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Sylvester Hoogmoed, host and producer of chanson programmes.
“I am a host and composer of the weekly chanson programme on Saturday night. Additionally, I hosted other programmes up till a few years ago. Hopefully, I will have enough spare time in the future to that again.”
Poetic Lyrics
“Firstly, it goes without saying that I listen to a lot of music. New CDs, but also
older ones, when I will be featuring a theme or musician in a programme. I also
try to keep myself up-to-date by reading newspapers and blogs to know what is happening in the world of French Chanson. Due to lack of time, I mostly confine myself to France, with an occasional diverge to the Netherlands, Spain, Germany and Italy. Piles of new CDs with beautiful poetic lyrics to elegant music is still
being released in France every year. That is undoubtedly linked to the language and the literary tradition in that country. I do not pay attention to Anglo-Saxon singer-song-writers, I think that it is a different genre. Without a question, there are many English-speaking artists who would fit perfectly in my programme. However, plenty of English-spoken music is being broadcasted at other Dutch
radio stations.” 
International allure
“The Concertzender is a unique radio station, where I can regu-
larly listen to beautiful classical music and jazz that I haven’t heard of, or not in a long time, with sensible but yet brief illumination. Somewhere in the nineties, when I was zapping
on the cable television, I found this station, got quite attached to it and never left again. Undoubtedly, there are many other interesting radio stations to be found on the Internet – which is often claimed – but honestly, I have never found one.”
Palace of Nostalgia
“When Sjaak Roodenburg played an EP of Ramses Shaffy, I mailed him to ask how he had acquired this EP. We kept in touch, and after some time, I made a series about Shaffy as part of his pro-
gramme ‘Palace of Nostalgia’.
At the studio, I got engaged in
a conversation with Roel Kluver, who made chanson programmes for the Concertzender at that time. And one led to anoter.”
Biography
“Originally, I am a political scientist. As a freelance journalist, I have published articles here and there in the past years, not only about politics, but also about French chanson. Late 2011, my biography about Ramses Shaffy was published
by Publisher Prometheus.”
“I enjoy cycling, preferably in France of course. During a long and hot summer holiday once, I cycled from the Netherlands to the Mediterranean Sea and back. That is how you really come to know a country. It was not boring for a moment. People in the Netherlands complain about the French people sometimes, that
they are so arrogant. But they are not that bad, especially if you are willing to
try to speak their language a little bit.”
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