February 16, 2017

Computer searches for composer of Dutch national anthem

Filed under: History,Music by Orangemaster @ 10:22 pm

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According to Wikipedia the melody of the Dutch national anthem, the ‘Wilhelmus’ (‘the William’) was borrowed from a well known Roman Catholic French song titled “Autre chanson de la ville de Chartres assiégée par le prince de Condé” (YouTube song), which made fun of the failed Siege of Chartres in 1568 by the Huguenot Prince de Condé during the French Wars of Religion. The Dutch Protestants basically took over an anti-Protestant song, slowed it down like pros, and adapted it for their own Protestant agenda. And stealing songs back then was all very rap battle like and cool.

However, nobody knows for certain who wrote it, but now there’s a computer trying to figure it out by analysing a huge body of text. So far Petrus Datheen (1531-1588) is the frontrunner and while we’re at it, it has yet to be determined where, when and why the anthem was written. The oldest version of the anthem was written in German in 1573 and the oldest surviving Dutch version is 1576.

Here’s a lovely rendition of the modern-day Wilhelmus with subtitles. The explanation in the video’s comments lets you find out even more about other unanswered questions surrounding the Dutch national anthem.

(Link: nemokennislink, Photo by Quistnix, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 1.0)

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October 18, 2014

Ms ‘Hen the Rooster’ new chicken boss of the Netherlands

Filed under: Animals,Weird by Branko Collin @ 1:20 pm

chicken-branko-collinStarting next year Ms Hennie de Haan will become the new chairperson of the Poultry Farmers’ Union of the Netherlands, Telegraaf reports.

In itself this is not interesting news, but if you understand Dutch you’ll realise her name means ‘Hen the Rooster’. Never was there a poultry farmers’ union’s chairperson with a more fitting name, I imagine.

Ms De Haan told AD that she hadn’t even noticed the funny pairing at first: “Well, I’ve had this name for 45 years now. You don’t often stop to contemplate your own name. My partner had to point out [how remarkable this is]. […] Usually chicken farming is discussed in terms of the environment and the treatment of animals. If my name causes a smile […] I consider that a bonus.”

A popular go-to person for the Dutch press whenever a plane threatens to fall out of the sky is the former chairperson of the Association of Dutch Commercial Pilots, Benno Baksteen, whose last name means ‘brick’.

Every year popular radio DJs Coen & Sander collect the funniest names they can find and crown one of them the ‘shame name’ of the year. Two weeks ago that award went to Wil Helmes, which sounds like the title of the Dutch anthem, ‘Wilhelmus’. Number 2 was Ben Bouten, which means ‘off to poo’. Third place went to Leen Kleingeld, which means ‘borrow small change’.

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