“It is the most beautiful song about a village ever written,” says director Katjuscha Otto of museum De Wieger about the song Het Dorp. The writer of the song, Friso Wiegersma, would have turned one hundred years old on Tuesday. The museum, located in Friso’s birthplace, therefore treats visitors to a cake. “It’s a shame that the name Deurne is not mentioned anywhere in the well-known song.”
Perhaps not mentioning the place name Deurne is actually part of the success. Museum director Katjuscha Otto van De Wieger also realizes this. “Now everyone feels nostalgia when they hear words like: along my father’s garden path. This could be about any village.”
This Tuesday in Deurne, people will not only reflect on the hundred years that Friso would have lived, but also on the fact that it has been sixty years since he died. The Village wrote. The monumental building is just a few years older than Friso and was built in 1922 on behalf of his father Hendrik Wiegersma.
Father Hendrik was a well-known figure. In De Wieger he had his family home, his general practice and studio. Hendrik turned out to be an accomplished artist and writer. And a nice detail: he was not averse to a fight. The Brabant Historical Center knows the latter. He also knows that he had his first exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1928. As a general practitioner, he also managed to reduce child mortality in Deurne and the surrounding area.
Art and creativity were in Friso’s genes. He turned out to be a golden duo with his life partner, comedian Wim Sonneveld, who literally gave his song lyrics a stage. He also made sets and paintings. That work, together with that of his father, can be seen in De Wieger.
Museum director Otto always has the feeling that she feels the Wiegersma family when she enters the building. “There is so much history here that it is almost tangible.” Much of it is also tangible, such as paintings and drawings.
Yet the museum director experiences the greatest connection with the past in the garden. “The garden,” she emphasizes once again. “There you see the trees that Friso wrote about. They are still there. And here is the garden path.”
In this garden, the song lyrics automatically come to mind for visitors: En along my father’s garden path. I saw the tall trees. But that dreamy state is rudely interrupted when you realize that there are several garden paths in the garden. Which garden path are we talking about exactly?
As if the museum director can read minds. “There were also various garden paths at that time, but Friso probably thought ‘garden path’ sounded better than ‘garden paths’.
Fun facts about The Village by Friso Wiegersma
- The song has been sung by many famous artists. A small selection: Rob de Nijs, Frans Bauer, Guus Meeuwis, André van Duin and Karin Bloemen.
- Was in the Evergreen Top 1000 The Village fifteen years in the top 10. It is the only song that ever achieved that feat.
- Friso Wiegersma wrote the song under the pseudonym Hugo Verhage.
- The most famous line from the song is: ‘And along my father’s garden path‘.
