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Tante Leen

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Tante Leen, whose real name was Helena Kok-Polder, was a Dutch folk singer from Amsterdam. She was born in 1912, the fifteenth of sixteen children, and grew up in the Jordaan, in poverty. She worked as a cleaner and a shrimp peeler. She did not perform for the first time until she was forty-three. Customers at the café where she worked entered her for a talent contest run by the record company Bovema, which in 1955 was looking for the Best Voice of the Jordaan. She came second, behind Johnny Jordaan. After that she was known as the Nightingale of the Willemsstraat.

Music and breakthrough

Tante Leen often performed with Johnny Jordaan, with the accordionist Jan Schallig as accompanist. Many of the lyrics came from Jaap Valkhoff. Her biggest hit was Oh, Johnny, addressed to Jordaan. He answered with Tante Leen, Tante Leen, ik ga een liedje over je zingen. She dedicated her song Ook kleine kinderen worden groot to her son Freddie. In 1960 she opened a café on the Nieuwendijk with her second husband, where she sang every evening. In 1968 she was asked to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest, but she declined. In 1975 she stopped singing. She was a great fan of Ajax and made records such as Ajax Hup Hup Hup and Ajax is niet dood!, which was a duet with Jordaan. She died in 1992, and in 1994 she was given a statue.

Influence

Her music is the levenslied, the Dutch genre of sentimental popular song: simple melodies with accordion, and singing that stays close to ordinary life. Together with Jordaan she is regarded as the voice of the Amsterdam anthem of the 1950s and 1960s.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Oh, Johnny and notice how accordion and voice together carry a simple, singalong melody, full of Amsterdam feeling.

Discography

Studio albums

Mentioned in other articles

See also

Categories: ArtistsLevenslied and smartlap