Herinneren is een vorm van ontmoeten…

This was the first time that Kees invited me to his house to have a coffee, not even for a lesson or something.
We planned the appointment for 1hour, it turned out to be 3-4 hours😂
Kees told me how important Baden to him was, for me, it was also because of Baden that I entered this world...meeting Marcel, meeting Kees and Marijn, Choro school...
We talked a lot about music, Baden....
Kees showed me even photos he took with Baden...and told me there was even one time he bumped into Baden when he was biking... and he shouted "Baden!!" and stopped him😂
We sang a lot of songs together at this meeting. Just watching how much this guy enjoyed the music and how passionate he was inspired me deeply. Though I was shy, I mustered the courage to ask if I could study with him. It was the most correct decision I have ever made :)

Since then, I started my regular lessons with Kees.
I really like the lessons of Kees, besides, he really took care and made sure I understood everything. and all the musical support. Kees always was like "Joy! this exercise I got it from my teacher/friend xxx". He was very humble and never forgot who taught or benefited him. This changed me a lot, and to be thankful, now I also told me student, "Hey, this exercise I got from my teacher, Kees!😂"... And also, I remembered that a few times I was asking a particular technique called "Baixarias". After teaching me, in the end of the lesson, Kees told me "Joy, if you really want to learn Baixarias, you should go to my brother, Rogerio!" and gave me numbers... Kees really took care of others and thought what was best for us... Nowadays, I only hear teachers trying to keep their students, but Kees was just so special...

I was super happy every time since I started the lessons with Kees until I fell into the darkest moment of my life.
Something happened, I was in a deep depression. I texted Kees, and told him that I didn't know if I could continue the lessons. 5 minutes later, Kees called me back and asked me where I was and asked me to go see him the next day...and I was like "But..but"...he was like "Come to my home"... The next day, I went to Kees, and told him what happened, He was angry and then comforted me, and enlightened me with his own experience and love, He said I could trust him, for he was the proof. Without Kees, I don't know if I would still stand here, this planet. I really appreciate my hero...

And later, I needed to find job in order to stay. I mentioned it in one of our lessons, Kees only asked me, "Are you picky with the job?", I said no I only needed a job...and Kees just made a phone call in front of me...and after the phone call, he told me, "Joy I got you a job!"...how amazing!
Although it turned out that job didn't fit my visa requirement, I didn't go there to work. But later, Kees would send me some photos when he was biking on the street and saw a vacancy at the door of some bars/restaurants......And when my landlord told me they wanted to sell the house, Kees was also the one who sent me the contact information for a room in church (shelter?)......
I have many thanks to Kees...I admire his kindness and sweetness , as well as his musical talent. He saved and enlightened mine and, I believe, many other's lives. He's my hero, my biggest mentor, and my most favorite teacher. I wish I could live like him.

One time, Kees was giving a concert at Munganga with a musician he really liked, Edmundo Carneiro, who used to be the percussionist for Baden Powell when Baden was living in Paris.

I arrived around 2- hours before the concert started, because Baden was both Kees and my hero, so I was maybe a bit too excited. When I arrived, I greeted Kees and told him I was very looking forward. Kees said, "I would introduce you to Edmundo!". I was very happy about that.
However, I thought normally, in this kind of occasion, it would be Kees bringing me to meet Edmundo...But Kees was just special, instead of bringing me to Edmundo. Kees went upstairs to bring Edmundo downstairs to meet me 😂...That's how Kees connected Edmundo and me.

The concert was so great and fun.
However, when they started to play one particular song, I started to cry uncontrollably, right from the intro til the end. I didn’t understand why...it was really rare for me to cry at a concert, especially in the audience (sometime at home yes). I couldn’t even remember the last time I cried at a concert...
It was very weird moment, that was quite a happy song, up-tempo....
But I cried and cried, not only tears but also nose water... The only thing I was thinking was, "How can I stop this?"... Funny enough, I saw a woman sitting next table also was crying like hell as me...

After the concert, I went to Kees, Edmundo and Ana, and I wanted to congratz their concert and tell them that I was crying very hard in that song... However, when I came to them.... I just couldn't say a word.... and I started to cry in front of them again....Kees was like "That's okay, take your time"....but it was really ridiculous and funny, if I recall now😂... after second time crying maybe after 1min or something, finally I barely was able to speak...
I told Kees that I was crying like hell, and asked him what that song was. Because I didn't speak Portuguese, I had no idea the lyric, etc...
Kees told me, this song was called "Pra que chorar"....which means "Why crying?"...................................

We laughed and laughed, and it seemed that song really spoke to me...what a miracle... I checked the lyric when at home, and gained strength:

Pra que chorar
Se o sol já vai raiar
Se o dia vai amanhecer
Pra que sofrer
Se a lua vai nascer
É só o sol se pôr
Pra que chorar
Se existe amor
A questão é só de dar
A questão é só de dor

Quem não chorou
Quem não se lastimou
Não pode nunca mais dizer
Pra que chorar
Pra que sofrer
Se há sempre um novo amor
Em cada novo amanhecer

I first met Kees at a masterclass given by Marcel Powell, the son of Baden.
I still remember that I was sitting next to Kees, and that time, Marijn was translating for Marcel.
I was a bit surprised that Marcel spoke only in Portuguese, even when telling jokes,, but everyone laughed before the translation. So I asked the person sitting next to me, and it happened to be Kees.
"Does everyone in the school speak Portuguese? Is it mandatory here?". Kees laughed at me and said, "If you love the music, you do!"
Since I had taken some lessons with Marcel before, during the lunch break, Marcel invited me to the dressing room through Kees, who helped translate the lesson for me. That’s how I first met Kees. After the lesson, Kees mentioned that he also lived in Den Haag, so we exchanged numbers

The second time I met Kees, was at Marcel's concert in Munganga.
There, I met Kees again, I wanted to greet him, and Kees went like "Hey Joy!!". I was very impressed that Kess still remembered my name :)
He was busy at that time, so he didn't really stop but kept walking. Following him were 3 women, and Kees started to introduce them to me. "Hey Joy! This is my wife! " ....."This is my second wife"..."This is my third wife".... and then the women behind said, "I'm not! I'm not!".
I laughed a lot and was shocked; this teacher was completely different from any music teacher I had ever had. At that time, I didn't realize yet that this encounter would lead to meeting my most favorite teacher in life.

Here is one of the videos, when Kees was playing together with Marcel and Marijn.

Nesse dia Kees esteve aqui em casa, na sua generosidade e amizade, para nos guiar, nos ensinar, num ensaio com a banda "Os Gringos do Samba". Depois do ensaio rolou um churrasco e ficamos curtindo sua presença e sua música. Aí, ele tocou uma música que ele fez pro neto dele... achei tão bonita e sensível que não consegui conter as lágrimas... muito talento pra compor. Kees foi maior do que a sua humildade o permitiu perceber.

Força para Bertha e toda família.