Leo Alkemade is a comedian, comedian, actor and now also a singer. De Tilburger is a creative jack-of-all-trades, known for the comedy TV program Sluipschiets and the game show I love Holland, but he identifies most with the cyclist. He tells and sings about it in the Omroep Brabant talk show KRAAK. “I’m actually a cyclist, but I missed a turn.”
“I am a big fan of the race”, Leo Alkemade begins by explaining that he is making a CD with songs about cycling. “The race and life have so many beautiful parallels. You have beautiful peaks with beautiful views, very deep valleys, you can break down, sit in a group, you can rather sit forward alone or hang on to the elastic. There are so many beautiful metaphors that you have in real life.”
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One of his favorites is the potato hunt† “Then you’re between the breakers and the peloton. Then you don’t really get anywhere, so you’re just a bit on your own. I think a lot of people actually don’t know that they’re in the potato hunt These kinds of terms are rife in cycling journalism, in which Alkemade recognizes great heroism.
The red lantern bearer is the one who closes the line in the peloton, the very last cyclist of the bunch. There Alkemade draws a parallel with the helpers in society, to be ready for others in these times. “Then you are talking about the foreman, the water bearer, the red lantern”, which is also the title of his new song. “Cycling is like life. I need that to be able to be creative. My knees are broken, but I was never that good at it either. Not at cycling, by the way.” But he likes to do it and it has inspired him to make a CD with cycling songs. Actually secretly about life itself.
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The fact that Alkemade can also sing was only known to the general public through his role as Petrus in The Passion last year. “I just wanted to make a record for a long time. I really enjoy singing and I think making music is perhaps even more fun than making other things. You can say a lot more with music.”
And Alkemade does many different things. There is even a feature film on the shelf, which he has written. It is – not surprisingly – a comedy: “It is about the death of my father, who died of cancer. Then you think it is a very heavy story, and it is, but there is also a lot of humor in it But you need drama to make comedy,” said Alkemade.
But first the CD. It will be presented in June and Alkemade made it together with guitarist René van Mierlo. In the fragment below you can hear the song De Rode Lantaarn, like the two in KRAAK. heard.
Watch and listen to the song Leo Alkemade sang in Kraak below:
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