Here is a special guest post from poet, knitter, gadabout: Señor Eddus.
Eddus curates a delightful new blog, entitled "Oh, Poetry!", about, well, poetry. Check it out!
Imagine it's the sixties and you have a new job in the National Post and Telephony Company. Also that you are Dutch. On your first lunch break you wander the halls, a little lost. But wait, there's singing coming from somewhere. You follow the sound of the female choir singing, as you get closer you hear the accompanying clumpy guitar and austere piano. You find them in an empty room, at practice. You have discovered The Postelfonia's.
They sing with the talent you'd expect from a hobbyist choir of Dutchwomen. They might be a little flat (individually and as a group) they might not quite remember which bit of the song comes next, or even how many times they're singing certain refrains, but gawd damn it, they had fun recording this.
There's such pleasure to be had from just singing, without the concern of rhythm or pitch. This is the pleasure these women are indulging in. The sound they make is not unpleasant, not at all. It's charming because of it's earnest amateurishness. Just listen to the faltering ending to "Puppet on a String", it's a terrible, but that's okay. They're a collection of well-meaning aunties, whose mistakes you can always forgive.
The whole album is a delight, but it's their medley of Mary Poppins songs that really cemented my love for The Postelfonias. It might just be because their Dutch accents are very distinct on this song, especially when trying to sound like chimney sweeps from London. The women go on to tackle "Congratulations", "Let the Sunshine In" and "Hava Naguila" with the reliability one expects from the postal service. Apart from a bit of clapping here and there, they play it very safe.
There's a lot of odd music on the internet. Most is unsettling, disturbing or confusing. But this odd music is reassuring, charming, homely. It's simplicity comforts me. I listen to this album and imagine a group of Dutch women having fun one lunchtime a week and it warms my heart.
Edward, of Oh, Poetry!, for The de Winter Family Album
