How can I explain the mystery that is Andre Hazes? Let me begin with my first introduction to the enigmatic Dutch folk singer. Just down the street from the apartment, along the Albert Cuypstraat market is a statue of a man holding a microphone and singing. The statue gets a lot of attention. Every day, people leave flowers at the statues feet and there is almost always someone hanging around, taking photographs of the status.
Taking note of the name inscribed on the statue, I tried to find information about this person. I found the singer's web site fairly easily, but it was of course in Dutch and completely undecipherable to me.
A little more googling revealed an article in broken English reporting on the unveiling of the statue. Apparently Andre Hazes was a local from the De Pijp neighborhood and at an early age had sung in the Albert Cuyp market, so the placement of the statue was significant. The statue was unveiled just a few weeks ago to commerate the one year anniversary of the singer's death. His funeral was held in a 50,000 seat arena packed with fans and broadcast live on national television.
This was enough local history for me to decide to pick up a CD if I ever ran across one. A few days later in Alkmaar I found a 2 CD compilation of Andre Hazes' greatest hits. After listening to a few of the songs, I can't say that I'm a fan of the music. But this will definitely be a memorable addition to my music collection.
