest in Stroe still reminds us of those days. And also in the Harskamperdennen the old drifting sand dunes are still part of the landscape.

Many seeds of the Scots pine were needed to create the forests. Picked pine cones were heated in the sun or baker’s ovens to gather the seeds (the so-called ‘eesten’).

To heighten the production Staatsbosbeheer built its own 48

‘zaadeest’. Later, near the ‘zaadeest in Stroe two conesheds had been built. In here the cones were sometimes kept for months, until they could be ‘geëest’. The wind could blow through the holes in the sheds, from all directions, keeping the cones in shape. Since 1989 the zaadeest are not being used anymore, the buildings are protected monuments now and in Stroe are open to the public.

Netherlands.

The arboretum Oostereng is situated in the woods between Wageningen and Renkum, it is the largest treegarden of the Netherlands. Along the very special trees a tree-path has been constructed.

In Garderen a climbing forest has been established with different tracks with abseiling and other fun parts.

Tree-garden In the heart of the region is Kootwijkerzand. Half of it consists of sand drifts, the other half is overgrown by mosses and grasses. Just like the ‘real’ desert the Klootwijkerzand knows extreme differences in temperature. On a nice summer day, it could be 50 degrees Celsius. During the night the mercury drops about 40 degrees. In the Klootwijkerzand is also the former radio station Kootwijk. This radio station was built in the 20s of last century to maintain contact with the then Dutch Indies. The imposing building, that doesn’t know whether it should be a temple or a sphinx, contrasts beautifully with the empty and wild surroundings.

The Ugchelse Bos is a nature forest where many birds breed. Together with the nature areas around Kootwijk it forms a continuous area of 10,000 ha. That makes it one of the largest continuous parts of wild nature in the

The hidden village Boswachterij Nunspeet is in an attractive part of De Veluwe. Open heath fields that change into a beautiful colour purple in autumn, shadbushes brimming with birds, lakes and expansive forests. Here are picturesque villages like Vierhouten and Nunspeet.

In the dense forest near Vierhouten lays the Verscholen Dorp (Hidden Village): a secret village used to hide (Jewish) people from the Germans. In the spring of 1943 primitive huts were built to hide more than 80 fugitives.

During one and a half year the fugitives were supplied with food and medical help by volunteers. In October 1944 two men from the “SS-Freiwilligen Regiment 83 Landstorm Nederland” followed a boy through the forest. That same night and the next day, eight Jews and a German deserter were rounded up. The rest of the people in hiding were able to escape. The eight Jews were executed near Vierenhout on 31 October. After the

part of the hidden village 49

photos of the hidden village

war some of the huts of this unique village have been reconstructed and can, even now, be visited. In Hotel De Vossenberg in Vierhouten a small museum has been fitted out with memorabilia of the Hidden Village and many stories that have been saved can be listened to.

The Verscholen Dorp lives up to its name: even for visitors and despite the signs it is hard to find the huts which are partly hidden under the ground. A monument with a poem and an explanation of what happened here gives the visitor a feeling of what really happened here during the Second World War. Recalling this story turns a visit to one of the huts into an impressive experience. The rustling of the trees around it, the smell of the damp soil, penetrated in the walls of the huts, and the sight of the wooden benches silences the visitors and gives many of them goose bumps.

Back in time In the centuries old woods and living quarters of the settlers of De Veluwe, time seems to have stopped at many parts. As in visiting the sheepfold Boeschoten in 50

Zaadeest building in Stroe

the Speulder and Sprielderbos. Standing lonely on the crossing of dirt roads where merchandise used to be transported by horse and cart.

The hamlet of Hoog Buurlo exists of two sheepfolds and two homes and a herd of heather-sheep. The hamlet boarders the Buurlose heide. Nothing has changed here since the 9th century.

In the polder of Arhemheen the steam pumping station Hertog Reijnout, which was built in 1882, is still there. On pumping days, the station ‘under pumping steam’ can be visited. In the coal-barn is a visitors centre with a bird watch point.

Kader Except for the aforementioned special spots De Veluwe has many more options and points of interest. Please visit www.staatsbosbeheer.nl or www.veluwe.nl to find them. sources: Staatsbosbeheer, stichtinghetverscholendorp

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The King’s Day celebration in Sydney with special UNIFIL ceremony The annual King’s Day celebration was held by the Consulate-General of the Netherlands in Sydney.

The Netherlands and Australia may be over 16,600km apart, but the Dutch traditions are held to their expectations as a very special King’s Day event was celebrated in Sydney on the 28th of April.

The Consulate-General of the Netherlands in Sydney organised its King’s Day Reception in the Sydney Masonic Centre, where over 500 Dutch and Australian guests were dressed in Orange and danced the night away to Dutch hit songs, after a formal beginning with Australian officials at the start of the celebration.

To honour the Dirk Hartog year 1616-2016, during the evening Australian and Dutch guests dressed in the traditional costumes of the Golden Century. Those were the years of the discoveries

by Willem Janszoon (1606), Dirk Hartog (1616), Abel Tasman and many other Dutch VOC-captains and sailors. They circumnavigated Australia – or New Holland as it was called in those days in search of trade.

Willem Cosijn told the Australian guests that it is quite remarkable that one can see in the marble floor of the main reception hall of 52

the Royal Palace in Amsterdam, a large map of the world. And that in that outline of the world, almost the whole coastline of Australia is already visible. You should realize, he stressed, that this palace was built between 1648 and 1655, more than a 100 years before others came to Botany Bay. The big Dutch meet-up had a special angle this year, with Consul-General Willem Cosijn presenting three ex-UNIFIL soldiers – Henk Haasjes, Arthur Jacobs, and Maickel Sweekhorst – the Nobel Prize for Peaceinsignia to honour their service in the Lebanon during 1979-1986. “We pulled our soldiers out of daily, ordinary life, and we put them in extraordinary circumstances. That is what our country asks from our soldiers, and that is good. But we must always have our militairy men in high esteem”. photos by Susan Darling: http://www.loveandstuffphotography.com/

The Lost White Tribes of Australia Part 1: 1656 The First Settlement of Australia A small community, all as white as himself, he said about 300; that they lived together within a great wall to defend them from black men; that their father came here 170 years ago from a distant land across the sea …

Lt Robert Dale 1832 WA

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53

Jan en Kaspar Luiken: Het Menselyk Bedryf

De blaasbalgmaker Blaasbalgen of blaasbalken, zoals ze vroeger wel zeiden, werden in de zeventiende eeuw veel gebruikt om de open vuren aan te wakkeren die in veel kamers en elke keuken werden gestookt.

In elk huis was er wel minstens één. Ze waren onontbeerlijk, vooral als het hout of turf niet al te droog was. Grote blaasbalgen werden gebruikt in smederijen en in de grote kerkorgels.

De nog jonge blaasbalgmaker is goed gekleed en ziet er redelijk welvarend uit. Hij zit op een stoeltje, met een flinke blaasbalg op schoot als een muziekinstrument. Met zijn rechterhand geeft hij een aanwijzing aan zijn wat onnozel kijkende leerjongen, die zoals alle werklui een voorschoot draagt, opgehouden door een halsband. De vier handen rond het middelpunt van de prent geven hun verhouding weer. Tussen de meester en zijn leerling zien we de brede rug van nog een medewerker, die in de raamopening een klant lijkt te bedienen.

Blaasbalgen werden gemaakt van hout of metaal en de zak was bijna altijd van leer. Het eigenlijke maken van blaasbalgen zien we niet. Maar ze staan en hangen overal. De blaasbalg rechts op de voorgrond kan ook met de voet bediend worden. We zien een schotje om te voorkomen dat de voet verschuift. In de schaduw links staan wat onbestemde materialen. De brede buitendeur en ramen staan wagenwijd open. Daar doorheen zien we een wijds panorama van Amsterdam.

Rechts staan een paar huizen van minstens vier verdiepingen met karakteristieke trapgeveltjes in het volle licht. Links zien we een gracht of stroom. Daarachter verheffen zich enkele bomen en tussen de geveltjes een opvallend hoog gebouw met minstens zeven verdiepingen. Misschien is het een bestaand gebouw, bijvoorbeeld aan de Amstel. Op de tekening lijkt de overkant met een paar wandelaars wel een stuk dichterbij. De prent met zijn Amsterdamse realisme vormt een fraaie combinatie met de vurige tekst.

Haalt met gezucht Uit God uw lucht.

Lucht, door een blaasbalg aangedreven Geeft aan het vuur een laaiend leven: Heilige lucht, die uit God kwam En ‘t Pinksterfeest zo fraai liet waaien En tongen vuur omlaag deed laaien, Blaas eeuwig onze ziel in vlam!

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The Bellows Maker Bellows were often used in the 17th century to furnish the open-hearth fires that burned in many rooms and every kitchen. Every house had at least one. They were essential, especially if the wood or peat was not quite dry. Large bellows were used by blacksmiths and in the large church organs.

The bellows maker is still quite young, and well dressed. He looks relatively prosperous. He sits on a small chair, with a sizable pair of bellows on his lap, looking like a musical instrument. With his right hand, he is instructing his slightly loopy looking apprentice. The apprentice is also - like all workmen - wearing an apron held up by a strap. The four hands arranged around the centre of the image denotes their relationship.

In between the master and his apprentice, the broad back of another worker, who seems to be serving a customer through the open window, is visible.

Bellows were made out of wood or metal, and the (flexible) air bag nearly always out of leather. The actual making of the bellows is not pictured, but they are standing and hanging everywhere. The bellows on the right in the foreground can also be pumped by foot. We notice a small wooden barrier, designed to prevent the foot from sliding off. In the shadow in the left corner of the image, some undefined material is displayed. The wide front door and windows have been thrown wide open.

Through there, we can see a sweeping panorama of Amsterdam. On the right are a few houses of at least four stories, with the characteristic gabled roofs, shown in full sunlight. On the left, a canal or stream is visible. Behind this, trees rise out of the ground, and between the gabled roofs a striking tall building of at least seven stories. Possibly an existing building, probably on the Amstel. On the picture, the other side with the pedestrians seems a lot closer. The print with its realistic display of Amsterdam forms an excellent combination with the fiery text.

With sighs you flare From Gods own air.

Air, driven by a pair of bellows Will make a fire that white hot glows: O holy Breath! From God it came, In Whitsun’s glorious tongues of fire To make the mind of people flare: Forever set our soul aflame!

Frans Hertoghs

55

The illustrious combination of fine food and art

Helene is a very versatile lady, who likes to use her creative background in her catering business.

After she finished her History of Art study in Amsterdam, Helene wanted to see a bit of the world before settling down somewhere on this earth. Helene was especially attracted to Asia and travelled through that continent -which she had never visited before- with a likeminded friend for nearly 6 months.

56

After arriving back home, Asia was pulling her back big time and Helene started looking for a job in China or Vietnam. Only days after her return home, a travel agent was advertising a job in Vietnam and, lo and behold, Helene got the job. “Could you start next week, please?”

Helene enjoyed working for the travel agent and did see a lot of Vietnam as most holidays she escorted were by bus.

One year was enough, though, off to Ho Chi Minh. After

settling in the capital city of Vietnam, Helene set up an art-gallery together with a Vietnamese friend.

The first exhibition attracted good sponsors and Helene wanted to advertise in the ‘Vietnam Investment Review’, a paper read by Vietnamese people as well as ex-pats.

The then owner of the paper was Australian and ‘We became friends’, Helene explained. “He wanted to be more than friends, but I was reluctant, at first, but then…

We even got married.”

They stayed together for eight years. By that time Helene was in Australia. To come to terms with the divorce, Helene stayed with her parents in South Africa for 3 months.

“When we, my brother and I, were children we used to go camping to France and Germany, with our parents: backpacks, tents ánd the Michelin guide”, Helene reminisces. “Every night, papa opened the Michelin guide to find a suitable restaurant in the area. We were almost always allowed to come too. Unless it was a three-star restaurant, of course, then my parents did not take us.”

Even as a small girl Helene wanted to start a restaurant together with her mum. “The aesthetics of the dinners at home were always left to me. I spent hours in the garden looking for leaves and other greens to decorate the table.”

Often after having enjoyed a meal at a restaurant, Helene and her mum tried to recreate it at home, the next day.

While staying with her parents in South Africa, “They lived for about 9 years in Stellenbosch”, Helene and her mum prepared mouth-watering dinners, could be called

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banquets, daily. “Papa looked after the wine and wrote everything down in an exercise book, after a few weeks I said to him that I would take that over”, Helene fondly remembers those months with her parents. The exercise book and Helene went back to Australia.

The next few years, Helene worked at different companies in Australia while contemplating on her future: looking for a concept to use her qualifications and qualities. She did go back to Vietnam and started ‘Art Discovery Tours’, taking small groups of people to galleries and art studios and finishing it off with a nice meal somewhere. Helene sold the business after one year and came back to Australia.

In the meantime, Helene is happy with her new partner and decided to start her own catering business. But not just sandwiches, many other catering businesses are doing that already, rather concentrating more on Fine Food.

Early this year Helene started her business, after doing a course in Commercial Cookery: “Being Dutch, you still think that you need all the qualifications you can get.”

Helene makes sure that everything leaving her kitchen is of excellent quality and yes, everything is made from scratch.

As Helene is just a one-man-band at the moment she has to improvise whilst preparing for functions. “Fortunately I can hire commercial kitchens when needed.”

Downstairs from where Helene lives is a new art-gallery,

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they wanted to host a special dinner for prominent customers and artists at the gallery. “But they did not have a kitchen, so I prepared everything in my own kitchen, dragged my barbeque downstairs and placed it on their terrace and served a dinner for 14 people; it was fantastic”, Helene recalls. “Afterwards I was invited to sit with them and could talk with them about the art.

Perhaps this is my niche, to cater for galleries.”

Helene enjoys preparing the dinners, but equally likes preparing food for parties with canapes and finger food.

For larger parties Helene employs people to help her in the kitchen and also with the serving during the event.

Catering for weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, you name it, it can all be done by Fine Food Catering, no matter the number of people attending. “I have many contacts in the catering business, who can help me out.”

On the menu you might find meat or fish prepared in the ‘Sous Vide’. Helene is very fond of her Sous Vide Machine: makes life a lot easier. Sous vide means ‘under vacuum’.

The technique has been long used by chefs. You basically cook food in vacuum sealed plastic bags, submerged in water held at the right temperature for that particular meat, chicken or fish. And it is cooked to perfection. To sear the meat, throw it on the grill for a few minutes and voilà.

Helene is very enthusiastic about her enterprise and really likes the freedom her own business gives her. more info: finefoodcatering.melbourne

Helene showing off her sous vide

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arade of Sail at the 2015 AWBF (© Galina Romalis)

Tasmania’s Wooden Boat festival celebrates with Dutch theme It might still be a while away, but Australia’s most southern state Tasmania is preparing for its 12th MyState Australian Wooden Boat Festival (AWBF), to be held in February 2017. The festival will bear a Dutch theme as next year will be the 375th anniversary of the Dutch discovery of Van Diemen’s Land – now called Tasmania – in honour of Abel Janszoon Tasman. words Monica Hols

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constructed. Unique timbers used for boat building in Tasmania include King Billy pine, spotted gum, peppermint gum, celery top pine, Tasmanian Myrtle, Sassafras and best of all, the legendary Tasmanian Huon pine. Huon pine is actually not a pine but a hardwood and is one of the oldest living things on the planet.

This unique four day festival – it is said to be the largest maritime festival in the southern hemisphere - expects to attract many visitors from all over the world. “We are hoping for as many as 250,000, which makes it comfortably crowded”, says Daryl Peebles, AWBF media manager.

“Any Dutch person who manages to make it halfway around the world for this occasion will be warmly welcomed”.

The first Australian Wooden Boat Festival was inspired by the Brest and Douarnenez festivals of France, and like these famous events it strives to include all of maritime culture – the skills, knowledge, arts, music and sheer fun of enjoying wooden boats.

The MyState Australian Wooden Boat Festival is held in the River Derwent in Hobart. For the occasion, Hobart’s waterfront will be transformed into a wooden-boat lovers’ paradise with over 550 boats on display plus all manner of activities including a maritime market place and a shipwrights’ village in which traditional wooden boat-building techniques are demonstrated. There will be entertainment for the whole family and visitors can enjoy a selection of Tasmania’s finest foods and beverages, including the seafood for which Tasmania is internationally renowned.

From modest beginnings in 1996, the AWBF is now the major event on the Tasmanian tourism calendar winning the Tourism Industry Council Tasmania’s Major Festivals and Events Award for 2015, and was judged as one of the top three events held anywhere in Australia at the Australian Tourism Awards, also in 2015. The festival is billed as being ‘free, fun and friendly’.

Among the activities planned is a visit by six young Dutch apprentice wooden boat builders (and their instructor) who are coming out from the ‘Hout- en Meubileringscollege’ in Amsterdam and spending about three months at

However, it is the boats that are quite rightly the centre of attraction at the festival. One aspect of many of the boats on display that visitors to Tasmania may find intriguing, is the unusual timbers from which they are

Aboard Windeward Bound in the Parade of Sail (© Mike Calder)

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a general shot of Hobart’s waterfront during the festival - Photo courtesy of the Australian Wooden Boat Festival.

the Wooden Boat Centre in Southern Tasmania. While here, the apprentices are going to build a traditional Dutch BM16m2 sail boat. The boat will be constructed using unique Tasmanian timbers salvaged from the bottom of a lake that was flooded for a hydro-electricity development 25 years ago“.

“The Dutch community, which is quite large in Tasmania, will make sure these six boat builders will have an amazing time here”, says Daryl Peebles. “We are already planning trips and activities.”

There will be other Dutch-focussed activities during the festival including food and entertainment. And a major exhibition celebrating the achievements of the early Dutch explorers with a focus on Abel Tasman will be hosted at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) in collaboration with the Dutch National Archives and Amsterdam’s ‘Scheepvaartmuseum’. As a taster for the boat festival, an exhibition called ‘The Dutch are coming’ is planned for as early as November/December in Hobart’s TMAG.

The 16m2 will be finished on site during the MyState Australian Wooden Boat Festival and launched (and possibly raced) as a finale to the event.

More information on the festival can be found on www.australianwoodenboatfestival.com.au and a special blog www.awbf. com.au is kept for the event.

PRINS WILLEM ALEXANDER VILLAGE Netherlands Retirement Village Association Of Queensland Inc.

What are your plans for the future?

Imagine living in an environment that reminds you of “back home”.

Inspired by the traditional “Zaanse” style architecture, the village offers many choices in accommodation and lifestyle, from independent living to the highest of care. There are 74 independent living units, 44 Hostel units, 14 one bedroom apartments and a 64 bed Nursing Home.

Enjoy our friendly and happy environment. Many members of our dedicated staff speak Dutch as well as English, because we realise the importance of the mother tongue.

You may like to visit the village and discuss your options for moving into this ideal village facility. Just ring us first to make an appointment, so we can be available to discuss opportunities for you.

Prins Willem Alexander Village 62 Collingwood Road, Birkdale Tel.: (07) 3822 0800 Email: admin@dutchvillage.com.au

a new care facility is presently under construction

Dirk Hartog OceanClassic SOUTH of PERTH YACHT CLUB (INC.)

25th October 1616 Captain Dirk Hartog, aboard the VOC ship, the Eendracht, landed at Dirk Hartog Island in Shark Bay, Western Australia

en Duyfk

To mark the 400th anniversary, there will be a 5 day festival in Denham from the 21st to the 25th October 2016.

Leeuwin

II

For those wishing to be involved in the sailing event, there will be a Race and Cruise from Fremantle to Geraldton and from Geraldton to Shark Bay starting on the 15th October 2016.

The Fleet will be joined by the replica ships the Duyfken and the Leeuwin II, for the Plate Re-enactment Ceremony.

Young

vour

Endea

Invitation - To Yachts, Catamarans and Power Boats Dates:

Expressions of Interest to:

15 October - Race/Cruise to Geraldton 21 October - Race/Cruise to Denham 22 October - Celebrations and Concert 23 October - 17 Century Dress Captains Ball 25 October - Re-enactment of the Landing

www.sopyc.com.au/dirkhartog www.fsc.com.au/sailing-events/dirk-hartog www.sharkbay.wa.gov.au Geraldton Yacht Club Marine Terrace, Geraldton

Hartog Commemorative Voyage of the Duyfken visiting various locations in Western Australia The Duyfken replica will depart Fremantle Harbour in August 2016 to begin its Hartog Commemorative Voyage to Shark Bay. During the voyage Duyfken will visit several ports on the west coast of Australia to interact with the communities of Bunbury, Mandurah, Hillarys, Jurien Bay, Dongara, Geraldton, and Denham, culminating with the official ceremony at Cape Inscription on Dirk Hartog Island, on October 25, 2016. www.dirkhartog2016.nl/news/activities/2016/august/30/duyfken

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Lenny Kuhr lets her feelings speak in her music She’s been in the trade for nearly half a century, but she isn’t even close to thinking about retiring: singer-songwriter, performing artist, poet and writer Lenny Kuhr. This is also evident from her agenda, because up to and including May 2017, the Brabantine, who in 1969 became famous in one fell swoop with the song De troubadour, is touring the Netherlands and Flanders with her theatre programme Gekust door de eeuwigheid (Kissed by eternity), inspired by her eponymous book. In this, she expresses, through reflections, songs and poems, the great significance that spirituality already for many years now has for her.

photo above: In Lenny’s current theatre programme, Gekust door de eeuwigheid (Kissed by eternity), of which a promotional photo is shown here, the great role that spirituality plays in her life is at the centre.

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words Ton van Rooij

Several artistic family members Born on 22 February 1950 in Eindhoven, Lenny Kuhr even as a child had a crystal-clear future mapped out for her: singer, that’s what she wanted to be!

Did musicality run in the family? “No, not at all,” says the artist. “But artistry did. My grandfather, William Kuhr, for instance, was a painter. He was highly skilled in making film posters, for these were painted in those days. That was very rugged work! Every week he made these posters, for all the cinemas in Eindhoven. And once a film made way for another, he painted over the old poster. He also made watercolours, but the most beautiful of all I thought were his more advertising-styled works. My uncle John Kuhr was a painter, too. Also, I have a cousin, Hans Kuhr, who in the years that he worked as

a photographer delivered work of a very high level. And my five years younger sister Ine is an actress. She has also sung, especially in musicals, but acting is really her passion and that’s what she therefore by far has done the most. Together we have sung a number of times for an audience.”

In 1967, Lenny won in her hometown the Cabaret der Onbekenden (Cabaret of the Strangers), with which earlier her fellow citizens Anneke Grönloh and Armand had been discovered, and experienced her television baptism of fire with an appearance in the VARA programme Nieuwe Liedjes (New Songs). A year later, she released her first single, Laat maar (Never mind), with lyrics by Armand, followed by De zigeunerjongen (The gypsy boy).

photo above: Lenny Kuhr at the age of 5; right: Lenny was 11 years young when she gave her very first performance.

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At age 19 winner of Eurovision Song Contest In 1969, she participated, on behalf of the Netherlands, in the Eurovision Song Contest, held in Madrid. With the song De troubadour, composed by herself and written by David Hartsema, she promptly gained the (shared) first place.

What was it like to win this prestigious festival? “Very special!” she replies with full fervour. “That gave me the feeling I was on a right track. I noticed very quickly that I always had to keep following my heart. I didn’t want to become a hit singer. When I happened to have a hit, I kind of liked it, sure, but thát was not what I did it for.”

In the ‘60s, singer Boudewijn de Groot had created a furore with Dutch chansons as Een meisje van zestien (A girl of sixteen) and Welterusten, meneer de president (Goodnight, mister president), which had made him a kind of modern troubadour. Had De Groot by any chance served as an inspiration for De troubadour? “No, I was more inspired by Ramses Shaffy,” she says. “I was not much of a fan of Boudewijn de Groot. That is: I did think it was beautiful what he did, but truly a warm feeling gave me Ramses Shaffy. His work touched my heart. This was due to the engagement, the lyricism that it had. For the same reason I loved Mahalia Jackson’s music like crazy. I also found it fantastic that out of pure

photos from top: A childhood photo of Lenny and her five years younger sister Ine; On 18 November 1962, when Lenny was 12, her cousin Hans made this picture of her; Already as a child, Lenny, here as a 13-year-old, aspired to a career in music

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Lenny at age 16 devotion, she once threw herself on the ground. I like people who sing with passion, who can lose themselves completely in their music. And Ramses Shaffy was the first Dutchman in whom I noticed this very strongly.

Furthermore, I thought his lyrics were of high quality.”

Has she ever sought collaboration with him? “Yes, but not until múch later. Ramses was living in a home for the elderly at that time because he could no longer take care of himself. But he did attend a few of my shows – which he absolutely lóved. What must be stressed here, though, is that until the very last moment he stayed true to his personal taste. That’s why it sometimes happened in that period that he visited a show [by someone else], stood up after some time and then said, with an elevated voice: ‘I don’t believe any of this!’ Haha! But like I said, my shows were among the ones he loved. He once said to me: ‘You have to warm the heart of Amsterdam!’ I then went to see him at the nursing home in Amsterdam where he was staying. He sat down at the piano and we started singing together. For nobody, just for us. That was súch a beautiful, treasured experience!”

Song contest changed considerably over 60 years Over the years, the Eurovision Song Contest has changed considerably. How does Lenny look at this?

“I think you can never stop a development, even if you don’t particularly like it. For example, I found it a great pity that the orchestra disappeared. I did understand it, for yes, there were at one point so many stages that they of course could not live up to the expectation to have the music sound good on every stage. So they then said to the artists: ‘Just sing but with a backing tape.’ I don’t think Lenny in 1994, when she was struggling with her voice loss

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Extremely successful in France In the years following the song contest, Lenny garnered a great deal of success in France. She worked there, among other things, in television and had several hits, including Jesus Christo, which ranked number 1 in 1972 and sold more than 100,000 copies. “I’ve also been on tour with singer and actor Georges Brassens,” says the chanteuse.

“Back then he was one of the biggest stars of France, trúly a man of the chanson. He was so untouchable, so great. When I watched him while he was working, his integrity appealed to me very much.”

About singing in French she says: “This came very easy to me. In other foreign languages ​​I’ve sung, too, such as occasionally in Spanish and English, but most of all I’ve sung in French.”

I then would have participated, because I don’t even want to think about singing with a music tape; that’s not what I call making music. And of course, nowadays commercial interests play an extremely important role in the song festival as well. It’s not even so much about who wins anymore, but more about the festival itsélf.”

In 2015, Australia took part in the song contest, too. The country was given this opportunity because the event celebrated its 60th anniversary that year ánd because it’s extremely popular Down Under, where it’s broadcast by SBS. Singer Guy Sebastian came in fifth at the time with Tonight Again. A year later, Australia was present once again, this time with Dami Im, a female singer of South Korean descent, whose song The Sound of Silence finished even higher: in second place.

How does Lenny feel about Australia being added to the field of entrants? “Australia is an interesting country, because it has a rich music culture. Many countries can’t hold a candle to that! The Netherlands this year sent Douwe Bob [whose Americana song Slowdown obtained the tenth place], but in Australia you have lóts of singers like that! We Dutchmen like to think such music is special, but in Australia, and also in America, you come across this kind of quality much more often than in the Netherlands.

I think what Douwe Bob is displaying is done beautifully and well, but is not authentic.”

High in Top 40 with Visite In May 1973, she became a victim of abuse at the railway station of Haarlem. A serious nose injury she suffered as a result of this was surgically treated at the VU Medisch Centrum (VU Medical Centre) in Amsterdam by ENT specialist Gideon Bialystock, whom she married in 1974.

She also got into Judaism – not so much because of the religious aspects as because of the spiritual aspects associated with it. They had two daughters: Sharon in 68

image previous page: In the period after the Eurovision Song Contest of 1969, Lenny was extremely successful in France and performed, among others, with one of the biggest stars of this country, Georges Brassens (shown in the top photo). below: Lenny with Herman Pieter de Boer, who has written many lyrics for her and was her life partner from 1981 to 1993.

the girl of the happy songs. And if something is often repeated, you get só identified with it that all the other beautiful things you’ve made are overshadowed by it.

‘Oh, that’s that songstress of Visite’, people then think.”

1975 and Daphna in 1980. Sharon has a son, Ozz (2004), and a daughter, Lihi (2005). Lenny’s third grandchild, Daphna’s son Eliah, was born on 29 October 2015. Her children have been living for many years in Israel, where she herself has resided for several years. By the end of the ‘70s, Lenny met lyricist and author Herman Pieter de Boer, with whom she started collaborating and who was her life partner from 1981 to 1993.

In 1980, she played herself heavily into the spotlight with the single Visite (Visit). This song, for which Herman Pieter de Boer had written the lyrics, peaked at number 2 in the Dutch Top 40. A vocal contribution on Visite was made by Les Poppys, a French boy group that in 1971 had scored a number 1 hit in Netherlands with Non, non, rien n’a changé.

“Earlier, I had performed frequently with Les Poppys in France,” Lenny mentions. “I had asked their conductor, Jean Amoureux, whom I knew well, if Les Poppys were willing to sing Visite together with me and he immediately said yes to that. He was greatly enamoured of the song. We recorded the vocals of Les Poppys in Paris. These children have been in the studio until around eleven o’clock at night, when they all started to yawn.

In the Netherlands we would not approve this, because the law on child labour prohibits it. But in France it was allowed.”

The gigantic success of Visite, however, also had a downside. “Because of this, I had gained the image of

In a dark place for a year due to voice loss In 1993, Lenny lost her voice and the ability to speak, which had a huge impact on her life.

Has it ever become clear what had caused her voice problems? “There is a name for it, but I didn’t know that at the time: spasmodic dysphonia. For a year, I was unable to talk and sing. When I tried to talk, I stammered, because I could not pronounce vowels at the beginning of a word anymore. In front of such words I then put an h. So I did not say ‘Amsterdam’ and ‘ik’ (‘I’), but ‘Hamsterdam’ and ‘hik’. And you then in fact can no longer speak, as a tremendous lot of words begin with a vowel. I was in deep sorrow because I thought I would never be able to sing again. That’s why I said goodbye to my voice after a while. After I had gone through that whole process of detachment, my voice came back a little. I thought: ‘You know what, I’m going to do it with this.’ And then I just started singing again. Gradually my voice improved, but only after six or seven years it was completely back to normal again. I am now at an age where I feel that I have the richness of the years, but also that I am no longer tied to singing. I used to think: ‘Who am I if I don’t sing?’ I don’t have that anymore. I now could easily let go of that.”

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image left: In September 2015, Lenny published her first book, Gekust door de eeuwigheid – Reis naar een ruimer bewustzijn (Kissed by eternity – Journey to a wider consciousness). (Photo: Milan Goldbach); right: Lenny, flanked by her band members Reinier Voet (guitarist, left) and Mischa Kool (bass guitarist).

New impetus to career thanks to husband Rob Frank In 2001, Lenny delivered Fadista, an album with Dutch fados.

At its presentation, she met Rob Frank, with whom she got married two years later. As it turned out, they were also able to make songs together. She cannot emphasise enough how valuable his input has been and still is. “Rob has really put me on the map. After my voice break I went through a rough patch for some time, because I had little work and did not have a good manager. When Rob became my manager, everything went well straight away. In addition, he wrote beautiful lyrics for me. We started making albums and he arranged gigs for me. He also cooked in the theatres where we played, which he still does. While we were sound checking, he was busy in the kitchen. And when we had finished the sound check, we always got served a delicious meal.”

More visible to general public through TV appearances On 5 January 2011, the singer was seen on television in the first episode of Ali B op volle toeren (Ali B at full speed). In this programme, presented by Ali B, a Dutch rapper of Moroccan descent, every time a Dutch artist who’s been around for quite some time and a rapper (other than Ali B) made their own version of a hit of the other. Lenny gave with Spijt (Regret) a personal twist to Mama Sorry by Keizer, a Dutch rapper born in Suriname. Keizer had suffused De troubadour with a rap sauce and climbed to the number 50 spot in the Single Top 100 with it.

How does she look back at her participation in Ali B op volle toeren? “I’m always open to new things and especially when, as in this case, it has to do with integration. Moreover, it offered the possibility to come to a sort of mutual influence.

I thought that was great: to make contact through music. I gave the Keizer’s number a fado-like feel and subsequently incorporated a funky rhythm into it. Keizer had been in prison, and when he was doing time for the third time, he had written a letter to his mother; this eventually became Sorry Mama.

That was a kind of excuse, like: ‘I’m sorry I did it.’ As a mother, I replied to his supplication. That song, Spijt, has struck a chord with a lot of people. When a person has regret, that’s something so beautiful! If you really deeply regret something, it means you realise that you’ve been só terribly wrong. And then the other fééls it. Only thén he or she can forgive you.”

She speaks highly of Ali B. “He is really someone who connects, who tries to bring people together. I truly find that a beautiful trait of his. In my opinion, he’s a quality person.” (Whereupon her husband Rob asks in the background: “Are you talking about me?“ – which makes her laugh.)

That same year, Lenny again made good cheer with the general public thanks to her appearance in the popular TV talk show De Wereld Draait Door (The World Keeps Turning). On this occasion, she sang a song taken from her album Fadista, entitled Triest in mij (Sad in me), the Dutch interpretation of the fado Canção do Mar (1955) by Amalia Rodrigues.

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Song Moederhart straight from the heart In the summer of 2014, Lenny had a conversation via FaceTime with her granddaughter Lihi in Israel, celebrating her birthday, when over there all in a sudden the sirens began to sound because of approaching missiles. As the nearest bomb shelter for Lihi and her other family members was located across the street and her mother just came out of the shower, they were forced to stay at home. Luckily everyone remained unharmed, but when Lenny saw her grandchild a little while later, she laughed no more and had, in his own words, grown ten years older in just five minutes.

What went through Lenny when she heard the air-raid alert go off? “It really had me shocked. When there are children involved who have to run for their lives, no matter where in the world, it always affects me deeply. That we, as humanity, have let it come this far and approve this!”

Due to this violent event, the singer-songwriter was blocked in her expression the whole summer. Because she felt she had

to do something with this on stage, she eventually wrote and composed the song Moederhart (Mother’s heart), which she subsequently released as a single. In this song, she calls upon all women of warring factions to unite in their deep desire for peace, unity and a world in which children are safe.

poetic inspirations, wisdoms... I almost didn’t need to sit down for it: it just flówed into me. At one point, I had written down só much that we started to think about a book. It has become a relatively thin book, because we only published a selection of what I had committed to paper.”

Gekust door de eeuwigheid is also the title of her current theatre show. But that’s not the only thing she’s busy with.

Because, she lets slip, “a new CD is coming. I hope it will come out at the beginning of next winter. This album will be a reflection of my theatre programme, so spirituality will run like a thread through it. I am glad a new album is underway, because I have lóts of wonderful new material. Many of the songs on the CD will be fado-like, also because my new guitarist, Reinier Voet, can play these very well.”

Strong bond with spirituality In September 2015, Lenny’s first book, published by DabarLuyten, appeared, Gekust door de eeuwigheid – Reis naar een ruimer bewustzijn (Kissed by eternity – Journey to a wider consciousness). This 120-page publication includes considerations, poems, song lyrics and meditations that are a reflection of the process of increased deepening which has manifested itself over the years in her repertoire and herself.

The big role that spirituality is playing in her life for decades now is at the centre of it.

“Spirituality is something very earthy for me,” she says. “It has to do with devotion, encapsulating everything in the whole picture, being empty of spirit and letting yourself be inspired.

When my voice broke, I went through a whole transformation process. In the spiritual process, you have a moment, as I call it, where the stone breaks. Then all forms in the human being break. For the human being is full of thoughts and ideas about how things should go, who you are, and so on. If that is breached, everything starts to flow. That happened to me.

After detaching my voice, I at first was completely empty, as a result of which an enormous silence befell me. That silence gave me totally new insights and inspiration. This has changed my life for the better and renewed me as a person. I now see things with a much fresher look. That is the inspiration I work from.”

The seeds of her book were laid about 20 years ago, when she experienced her spiritual breakthrough. “Then I began to write down all kinds of things in notebooks: contemplative thoughts,

Wide musical spectrum It should be clear: Lenny’s musical spectrum is pretty wide.

How would she describe herself as a musician? “I find that hard to say. The compositions are almost always made by myself and I always set the bar high for this. This does not mean I never make simple songs, but most of my songs do have a certain difficulty factor. This means: just when, say, it seems to become obligatory, I break the pattern and go in a different direction. You could say that I make a sort of fusion music, music that is a mix of different musical styles and metre signatures. This is also because in the field of music, we Dutchmen don’t really have a culture and that’s why I just follow my own taste. That’s based mostly on southern European and South American music, with fado and French music ranking first. Thése are primarily the genres I work in, much more than in pop music.”

Further information www.lennykuhr.com

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Lenny about the Dutch rapper Ali B, whose TV show Ali B op volle toeren (Ali B at full speed) she worked on in 2011: “He is really someone who connects, who tries to bring people together.�

(Photo: Stefan Bogers)