Cornelis Vreeswijk
| Cornelis Vreeswijk | |
|---|---|
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Vreeswijk in 1973
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| Background information | |
| Born |
8 August 1937 IJmuiden, Noord-Holland Netherlands |
| Died | 12 November 1987 (aged 50) , Sweden |
| Genres |
Folk Protest Swedish folk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer, songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 1964–87 |
| Labels | Metronome, Philips, EMI, Universal, A Disc, Sir, Slager |
| Associated acts |
Fred Åkerström Ann-Louise Hanson Carl Michael Bellman Evert Taube |
| Website | www |
Cornelis Vreeswijk (
Swedish pronunciation , Dutch pronunciation ) (8 August 1937 – 12 November 1987) was a singer-songwriter, poet and actor born in IJmuiden in the Netherlands.
He emigrated to Sweden with his parents in 1949 at the age of twelve. He was educated as a social worker and hoped to become a journalist, but became increasingly involved in music, performing at events for students. His idiosyncratic humor and social engagement is still gaining him new fans. Cornelis Vreeswijk is often considered as one of the most influential and successful troubadours in Sweden. In 2010 a Swedish drama film, called Cornelis, was made about his life. It was directed by Amir Chamdin.
Cornelis Vreeswijk explained in one of his few interviews that he had taught himself to sing and play in the fifties by imitating his first idols Josh White and Lead Belly. His first album, Ballader och oförskämdheter (Ballads and rudenesses, 1964), was a hit which immediately gained him a large following among the emerging radical student generation. In this period he also played with Swedish jazz pianist Jan Johansson and his trio. His songs "Ångbåtsblues" ("Steam Boat Blues") and "Jubelvisa för Fiffiga Nanette" ("Joyful song for Clever Nanette") are classics from these recordings. His abrasive, frequently political lyrics and unconventional delivery were a deliberate break with what he was later to describe as a Swedish song tradition of pretty singing and harmless lyrics, "a hobby for the upper classes". Influenced by jazz and blues and especially by the singing style and social criticism of Georges Brassens, Vreeswijk "speak-sings" his "insults", and compels his listeners to pay close attention to the words.
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