Actor, singer and television presenter Joost Prinsen died on Monday. He was known for his beautiful and often controversial songs. Five highlights from his decades-long career, in chronological order:
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1THE STRATEMAKEROPSEES SHOW
In The Stratemakeropzeeshow (1972-1974), Joost Prinsen played Erik Engerd, a man with wild hair who tried to scare everyone. The anarchist sketch show had a major influence on the development of Dutch children’s television and on children’s emancipation. Led by Aart Staartjes, the program told young viewers that they could calmly undermine the authority of their parents, and that society should look more closely at children and their problems.
2DOG TURDS
Instrumental in that subversive atmosphere was scatological humor. The Posh Lady (Wieteke van Dorp) kept farting, and in the ‘Poop and Pees Menuet’ the cast sang: “Kakkedrolleschijtepoep hanepikkelullie poepjanknor”. The Telegraph said it was a shame: “VARA teaches youth foul language!” The highlight of this was the song ‘Dog Rolls’ by Harrie Bannink and Willem Wilmink: “Dogs, don’t poop on our football field./ It’s a problem for us./ If you have to shit with all your force/ do it at home in the frying pan.”
3FREKIE
He proved that Joost Prinssen could also touch deeply in ‘Frekie’, a song by Harry Bannink and Willem Wilmink about a child with Down syndrome who participates in street football. It was also intended to be emancipatory: it showed that people with an intellectual disability were not pitiful and could simply participate in society. Prinsen sang it in 1974 The Stratemakeropzeeshowand released it as a single in 1977: “Maybe you think Frekie is sad/ But he isn’t for me/ Because I never saw a boy/ Who could be as happy as he is.”
4PIELEMAN
JJ de Bom, formerly De Kindervriend (1979-1981) was the even better successor to The Stratemakeropzeeshow. Prinssen showed his soft side in this. He played a grouchy toy shopkeeper who answered letters from children in a disarmingly empathetic manner. Themes such as insecurity about budding breasts, a boy who wanted to join the ballet, and “I don’t dare buy sanitary towels” were discussed. He broke the taboo on masturbating with ‘Pieleman’ by Hans Dorrestein: “Pieleman, pieleman, enjoy it.”
5BEN ALI LIBI
Prinsen made a deep impression with his presentation of ‘Ben Ali Libi, magician’ (2003). Writer Willem Wilmink commemorates a Jewish magician who was murdered by the Nazis. This later led to a documentary about this Michel Velleman (1895-1943). During the last two stanzas, Prinsen himself burst into tears: “And whenever I see a shouter/with an alternative to democracy,/ I think: your paradise, how much room is there/ for Ben Ali Libi, the magician? //For Ben Ali Libi, the little schmuck,/ may he rest in peace, God rest his soul.”
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