Reframing Dutch Culture Between Otherness and Authenticity Edited by PETER JAN MARGRY and HERMAN ROODENBURG Royal Netherlands Academy ofArts and Sciences, The Netherlands ASHGATE © Peter Jan Margry and Herman Roodenburg 2007 All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Peter Jan Margry and Herman Roodenburg have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editors of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Gower House Suite 420 Croft Road 101 Cherry Street Aldershot Burlington, VT 05401-4405 Hampshire GUll 3HR USA England IAshgate website: http://www.ashgate.com I British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Reframing Dutch culture : between otherness and authenticity. - (Progress in European ethnology) 1. Group identity - Netherlands 2. National characteristics, Dutch 3. Netherlands - Social life and customs 4. Netherlands - Civilization 5. Netherlands­ Ethnic relations 1. Margry, P. J. (Peter Jan) II. Roodenburg, Herman 306'.09492 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Margry, P. J. (Peter Jan) Reframing Dutch culture: between otherness and authenticity / by Peter Jan Margry and Herman Roodenburg. p. cm. -- (Progress in European ethnology) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7546-4705-8 1. National characteristics, Dutch. 2. Minorities--Netherlands--History--20th century. 3. Netherlands--Ethnic relations. 4. Netherlands--Sociallife and customs--20th century. 1. Roodenburg, Herman. II. Title. DJ91.5.M372007 306.09492--dc22 2007009699 ISBN-13: 978075464705 8 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire. 224 Reframing Dutch Culture Sch1immgen-Ehmke, Katharina (1988), 'Bemerkungen zur Anpassungsflihigkeit Chapter 11 des Muttertages seit 1923', in Frauenalltag - Frauenforschung. Beitrage zur 2. Tagung der Kommission Frauenforschung in der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Volkskunde, Freiburg, 22.-25 Mai 1986. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 142-152. Singing in Dutch Dialects: Smidchens, Guntis (1999), Folk10rism revisited. Journal of Folklore Research, 36, 51-70. Language Choice in Music and the Schmied, Gerhard (1996), Schenken. Ober eine Form sozialen Handelns. Op1aden: Leske & Budrich. Dialect Renaissance Schmidt, Leigh Eric (1995), Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling ofAmerican Holidays. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Louis Peter Grijp Son~e, Mark and Marijke Snepvangers (1992), Ons Huis. 100 jaar buurtwerk in Amsterdam. Amsterdam: s.n. Taylor, Ch. (1991), The Ethics ofAuthenticity. Cambridge, Ma.: Harvard University Press. Turner, Victor (1982), Introduction, in Victor Turner (ed.), Celebration: Studies in The noise of motorbikes starting up blends seam1ess1y with the aggressive triplets of Festivity and Ritual. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. drums and electric guitars. After a few stirring ooohs and aahs, lead singer Bennie Van Asperen van der Ve1de, C.P. (1946), Jordaan-herinneringen. Ons Huis in de Jo1ink launches into broad Achterhoeks dialect: 'Oe-oe-oerend hard kwamen zie Jordaan. Bussum: Van Dishoeck. doar aan gescheurdl oe-oe-oerend hard want zie had'n van de motorcross geheurd' Van de Port, Mattijs (2004), Registers of incontestability. The quest for authenticity (At full speed they raced up on their bikes/ at full speed because they'd heard about in academia and beyond. Etnofoor 17, 7-22. the motocross). These are the opening lyrics to Jo1ink's ballad about Bertus and Van der Zeijden, Albert (2000), De voorgeschiedenis van het Nederlands Centrum Tinus, farmers' sons who, on their way home from the motocross where they'd had voor Volkscultuur. De ondersteuning van de volkscultuurbeoefening in Nederland 'a1derbastende gein' (a great time), crashed to their deaths on their Norton and BSA 1949-1992. Utrecht: Nederlands Centrum voor Vo1kscu1tuur. bikes. Jo1ink wrote the song in 1977, when such crude country sounds had never Van der Zeijden, Albert (2004), Volkscultuur van en voor een breed publiek Enkele before been heard in popular music. theoretische premissen en conceptuele uitgangspunten. Utrecht: Nederlands Oerend hard marked the breakthrough in the Netherlands that year for Jo1ink's Centrum voor Vo1kscu1tuur. band Normaa1 (Normal), with the help, it should be said, of some pretty remarkable Van Es, F. (1959), Moederdag enVaderdag in V1aams-Be1gie (een enquete). publicity. Shots for the video clip of Oerend hard were taken in spring of that year on Oostvlaamsche Zanten 34, 7-29. location in Hummelo, the village in the Achterhoek (a predominantly agrarian region Van Zuy1en, J.J.L. (ed.) ( 1925), Het boek der moeders. Samengesteld ter gelegenheid in the east of the Netherlands) where the band hails from. Some more shots then had van den Moedersdag op 20 Mei 1925. Amsterdam: Van Looy. to be taken at the NOS studio in Hilversum, home to the national broadcasting center. Venbrux, Eric, and Theo Meder (2004), Authenticiy as an analytic concept in The band came fully prepared. They had brought a hay blower to spread straw and fo1k10ristics, Etnofoor 17, 199-214. confetti around the studio. They had also consumed substantial quantities of beer, Vos, Jozef (1999), Democratisering van de schoonheid. Twee eeuwen scholing in de and that morning had visited a cattle market in the Achterhoek, a fact that was still kunsten. Nijmegen: SUN. evident in Hilversum from the smell. A dispute broke out with the assistant floor Vossen, Ad and Jan Ne1issen (1997), Women between motherhood and employment. manager, who had to sweep up the mess that Normaal made. Angry, she called the A historical overview from different perspectives, in Gerard Frinking and Tineke musicians 'peasants', whereupon Jolink called her a knakentemeier - Amsterdam Willemsen (eds), Dilemmas ofModern Family Life. Amsterdam: Thesis, 16--45. dialect for a whore who turns a trick for the meagre sum of a knaak (two and a Weyrather, Irmgard (1993), Muttertag und Mutterkreuz. Der Kult um die 'deutsche half guilders, these days about one euro). This incident was followed by a photo Mutter ~ im Nationalsozialismus. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer. session in the dressing room, where a mirror came to grief. When the band finally left the studio, they almost ran down a uniformed gatekeeper who had signalled them to stop. All in all, this was more than enough to make national headlines the 226 Reframing Dutch Culture Singing in Dutch Dialects 227 next day with reports of vandalism, assault and attempted manslaughter (Ruerink Using these two case studies, I will discuss several models that could explain the and Manschot 1990; Palm 2005).1 rise of dialect music. These are the dialect renaissance, the musical construction of Thus at the start oftheir career Normaal cultivated a wild image based around the place, and language choice in music. Finally, I enquire whether a relationship exists themes of countryside, alcohol, sex and violence. When their manager, Joost earlier, between the extent to which a dialect is still spoken in a province and the popularity was concerned that the shots of a live performance for their next hit, Alie, would of music in dialect in that province. be too tame, he distributed half litre bottles of beer and encouraged the audience to spray it about, thereby establishing a tradition. Since then, much of the beer at Normaal's performances - the band is still performing - is not consumed by the Case Study One: Normaal audience but disappears into the ground. Other fixed elements at gigs include the N ormaal was not the first band to make pop music in the Achterhoek. Like everywhere scattering of straw over the audience, and live mascots. The most popular mascot is else in the Western world, young people there in the 1960s had enthusiastically Hendrik Haverkamp, a human beanpole. A metalworker by day, he wanders about embraced Anglo-American music - first rock and roll, and later the Mersey beat. This in a smock and clogs during the performance, carrying a bucket of manure. When brought many changes to youth culture. Light music had always been the domain the band plays, the audience abandons itself to what they call hoken, a lively kind of of 'respectable' artists, but now anyone could make music. Bands sprang up like leaping about in a throng, chests bare, pushing and pulling, and engaging in vloerije mushrooms as countless young people got their hands on an electric guitar or a drum beuken - mass stamping on the wooden floor. In theory, this behaviour is confined to set. In Doetinchem for instance (a city in the Achterhoek), they included Leonor the male members of the audience, but from time to time bare breasts also make an Lead, Les Aimants, The Blue Stars, Bob Group 99, Buzzgroup Act, Ginhouse, The appearance. Especially in the early days, girls regularly stripped on stage, but things Golden Strings, Internos, The Jibs, Jungle Rhythms, The Summits, Walther and the have toned down somewhat over the years. These days the venues even have a hok­ Rattles, Les Clochards, The Jacks, Ad Fundum, Changed and Denver. The names of free zone for older members of the audience. all these bands speak volumes: there is not a single Dutch or Achterhoeks name. Old This brief description serves to introduce one of the most successful Dutch photos show jackets, white shirts and ties making way in the course of the 1960s for dialect groups, as a prelude to a discussion of the phenomenon of dialect music. T-shirts and denim, with hair becoming longer and longer. In Doetinchem in 1966 - I will confine myself to the Netherlands, a country where dialects are dying if we confine ourselves to this city for a moment - Beatclub Shabby was established; out. Particularly in the urbanised Randstad area - the ring of cities that includes there people could dance and listen to music. There were three local radio shops Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht - dialect is scarcely spoken any where young people could go to buy singles and LPs.