King depicted as Eurovision singer Joost Klein on facade of famed Amsterdam café
Amsterdam café De Blaffende Vis unveiled its massive three-storey facade decoration for King’s Day on Friday. This year, King Willem-Alexander is depicted in the same blue suit that singer Joost Klein wears in the music video for his Eurovision Song Contest entry, Europapa.
Queen Máxima is also on the facade, in a tracksuit often worn by “gabbers,” musicians who perform in the gabber style of electronic music, including Klein. The tracksuits are often bought from the brand, Australian, but Máxima’s is branded “Argentinian.”
This year, the text under the Royal Couple says, “Eurovissie,” playing off the cafe’s name and Eurovisie, the Dutch name for the music competition. Below that, it plays off the name of the baking show, Heel Holland Bakt, and instead states “Heel Holland Hakt,” jokingly implying that everyone in Holland dances the hakken style associated with gabber music.
“It’s of course about Joost Klein and his Eurovision Song Contest song, Europapa,” said Jort Vos, owner of the pub, in an interview with Parool. “But we tried to give it a funny twist, that’s why we decided to portray Willem-Alexander as Joost Klein. With the facade, we want to convey the gabber theme from our Eurovision song.”
De Blaffende Vis is known for its comical annual parodies on King’s Day, and Queen’s Day before that. For decades, the café in the Jordaan neighborhood has put up the fun facade decoration. Last year an image of Princess Amalia on a bicycle was shown, accompanied by a small portrait of Ramses Shaffy and the lyrics, “Laat me.”
