Last year she crushed everything and everyone in the final of the Elderly Song Contest with her rendition of the soul classic When a man loves a woman. To her own surprise, Pearl Bakermans (64) won both the jury and audience prizes. The Eindhoven native will be in the final again on Sunday. Despite the previous win, she is nervous. “Every time I have to perform, you can pick me up.”
“Give me a bowl, I’m that nervous. Even before this interview.” At home in her colorful living room in Philipsdorp, right next to the PSV stadium, Pearl is preparing for the final of the Elderly Song Contest on Sunday in Purmerend, together with her equally musical daughter Joey-Jazz (24).
That they won last year came as a total surprise. “When I heard that I had also won the jury prize, I thought: hey, I already have a prize, right?”
She didn’t even plan to participate at first. Until she heard that Kees van Zandwijk was the musical director of the festival. “Kees and I went to music school together in Geldrop when we were five. It was the last time he participated after 22 times, so it was fun making music together.”
“I don’t know if I could have sang this song when I was sixteen.”
This year too, participation in the Eurovision Song Contest was not a given. “It wasn’t actually the intention, but it is a very nice community.” It is not the case that after winning you can never participate again. Some participants participate for years. The oldest participant is 86.
According to Bakermans, it is not about the competition element at all, but about the experience of being on the podium. In the final, the singers are accompanied by an eight-piece band. “Singing is an elixir of life, it makes me happy.”
After the firm When a man loves a woman from last year, this year she chooses with Both sides now by Joni Mitchell for a much more subdued song. “It’s about life’s doubts, fears and loves.”
When she heard Seal’s arrangement, Pearl immediately knew that she wanted to perform this song. “I don’t know if I could have sang when I was sixteen, but I now have the necessary life experience.”
The final of the Elderly Song Contest is on Sunday February 1 in Theater De Purmaryn in Purmerend. Pearl Bakermans is one of the seventeen finalists.
