A Hilversum wish for success for singer S10 in the Eurovision Song Contest: carillonneur Wim Ruitenbeek played her hit ‘De Diepte’ this morning on the carillon of the Hilversum town hall tower. The Abbenkerk singer reached the final of the song festival yesterday and hopes to score high on Saturday.
“I think it’s a beautiful song,” says the city carillonneur of Hilversum, as he climbs the tower of Dudok’s Town Hall. “It has a clear melody, which quickly makes it suitable for the carillon. If you can whistle it along, it’s good,” he explains. When playing the carillon, the fringes of the song are omitted. “You are actually only left with the core of the song. Only then can you really see whether it is a good song.” And that is the case with De Diepte.
In addition to this year’s Dutch entry, Ruitenbeek also plays quite a few Eurovision classics, such as Ding-a-Dong by Teach-In, Arcade by Duncan Laurence, Slow Down by Douwe Bob and ‘n Bit by Teddy Scholten. “Song festival songs do lend themselves to the carillon. There is often a clear melody in it.”
The sounds of S10 resound above Hilversum. Text continues below the video.
Carillonneur Wim Ruitenbeek pays tribute to S10 on Hilversum’s town hall carillon – NH Nieuws
“My goal as a city carillonneur is that people look up when they hear me and get a smile on their face,” says Ruitenbeek. “It’s part of my job to play what’s going on.” He played the work of John Miles and Ennio Morricone when they passed away, and during the Gooise Rainbow Week he played YMCA, Faith and Dancing Queen.
renovation
What makes playing for Ruitenbeek extra fun is the completed renovation at the end of last year. “Now I really hear what I play myself, before that I mainly heard rattling.” The carillon got a good turn. The flails were repaired and the wiring and keyboard were replaced. The computer that can be used to play automatically also needed to be replaced.
However, the carillon still lacks one thing: the large bell with which it can play the low B-flat note. “It would come in handy when I play S10 again next time. Then I can really go into the depths,” says the carillonneur with a laugh. The new large clock will be hung at the end of this year.