“A true artist. And a fantastic person.” Music producer Ad Kramer from Drunen is lyrical about André van Duin. The folk comedian, who is now also a furore as a TV presenter, is celebrating his 75th birthday this Sunday. Ad worked with Van Duin for years and that led to several big hits.
In 1976 Ad and André got to know each other for the first time. “At that time, the record company CNR asked if I would like to produce something with Van Duin. Fine, I said. Then we got acquainted. “Then we recorded a first single, with the title: ‘I am invisible André’.” , That ended up in sixth place in the charts,” said Ad on Sunday in the radio program ‘Weekend’ on Omroep Brabant.
‘tatata’
In total, Ad and André have worked together for about five or six years. Several big hits came from that. Sometimes unexpectedly. “Every year there had to be a carnival place in the period January-February. So I called Dré. He had nothing at that time. Come by, he said. He still lived in a windmill in North Holland at the time. walked around there in his socks, like some kind of penguin and sang ‘tatata’.”
That didn’t make Ad very warm. “We can’t come up with that Dré, I said. But he had nothing more than this. When the tea was finished, I left again and I called the director and showed what André’s idea was. You can’t be serious , said the director. But I told him there was nothing else.”
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‘Something thick for each other’
The song was then arranged and recorded in the studio. “When we had sung it, I said: ‘Dré, it’s really nothing, isn’t it? No, she he. We still have to do something about that. Then we made up all kinds of things. An announcement, other voices … this has become a ‘Dikvoormekaar-like thing’. We added this to it and then Joop van den Ende ordered suits for the TV. Penguin suits. When it came on TV and penguin polonaise was run, it went completely wrong!”
And it didn’t stop there. Ad’s collaboration with André led to several hits. Some even became true classics such as ‘I have very large cauliflower’ and ‘There is a horse in the hallway’.
‘I don’t care about sports’
In 1980 Ad received a special request from the record company. He had signed a contract with the Dutch national team. “We have Orange under contract, we have to record a record with André”, Ad was told. “I then called André. “Dré, we have the Dutch national team under contract. Now we have to make a football record.”
But the artist doesn’t care about sports. “I don’t buy anything for that,” Ad told him. “We sat together and that’s how the song ‘Nederland die has de bal’ came from. It ended up in second place in the charts!”
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Breed entertainer
Van Duin is a true entertainer, Ad agrees. “He’s got a smile on his ass, that’s true,” he nods. “Dré is a real artist. Very creative!” But according to Ad, André is very different in ordinary life. “That will surprise you, but it really is. When you work with André, he is very calm. We got along very well. He is a fantastic person.”