Beneluxury

Brummel's Luxor. Nice felt on this one, unfortunally the yellow protection liner is missing, but overall in mint condition. My guess late 50's, early 60's. It's a bit snug, so i have to stretch it a bit. But that would work.

Here’s something different for you. A bit of Dutch music history and some hats to be found too. Let’s start with this fellow.




Jan Akkerman was born in Amsterdam but has been living in Volendam (where I live) after marrying a local girl. Lives about a mile away from me. Performs now and again in a local pub but has moved towards jazz some time ago. He was however chosen in 1973 as best guitar player in the world by Melody Maker, leaving Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page behind him. Not much of a hatwearer is Jan, but he can be seen on the odd occasion with a hat.

He was at the time still member of Focus, along with this fellow.


Thijs van Leer, also from Amsterdam. Flutist, keyboard player and vocalist. They made a name for themselves in the US with an epic performance on the Midnight Special of their composition Hocus Pocus in 1973, cramming this 7 minute song into a 5 minute timeslot and hitting it out of the park and into the next state. Note presenter Gladys Knight here. Enjoy.


Van Leer was much more a hatwearer than Jan Akkerman was. The two didn’t get along very well and Van Leer was often referred to by Akkerman as “that yodler”. Van Leer’s musical abilities were considerable and it was because of this he was asked to help out on the following occasion.

There is a song which was composed by two other greats of Dutch musical history. Boudewijn de Groot, seen here.



Rarely wears a hat, likely because he was (and is) proud of his hair. If you ever want to experience the best diction and pronunciation of the Dutch language (best sit down and it will probably pass) De Groot is the one to go to. Second to none. Superb songs as well.

And Lennart Nijgh, lyricist. Never wore a hat, likely because it would fall off as he downed another drink. Best lyricist in the Dutch language ever bar none.



The two of them together here.



And later in life.


This is just the intro. More in the second post.

steur said:

Thijs van Leer, also from Amsterdam. Flutist, keyboard player and vocalist. They made a name for themselves in the US with an epic performance on the Midnight Special of their composition Hocus Pocus in 1973, cramming this 7 minute song into a 5 minute timeslot and hitting it out of the park and into the next state. Note presenter Gladys Knight here. Enjoy.


Van Leer was much more a hatwearer than Jan Akkerman was. The two didn’t get along very well and Van Leer was often referred to by Akkerman as “that yodler”. Van Leer’s musical abilities were considerable and it was because of this he was asked to help out on the following occasion.

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Funny story, one of my employees, a musician himself, still plays this around the office. He was obsessed with "Hocus Pocus" by Focus. He was also born about 25 years after this performance.

Part II

The two of them wrote this song as a sort of dialogue for this guy and girl (bear with me here).

Ramses Shaffy. Born in France in Neuilly-sur-Seine, as son of the Egyptian consul Ramsès Shaffy Bey and the Polish countess Alexandra de Wysocka of Russian decent ("comtesse Romanov"). As a musician, singer and painter he was the darling of progressive and artistic Amsterdam of the sixties and seventies. He lived the lifestyle to the fullest with women, but mostly men. He did wear hats.




One of his hats. This one a Hückel.



Liesbeth List, born Elisabeth Driessen in Bandoeng, Indonesia. Mostly known as the musical counterpart of Shaffy and they often performed together. She had a recognizable hairstyle and never wore hats of any sort.



Their biggest hit was the song De Groot and Nijgh composed for them, called “Pastorale”. You can find it here, both the original clip and one with English subtitles.


and with subtitles


It is a great song and a devilishly clever send-up of Shaffy at the same time. He is portrayed as the arrogant sun around which everything revolves and she as the girl who is in love with him.

We’re getting there; a little more patience. The final part of the song is her singing how much she loves him, but there was a problem during the recording. List couldn’t reach it. What to do? As luck would have it, Thijs van Leer was there and he had a vocal range of three octaves. So the last lines of the song were actually sung by Van Leer and not by List.



There, all of the players neatly connected and a fun little musical tidbit to boot.

jeffgarf said:

Funny story, one of my employees, a musician himself, still plays this around the office. He was obsessed with "Hocus Pocus" by Focus. He was also born about 25 years after this performance.

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The number of people reacting to this performance on Youtube is staggering. To be fair, it is something to behold.

steur said:

Hocus Pocus in 1973

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I’ve had that album (“Moving Waves” in the US) since I was 13. Great “hat” story Stefan!