Pierre Kartner, also known as Father Abraham (with the Smurfs), thinks that Sieneke Peeters failed so badly at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2010 because she performed there with a fake organ.
Sieneke stood on the Eurovision stage with the extremely sweet song Ik ben Verliefd (sha-la-lie). It was one of the last Dutch entries in the ‘old style’. It was only in 2013 that a quality improvement was made at the Eurovision team of the AvroTros with Anouk at the helm.
But how is it possible that almost no one in Europe voted for Sieneke? “The performance could have been better,” complains Pierre Kartner, the writer of her song, in the VARA Gids. “The organ should have been a real Amsterdam organ. With an organ grinder and then Sieneke in traditional costume, with a cart full of cheese on stage.” This way you show the old-fashioned Netherlands in full regalia, says Pierre. “Continue that line completely, because that is the Netherlands!”
Because a real organ was too heavy for the glass Eurovision stage, AvroTros decided to send a fake organ. As a result, you missed the authentic feeling, Pierre thinks. What other mistakes have been made? “They could also have put me at the piano; they all know me from the Smurfs. ‘The father’ used to sometimes appear on the cover of the VARA guide. Not this time.”
Pierre still believes in his song. In fact, he thinks it’s a shame that everything has changed so much because of Anouk. “I think it’s a shame that we are drifting further and further away from that atmosphere in terms of choice. People want to be entertained. Like a circus, it should be a party. Why not ‘Sha-la-lie’?”
euro-vision.blog 