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October 19th 2016 - Meeting Rafi, Nana and Tanya

Tanya, who writes the biography of Nadieh had an inspiring evening and a lovely dinner with Nadieh's children Rafi and Nana in the city of Den Bosch. Nana's home is only a hundred metres away from the café where Tanya met Nana and her father Zia for the very first time, in March 2006. More then 10 years ago. There are some lovely ideas about new projects. We will keep you posted!

 

October 10th 2016 - Buying Nadieh's music

A lot of people ask where they can still buy CD's, LP's and singles of Nadieh. Haye, who has put a lot of work in this website and posted most Nadieh video's on YouTube, lets you know where you can still buy Nadieh's music. He himself searched for years and years in the whole wide world, even on Chinese and Japanese websites, to get his own collection complete. You can see his collector's items also on this page. It's a pitty that Fonos and Gemm don't exist anymore, Haye says. But if you would like to find work op Nadieh, look here:

http://www.variaworld.nl/alles/m_ge=[j;m]&zoek=Nadieh&startpagina=1

http://www.musiccollections.nl/index.php?route=product%2Fsearch&search=Nadieh

http://www.marktplaats.nl

http://www.2dehands.be

http://www.ebay.com

 

The Joan Baez concert - october 20th 2009
This night Nadieh's teen idol Joan Baez gave a concert in Carré, Amsterdam. Of course I wanted to go and see the woman Nadieh admired and impersonated so much in her young years. As a teenage girl Nadieh used to perform Donna, Donna, Plaisir d'Amour and Geordie A LOT.

Also, this night I had the not so modest wish that Nadieh would give me a sign from heaven if I went to this concert where Nadieh herself would probably also have been if she had still been living. Well, I did get the sign I wished for! In the restaurant around the corner of Carré, we (I was actually going with Bart but he couldn't come at the last moment, so I went with Haye who is the biggest help with my research for the Nadieh biography) hurried for a meal. We had to be in the concerthall at 8 PM and it was almost 7:30 PM.) Another couple also hurried inside before going to the concert and sat at the table right next to us. Here all of a sudden I sat next to a teen idol of mine! A famous Dutch singer who knew Nadieh personally!! From the Wisseloord Studio and a lot of tv programmes they were in together in the eighties! Frank Boeijen! Unbelievable! We had a nice conversation about Nadieh. Frank said he knew her as a very driven artist. He regretted that he didn't know that Nadieh had Indonesian blood, because it's his favorite country for holidays. Frank is a huge Bob Dylan-fan. Joan Baez made a lot of records with Dylan. Frank wrote a song about his teen idol, it's called Robert Zimmerman (the real name of Bob Dylan). Joan did a very funny imitation of Dylan during the concert.

So here I was in Amsterdam, spontaniously talking about Nadieh with someone who knew her. Is that a sign or what?
The concert was great! We were at row 3, right in front. Of course I was touched when Joan Baez sung Donna Donna.


October 16th 2008

In Haarlem I visited Annebel Fernandez - van Wijk who used to be Nadieh's neighbourgirl in Rhenoy. Annebel hit puberty - hard -then and at the time didn't feel understood by her parents. But she felt very understood by Nadieh and learned many important life lessons from Nadieh. Annebel used to watch the children Nadie and Rafi when Nadieh wasn't at home. Annebel is also a singer in the band Mother of Pearls. With Nadieh she used to sing and be on TV as backing vocal singer. You can see young Annebel with curly hair on YouTube in the clips Wonderful World and Nana.

 

August 6th 2008

Today I had a special meeting with two very important people in Nadieh's life: her close friends and managers Inge and Bart. I had met them before but now we've spend a whole evening watching old Nadieh video's en TV appearnces and they shared their cherished memories and intimite moments. Thank you for everything Inge and Bart!

 


April 2nd 2008

Today I visited Mrs. Huisman in Leiden, the 82 year old mother of the late Onno, Nadieh's first boyfriend. She told me about their relationship and Onno's accident. Onno turned out to be a very bright, gorgeous young man with dark, curly hair and bright blue eyes. He was tall too, 190 cm, whereas Nadieh was 182 cm. So they made quite the beautiful, tall couple. After his death, Nadieh never was the same again.

 


February 13th 2008
I visited Femmy, who was Nadieh's best friend in highschool. The two did everything together and used to go out in Mirakel in Leiden, where Nadieh met her first boyfriend Onno. Onno died in an accident when the two were dating. Nadieh was only 17 years old then.

 

December 9th 2007

Due to the splendid recollection of Nadieh's mother, I could trace Nadieh's second boyfriend way back from 1978. The American Sam Murray answered delighted and said that he had never forgotton her, because she was his first love. Sam sent us beautiful photos.

 
October 31th 2007 - Researcher Haye van den Oever from Leiden, who is my biggest factfinding supporter with the biography, and I went to the big Dutch television archive Beeld & Geluid in Hilversum. We watched and taped all the shows Nadieh was in and that we did not yet have on video or dvd. It was sooo cool!! We even saw a programme (De Opdracht) that showed Nadieh working in her studio with Bart in Rhenoy. It was very special. After that we had coffee at Bart's place in Putten and watched everything again and listened to rare demo's I always like to hear when I visit Bart. Suddenly I was overwhelmed with grief that Nadieh is no longer alive. I tried to hide my tears and told Bart it was probably PMS...(..not....!)

 

October 2007 - On the Dutch hyves network I started a 'Nadieh hyve'. This is why Umi Meis e-mailed me. Nadieh was her aunt (Umi is the daughter of Dick Meis - a nephew of Nadieh) and Umi was very fond of her and a big fan of her music. She imitated her aunt at playbackshows and loved to see her at family meetings. She remembers how she told Nadieh at Nadieh's father's funeral that she bought the cd 'On my Own' and how Nadieh's eyes glanced.


Everage monday night
 Monday 20th of August 2007
After coffee at Bart's place saturday, this evening I mostly spent on the phone, when not listeling to 'Don't Give Up' of Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, a favorite of Nadieh. First I called 33 year old Bianca Kalff from Rhenoy whose family and she were good friends with Nadieh her last years in Rhenoy, spending birthdays and New Year's Evenings together. After that I spoke to Nadieh's guitar teacher from back when she was 11 years old: Jim ten Boske. He said he planned his lessons with her always at the end of the day because she had so many questions and poems and songs to perform for him! Later when Nadieh became famous, he didn't recognize the woman that was once the little girl from the early seventies in his class! :-)




Adrie Gloudemans
Friday 15th of June 2007
In Den Bosch I interviewed a very sensitive, sweet man: Adrie Gloudemans. His profession is being a storyteller, so interviewing him was a delight. He told me his history with Nadieh and how he payed her first demo's in her early twenties and how he tried to help her find good musicians and producers. It was Adrie who found Kees Buenen. Buenen not only produced Nadieh's first demo's and asked her for his successfull Bill Bradleyband, he also co-produced Nadieh's debut album 'Land of Tá'.


 

Marcel's Circle
Tuesday 12th of June 2007
It has been another terrific week in Nadieh land! I got the most wonderful support note from Nadié with her beautiful EP (you MUST listen to The Gate, though the song Sudden Flashback is her own favorite...). Friday we had a 3 hour radio special on Boschtion with a lot of guests in the studio. Look at the pics. After the first 15 minutes I knew I had no control over this wild bunch of nice guys and I just decided to gow with the flow and relax. It was extremely HOT in that studio! I got the honour to pick out the songs and together with Kees and Marcel I chose uptempo stuff that would put listeners in a happy mood. A few days after the show I visited Marcel in his office in Loenen aan de Vecht. He told me about how he was there when Nadieh debuted. And her very last CD was published on his label. He thought Nadieh's music style was then finally back where it belonged. The circle was round, he said. And then she died. Marcel was there in 1986 to make up the name Nadieh and to decide which image Nadieh would get in public: mysterious! Why? You'll read all about that in the biography.



Should I just stop?
 Wedsnday 23d of may 2007
It has been a terrific week in Nadieh land! I was a bit sad an depressed, 'cause everyone who'll ever try to write a biography will be confronted with people trying to erase certain episodes of the main character's life. Being very naive, I didn't count on that because everyone is just so open, enthusiastic and kind to me. But afterwards they may regret their openness a bit. And just when I thought 'Should I just stop the whole thing?', I spent the most interesting, inspiring and warm hours meeting the men of Nadieh's life again. Her husband reveiled to me secrets of Nadieh's lyrics. Even he was stunned all over again how amazing they actually are! And Nadieh's best friend Bart invited me for tapas and sangria. We had so much fun and when he played some songs of Nadieh I had never heard before I was moved into tears. They sounded so beautiful. Bart said: "And that is exactely why you have to continue your project".


 

FairyTales
 Thursday 17th of may 2007
Somewhere, between the wide outlooks on fields of green grass, water and trees, there is the magic house of artist and sjaman Jeannette Hildersley and her husband Reef in Herwijnen. Nadieh used to come here whenever she needed some peace and quiet and a good conversation. Jeannette is also the artist that made Nadieh's gravestone after Nadieh passed. I couldn't keep it dry when Jeannette told me that history, she was there untill the end. Very special was to meet the fairytale doll featured in the Top 100 magazine Jeannette made and the violin that Nadieh carried for ages as a talisman - also featured in the Top 100 magazine (click on the picture on the left!). Jeannette filmed a whole concert of Nadieh's very last tour 'Wuffelende Wolken' and her husband Reef helpend Nadieh recording her very last song, Geen ster te ver, that Nadieh sung on her dad's funeral.

 

The Sinnekers
Thursday 10th of may 2007
What do you do when things are not going your way? You visit a couple of superfans you met on the internet and their beautiful daughters Nadieh (yes!) and Yanaicka. You watch Nadieh video's of the 80-ies and you enjoy and talk about her music. Then you're recharged. Thanks Oscar and Petra!




Singing songs
Sunday 6th of may 2007

Sunday I met sweet Elsmere in Leiden who was a very dear friend of Nadieh when they were young (although Elsmere was 8 years older). Instead of talking, they always sung together and Nadieh's voice moved her so much. She gave me lovely pictures. And she told me about Nadieh's personal, private, sensitive side not many people know.

 

The treasury in Culemborg
 Sunday 29th of april 2007

Mihdi sent me to an old neighbour and very dear friend of Nadieh: Marja de Jong (also the mother in law of Nadieh's sister Manon). She and her partner Hans were very pleased to receive me at their home: a real treasury. They have old notes, poems and songs of Nadieh on tape from when she was only 17 years old. Did you know that the first versions of 'Splendid Morning' and 'Castles' already existed then? Most beautiful was the song 'O, Baha`u`llah' sung by Nadieh with her very young teenage voice. It was when Nadieh saw Marja being a follower of the bahá'í' faith she fell in love with this religion and met her future husband Zia. Marja also had magazine publications for me from 1996 and 1993 that I had been looking for, for a while!



Shit shoveling day
 Saturday 21st of april 2007

Driving back from Hoevelaken, having interviewed one of Nadieh's very best friends, keyboardplayer Skip van Rooij, I was wondering who else I could talk to for the biography before I would wrap up the investigation and write that book. Jerney Kaagman said she didn't know Nadieh that well. Ruth Jacott said she only met Nadieh for 5 minutes in her entire life although she did a lot of backing vocals for Nadieh, also on tv, covered a Nadieh song and also visited the funeral. Strange...isn't it? Anyway! A bit bored, expecting nothing, I searched the name 'Reyhani' (lastname of Nadieh's Iranian husband Zia) on the website Hyves, thinking it wouldn't be found. But there the profile of Marzieh popped up, the singing niece of Nadieh. One of her 'friends' on this friendship network site was called 'Mihdi'.
I found that name sounding very Iranian so clicked on it, still expecting nothing much. After a bit of googling, I found out this is a Reyhani too: Marzieh's brother. I emailed him, not hoping for anything. He answered immediately and within ONE day Mihdi visited me in The Hague and bought me diner at a sunny terrace at 'het Plein'. Turns out that this handsome young man with dark green eyes was Nadieh's nephew who was so crazy about his aunt he visited her every wednsday. This was 'shit shoveling day'. When he was 16, he always helped cleaning out the horsestables in Rhenoy. Mihdi is a very special, spiritual man who had an intense friendship with Nadieh. "She taught me a lot of life lessons," he told me. Two times during his visit I almost broke into tears, when he was telling about her death when he was 19 and how this had effected him.
It was a very special interview, with a lot of beautiful stories and answers to questions. He knew her so well. And I'm just so grateful for all the surprises and help that is brought to me while making this book.
Have a nice weekend,
Tanya



Alice in Tá Land
 Wednsdeay 28th of march 2007

The Land of Tá finds itself in the heart of everyone who loves this music, Nadieh said when asked about the curious title of her debut album. It feels like I find myself in the Land of Tá lately.
Today I was having lunch in the motel Witte Bergen near Hilversum where Nadieh stayed every once in a while. I was interviewing Edward Reekers, a wellknown musician and singer of the band Kayak, who joined Nadieh to Japan in 1988 while he just had his first child. He didn't want to go but his wife forced him. In front of 12.000 Japanese fans he sang a beautiful 'On the Border' with Nadieh, a Japanese band and their best friend Inge who was also onstage. Edward loved working on Nadieh's second album 'Company of Fools', he even made up the title for the album. But the very close friendship didn't last. In the biography you will read why...

Edward gave me the phonenumber of Skip van Rooij, a keyboard player and close friend of Nadieh's who I'm going to interview in a few weeks.

But there's a lot more going on. Hans Vrielink of Boschtion radio called me to ask if I would like to brainstorm with him about a 3 hour special about Nadieh. And Erik de Ruiter, also a radio DJ, wants to make a documentary. At the same time Oscar Sinneker and his wife are planning a Nadieh Fan Day. And last saturday I was in the studio of Veluwe FM with Bart Sloothaak and we played 'Go Stand' and 'Windforce 11'. It was a bit emotional because Bart hadn't heard 'Go Stand' for 15 years and didn't remember his voice is in the song. (Yes that sexy low voice whispering 'Ghooo Staaand'). A day later AVRO Radio aired 'Windforce 11'.
What is going on that a woman who has left our world 11 years ago, seems now more alive than ever? Or at least, her music is...

I have been interviewing people for the Nadieh biography for a year now, and I want to wrap it up so the book can be published this year. I am now waiting for the chance to interview two in The Netherlancous stars who were friends with Nadieh: Ruth Jacott and Jerney Kaagman. I hope they'll agree and join this Land of Tá that is becoming nearly crowded!
Signing off,
Tanya


March 2006
After my very first interview with Kees Buenen in Schijndel my next interview was with Nadie and Zia in Den Bosch. I was pretty nervous. But they were very, very nice and told me special stories about their mother and wife.

 

A lot of warm, enthusiastic people were interviewed for the biography since march 2006. Kees, Jeannette, Reeves, Peggy, Inge, Marja, Karrie, Mw Meis, Erik, Ronald, Edward, Zia, Nadié, Rafi, Mihdi, Skip, Bart, Paul, Manon, Hans, Elsmere, Bianca, Andy, Jim, Umi, Lody, Bea, Femmy.
Do you have information? Be quick and e-mail me please tanyavdspek@hotmail.com


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