Loving a city so much that only a serenade can put it into words. That must be roughly the feeling that singers Carlo Verkooijen (57) and Pim van Ginneken (65) have in Breda. They wrote a song about the city. A national anthem. An ode. A serenade. And it’s called, you guessed it, ‘Breda’.
When we arrive at Carlo’s house, his wife Nancy opens the door. The coffee is already simmering and the ashtray is still old-fashioned on the table. With a nice color on their cheeks, Carlo and Pim are sitting at the dining table waiting to perform their song for the recording of the video clip. His house is also a recording studio, with a spray tan booth in the garden.
“The song has actually been on the shelf for about thirty years,” Pim begins to say proudly about their song. “But we pulled it out of the mothballs.” The singer really enjoys writing songs, but the business part less so. But fortunately, Carlo knows what to do with that.
“Now we had the time and space for it,” Carlo continues. It was meant to be. He took over production together with his brother Tommy and so it happened. The text has been refined a bit, the music tape has been replayed and ‘Breda’ is ready.
“We took the plunge and asked the well-known residents of Breda.”
Why this song? “Have you ever been to Breda?” Pim asks triumphantly. If we have to believe him, the song wrote itself naturally. “Carlo did that very nicely with the phrase about the Spanjaardsgat, the Castle and the Grote Markt,” he says to his companion. “Well, then you have actually summarized very briefly how nice it is here.”
Carlo modestly accepts the compliments. He says that they also asked a few BB’ers for it, well-known Breda residents. Their photo appears in the video clip, namely. “We took the plunge and asked them, so they appear briefly,” says Carlo. Think of Hélène Hendriks, Klaas Dijkhoff, Corry Konings and mayor Depla. “We have even personally talked to the mayor about it. But to hear the song, he just has to wait for the release.”
One misunderstanding needs to be cleared up: it is not a carnival record. “At NAC then? Maybe. Would be nice,” the duo thinks out loud. But the main intention is to listen to it every day. And that is possible from this Friday. So people from Breda: get your feet off the floor.