Sunday, May 12, 2019

Eduard Jacobs, Cabaret Performer and great great grand uncle

Ezekiel (Eduard) Jacobs (Amsterdam, 2 April 1868 - there, 6 December 1914) is regarded as the first Dutch comedian . 
Birth registry

On This Day site

Discography

Moulin Rouge portrait

He was originally a musical diamond worker of Jewish descent. At the age of 22 he left for Paris where he earned his living as a pianist. He came into contact with the vaudeville and the cabaret , in particular in the famous Moulin Rouge, where after 1890 he also acted as accompanist (piano) for some time. 

After his return to the Netherlands in 1894, he worked for some time for the Gebroeders van Lier as a contact person for French artists. From August 19, 1895 to 1903 , he performed at the meager nightclub "Het Wapen van Habsburg" in the Quelinestraat no. 64 in Amsterdam, as a pianist / singer of realistic songs. He thereby imitated the way Aristide Bruant performed . 

His repertoire consisted mainly of translated chansons. A characteristic of Jacobs was that he played the piano while standing and sang his songs. One should generally consider the cabaret of that time, which was neither almost completely unknown in the Netherlands at the time, as more than a chat with a song in between the major performances / shows. However, Jacobs did this with the necessary satire and ridicule and also responded to current events, for example in the song "Letter from the last Amsterdam tramp horse". Jacobs preferred to sing about the woe of the (Chinese) prostitutes on the Zeedijk and the Oudezijds Voor- and Achterburgwal in Amsterdam ("Limonadehoertjes"). Because the audience increasingly appreciated these texts, which were quite straightforward before that time, Jacobs became quite successful. He composed a large number of songs, of which recordings were put on gramophone record and was therefore one of the first Dutch-language comedians to be recorded on record alongside Koos Speenhoff. 

Jacobs's initiative to bring critical cabaret to the Netherlands was increasingly opposed by the government and in later years he focused more on popular entertainment. He was also in poor health and a tour through the Dutch East Indies in 1912 wrecked him physically. He died in 1914 at the age of 46. 

Jacobs's oeuvre has lived on in the Jordaan cabaret for a while. Among others Mimi Kok ("Op de Ruysdaelkade"), Aunt Leen ("Die good old mother") and Willy and Willeke Alberti ("Love only") had songs from him in their repertoire. 
Via https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Jacobs_(cabaretier) and google translate 
Hear him https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II8xKyAKw2Y 
Discography https://www.discogs.com/artist/1195435-Eduard-Jacobs?filter_anv=1&anv=E.+Jacobs

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