Meppel Nu

· 07 Oct 2020

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Willem Spans Musician/entertainer:

#entertainer 😍 VISITING: WILLEM SPANS ( #muzikant /entertainer)

Wednesday morning 8 May 2019 I have the privilege to visit Willem Spans: musician, entertainer.
I ring the bell and neatly, accompanied by his dog, Willem opens the door and invites me to start the conversation in the living room while enjoying a delicious hot cup of coffee:
Willem is a born and raised #Meppeler : born above the #muziekwinkel of his parents at Hoofdstraat/corner Keizersgracht. His father didn't just sell #vinyl , but also instruments such as drum kit, guitar and piano.
So Willem immediately came into contact with everything that had to do with music. It is therefore not surprising that he started playing pictures in his parents' shop on the free Sunday and was not shy to “play” on a drum kit and a piano The facilities were at hand.
After primary school, Willem went to the LDS (Lower Details School) in Hoogeveen and then to the MEAO in Zwolle, where he chose the commercial direction.
What he was going to do next is not so difficult to understand: into the music world.
Wilem took his first steps as a musician in a Gospel Choir as a drummer.
But Willem wanted more and his preference was in the early 70's more direction: Rock and Disco. He founded his first band: War Child. He had given the name of the band to the album of the British rock band Jethro Tull.
As the years passed, new currents emerged in the music and Willem did not escape that. In the early 80s he founded the band TheEnerds and played the then popular music style New Wave and Ska.
In the late 1980s, Willem “conjured” a new style of music, especially in order to be able to serve the audience something beautiful at weddings and parties. That's how the Combrios dance orchestra was created.
With some pride Wilem shows me a picture of the dance orchestra: Willem was wearing a mustache at the time.
In the early 90s there will be another new project: Captain Kinkelbaum & the Swinging Cannonbals: the band performed jazz rock by Jimi Hendrix and Michael Jackson.
Willem communicates with his audience and always tries to respond to this as best as possible. The audience is number one, the artist is number 2 says Willem.
Willem is a busy owner: he has his own booking office and arranges everything himself. In addition, he is also working on editing existing songs and writing and composing new songs himself. Soon Willem will be on the table with his self-released album in 1993: Meppel, Heerenveen and other world cities. On this CD (of which there are still some copies for sale) you will find the autobiographical track: Back to the Toren (a translation of Bruce Springsteen's song The River). Willem invites me to listen to the song in his “humble” studio at home.
Willem shows me the (Dutch) song TINUS that he wants to release on cd soon. It is a song that originated during a performance in Gemert and a conversation he had there in the beautiful Brabant “dialect” with a visitor of his performance.
I see Willem gloating: I ask you not enough of such a busy life: his answer is no Jan, I go to the Ziggo Dome 23 June 2019 and Mark Knopfler (ex Dire-Straighs) performs and I enjoy life as a musician/entertainer every day.
It is therefore not surprising that now Willem is working on no less than 4 projects:
WS - solo (80% of his time)
Jools with:Mireille Nieuwenhuizen (vocals) Jan van Dijk (guitar) and Boudewijn Koch (drums)
Je Motheruh with drummer Boudewijn Koch
Here comes The Orgelman: Willem especially for the elderly.
In addition, Willem performs on average once a year with the band: WS & The Mess, which mainly brings songs from De Dijk and The Scene.
Recently Willem was still on display in Meppel: King's Day 2019 on square De Wheem with Jools and at the spring fair of St. De Grote Trek played Willem Spans solo in the Woldstraat.
It was impossible to discuss all of Willem's projects: I think for example of his musical leadership at De Altiband and performance with Willem Hegen (Willem and Willem) during DMD-days, which were not discussed.
Are you interested to know more about Willem or to “book” him for a performance, you can do this via his website: http://www.willemspans.nl/contact/
The next performance of Willem is:...?
Another experience has become richer I say goodbye to Willem Spans, but not forever!

Here is a link to the song of Bruce Springsteen, which Willem Spans edited and sings as a retrospect of his early years: Back to the Tower: https://youtu.be/erng02A5RkY