For Hans Dulfer, the saxophone was the way to attract attention

The fact that Hans Dulfer became a musician is pure coincidence. “I wasn’t really into music,” he says. “I loved sports, playing football and baseball.”

But how did you become captivated by the music?

“My sister was asked to attend a performance by a famous saxophonist. My mother thought it would be better if I went along, as a kind of chaperone. When I entered, I saw a lot of people on stage, all happily doing things. They were mainly men with all kinds of beautiful women around them. And everyone looked at the saxophonist. He got the most attention from the ladies, he drank the most beer and people clapped the loudest for him. Then I thought: I want to be that too. That’s how I started playing the saxophone.”

And what did your parents say about that?

“They said: have you gone crazy? Go ahead and study. Become a lawyer or a doctor, that’s what your parents always said at the time. But I still wanted to become a saxophonist, because what I had seen was the best thing you can have in life. ”

“At one point my mother said: if you try a little harder at school and make sure you pass, we will give you a saxophone. I did my best, of course, and got a new saxophone. .But I still left school.”

“Saxophone was also the instrument. If I had been born ten years later, I would have played guitar. Ten years later, I would have played keyboard. And if I had been born again ten years later, I would have become a DJ. It’s just the instruments with which you attract attention. And attracting attention, that was very important at that time, when you talk about the fifties.”

Have you been very lucky?

“You can say that, but my wife always says: ‘That’s not true at all, you worked very hard for it.’ Actually, that is true. I made decisions that other people did not make. How I became famous is a beautiful story. Nobody believed it. Everyone wanted to go to Japan, everyone wanted to become famous there.”

“I had a small hit in Japan, because a song of mine was used for the leader of the series A, the Italian league, which they also broadcast in Japan. Then I got a call from a man who said: I own a major record brand in Japan. We also have a radio and a TV station. If you sign with me, you get black and white that I will play your new CD every day on our radio and once a week on our TV channel. We have a reach of between one and a half and two million people in Tokyo alone.”

“And then he said: if you don’t sign, I will also give you black and white that I will only play your CD on the radio once a year and never on TV at all.

And you didn’t think: he’s talking nonsense?

That’s what I thought…(laugh).

“He also said: if you come to Japan, we will arrange about eight performances for you. We will ensure that you are in the top 50 after the first performance. At your next performance you will be in 35th place. If you Once you have done all those performances, you will notice that when you leave you are number 1 in the Japanese top 50.”

“Then you think you’re dealing with a fool, but it all worked out.”

What does that success mean to you?

I loved success and I still love it. There’s nothing more fun when I’m playing somewhere and people start dancing and clap their hands for a solo. That’s what you play for. It may sound strange, but that is simply the best thing about life.

And if you can’t play, you get grumpy?

Yes, then I get grumpy until…(laugh)

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