De Roodneuzen First American Appearance

Since it's inception in 1981, the city of Middletown has been blessed with an international cultural event called MiddFest. The only festival of it's kind in cooperation with other international embassies, this event annually hosts a foreign country during the first weekend of October. After twenty six years and much personal partiality, MiddFest finally hosted the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Dutch Queen Beatrix even sent a Dutch representative to greet us. Being a Dutch American (Black Dutch), I knew I was going to take in the entire event. I actually followed Dutch guests around because I love how they talk! Love it! Love it! Love it! I have never met foreign guests who were eager to teach their culture, show hospitality and just be down to earth as I did our Dutch guests. Unlike past Middfest guests, our Dutch friends blended in and had as much fun as American festival goers. However, our next surprise were De Roodneuzen (Red Noses). Hailing from Utrecht as Utrecht's Feestorkest, they stole the show without realizing it!!!


On Friday evening when these big tall men took the stage for the first time with their brass instruments and percussion, I thought they will just be another big band. These guys are tall! At first, I was guilty of not being fair of taking them seriously. Why? Musicians at past MiddFests have not always been all too impressive to me. As I watched them play in 90 degree temperatures, they did well. Here I am with all of my digital cameras needing service and I did not care. It was just hot and I wanted to go inside the city building and ask all of my questions of our other Dutch guests.


I got into an elevator with some of these really tall Dutch musicians. My how I loved to hear them talk! They sound like they sing. I then went to a makeshift Dutch gift shop up on the fourth floor. I met two lovely Dutch ladies who were glad to answer questions. Though their names escape me, I will never forget these ladies. It is at this time I met De Roodneuzen manager, Patrick Nieuwendijk. Very friendly, the first thing Patrick said to me was "You know, Dutch men are considered the tallest men in the world". I stated that I agreed as De Roodneuzen were proof of that and this fact was also reported on US national news this year. Nonetheless, I found Patrick to be witty and down to earth to say the least.


The next night, my best friend and I attended. Patrick strolled by whereas I stopped him and asked him to tell my friend who are the tallest men in the world. He towered us and looked at my friend and smiled and said Dutch men are the tallest. My, what a great sense of humor.

Ok. I am being very partial to this festival because of my far removed Dutch heritage. However, I have to say the real true highlight of the festival was De Roodneuzen. For their first American appearance, these guys got better and better with their performances despite the intense heat. Each performance was fresh, energetic and fun and they made it this way. I really enjoyed the percussion as this has always been my favorite in big bands. However, I thought Ron van Zanten's trumpet playing stood out as very distinct. I don't know why his music stood out but it reached my ears. Clearly these big Dutch men loved what they were doing and because of this they made us love what they were doing. Most musicians tire out and start to treat their performances as a routine. Not so with De Roodneuzen. In past MiddFests, I have seen guests treat their visits as simply routine and they are ready to go home. Not so with De Roodneuzen. When these guys were entertaining us, they would mingle with the crowd and have fun. I think they revived our MiddFest!

Finally, on the last day of the festival, Patrick and I posed for a photo. He is so tall in that picture. Before that last performance, I sat with him and some of the the band. He asked me if I got a copy of their cd, "Net FF Anders". Guiltily, I said no. Patrick graciously handed me a copy of which I am am still enjoying immensely (I love the Mooie meid medley). His band mate, Marco was a lot of fun too.

Finally, their Sunday night finale was awesome! I would have thought after doing all of their performances in the heat and humidity would have got to them at that point. No! They performed like it was their first concert. At some point I felt like I was in a Mardi Gras. I mean they had people dancing and jumping up on that stage like their was no tomorrow. Some band members would stop, take their own digital cameras and take pictures or hand their cameras to audience members to take pictures. At no time did De Roodneuzen ever let the audience down. It was hard for me to believe this was their first time in the United States. I got a kick out of the reaction of co-chair, Judge Mark Wall. He was surprised and did not know what was coming. Sad to see all of it come to an end. I think they were sad to bring the festival to an end. Now a week later and temperatures ranging a 40-50 degree difference, I think De Roodneuzen took the heat with them.

For those who chose not to attend this year's Middfest, you missed out on great music and great people. I myself, learned a great deal, heard great music and most of all, made great new friendships. As for De Roodneuzen, We love you guys and want you to come back!!!



For further interest, De Roodneuzen does have a website at www.roodneuzen.nl. I encourage you to check it out. They would love to hear from you.

Until the next dive-bomb my darlins, MEOW! Ik houw mein katjes!!!!!!!

NOTE: Photo courtesy of Patrick Nieuwendijk. Used by permission.