Wednesday, January 12, 2011

A Viking Funeral for Kayak

We like to think of longtime commenter and fellow Hollywood habitué Chris Vosburg as WO'C's own "Dutch Treat" (okay, that's actually how we like to think of Maruschka Detmers, but only because we have an active imagination and a tendency to let the mind wander while brushing our teeth), but we do consider him our resident Keeper of Low Country Musicology, and as always, he does not disappoint (even though his news will undoubtedly come as a blow to fans of dike rock).

Here's Chris:

As you pointed out, Scott, it's my job to keep you up to date on the doings of obscure netherlands-based band Kayak, and thus it is with a heavy heart that I report the death of drummer Pim Koopman in November of 2009. Yeah, I know, it's more than a year ago, but like all Kayak fans I've been holding my breath to see if the band would move on.

Pim was half of the heart of Kayak (the other half being Ton Scherpenzeel, keyboards), and his songwriting was especially interesting to me because he wrote puzzles: Never satisfied with the simple structure of here's your key, these are your chords, Pim would always modulate into other keys, taking a song, musically speaking, into a seemingly inescapable corner, and then bring it back to the tonic key with a flourish, like a magician. Ohhhhhh, I'd always say.

Pim was a producer as well, and worked in a lot of other bands, and I don't know who to compare him with. He was a bit of  legend in the netherlands, anyway, and on November 23rd of last year, the friends and bandmates of Pim, Kayak included, got together at the Paradiso in Amsterdam for a tribute concert. It isn't that big a house, and of course videos have been trickling out on youtube.

So, here's Starlight Dancer. Isn't Cindy Oudshorn something? I like to think of her as the dutch Annie Lennox.

Also, the lot wishes Pim off to Avalon from the "Merlin album" in front of an enormous pic of Pim (and his cat!). Cindy loses it and plants one on Edward Reekers, lucky Edward. Oh God I have something in my eye.



Rust in vrede, Pim.

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