Gerson Main
(Suriname, 1987) was a finalist in this year's TV programme The Best Singer-Songwriter in the Netherlands. Not only his outward style is original (the fur hat), but he also creates particularly original and quirky songs - such as the cheerful Deejay. He may not have won the TV competition, but his participation led to a big job: singing Benny Neyman's Ik Weet Niet Hoe (I Don't Know How) in a commercial. Main was born in Paramaribo but moved to the Netherlands as a baby. He has lived in Almere since age fifteen. He played guitar in various bands and took some music courses. Dutch is his language, he says with finality; he even believes you can even conquer the world with a Dutch song. If the music is strong enough, people feel it. He wrote his first set of lyrics, Dorst (Thirst), when he was recording an album with the singer Akwasi's band. He has always written: poems, sentences. "At school I perked up whenever I got a writing assignment. I did my very best and tried to come up with something beautiful. Not because I thought I would take it further one day, because that never crossed my mind. I just thought it was a cool thing to do," says the creator of playful songs with punchy texts that get into your head and make you laugh.
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Help, It's My Debut! Literary Brunch with CLEEFT
With: Abdelkader Benali, Bregje Hofstede, Ferdinand Lankamp, Gerson Main, Lize Spit, Peter Nijssen
An informal literary brunch in the cozy foyer of Theatre aan het Spui, at the heart of the festival. This event is a collaboration with CLEEFT, a community of fans of film, books, exhibitions, concerts, performances, and culinary events.
What happens to you when your first book is published? When suddenly it's in the shops, your name is in the paper and on TV, and radio and talk shows clamour to have you on as a guest? It's a great achievement, of course, but making your debut can also be difficult. Maybe there are reviews critical of your "baby." Or, worse, no one takes any notice of your book at all. This program features writers who are popular with CLEEFT's readers. Bregje Hofstede made her debut in 2014 with De hemel boven Parijs (The Sky Over Paris). Right after the event, Lize Spit will attend the launch of her first book, Het Smelt (It's Melting). Long-time publisher Peter Nijssen of De Arbeiderspers talks about how it used to be for rookies versus how it is today. He lays out the dos and don'ts for emerging writers. In the field of music, too, you can get swept up in a wave of publicity, as happened to Gerson Main, singer with the famous fur hat, who made the finals of the show Best Singer-songwriter of the Netherlands. This event is hosted by CLEEFT critic Ferdinand Lankamp and writer Abdelkader Benali, who had a dream debut in 1996 with Bruiloft aan zee (Wedding by the Sea).