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Theo Uden Masman
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Theo Uden Masman · Dirk Theodoor Uden Masman was born in 1901 in Cheribon in the Dutch East Indies and died in 1965 in The Hague. He was trained at the Nederlandsche Academie voor Muziek of Siegfried Blaauw in The Hague. In 1926 he founded the big band The Ramblers, a jazz and dance orchestra that continued until 1964. Masman remained the bandleader. His radio performances always ended with Farewell Blues and his announcement that the orchestra would be back.
Music and breakthrough
In the 1930s and 1940s The Ramblers were a popular radio big band and helped make jazz known in the Netherlands and Belgium. During the war the orchestra played for the broadcaster controlled by the Germans and at pro-German gatherings, which led after the liberation to a ban on performing. Masman was not allowed to lead the orchestra for a year. According to the Dutch source, the band received lighter punishments because members also helped Jewish former bandleaders who were in hiding. A song from 1941, Dag Schatteboutje, is heard in the 2016 film Riphagen.
Influence
Masman had a good feel for what the public wanted and in this way brought the orchestra to great popularity after the war, also with a programme of its own at the VARA. At the end of the 1950s interest declined, and the last broadcast was on 11 April 1964. He wrote dozens of songs, under his own name and above all as Dick Hansen, such as Zeeman, o zeeman from 1950 and 'k Heb maling aan geld from 1953.
Listening
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- After Hours: Session 1NL Reader
Mentioned in other articles
- Jazz in the Netherlands Genre
In 1926 Theo Uden Masman founded The Ramblers, the best-known Dutch dance orchestra of the pre-war years.