Fixkes: jong en Vlaams in de jaren tachtig

De Vlaamse muziekwereld is op dit moment volledig in de ban van Fixkes. Het popgroepje uit de Antwerpse gemeente Stabroek heeft met 'Kvraagetaan' een monsterhit gescoord die een paar maanden op één stond in de gezaghebbende Ultratop-hitlijst. Bijzonder is dat het liedje gezongen is in de Antwerpse streektaal.

:: Deze tekst verscheen in het Engels in de papieren Agenda om de inheemse populariteit van Fixkes en hun voor anderstaligen onverstaanbare monsterhit 'Kvraagetaan' te proberen te verklaren. U vindt hieronder dan ook de oorspronkelijk tekst van het nummer, een Engelse vertaling en een verklaring van de tekst. De verklaring is uiteraard ook in het Engels.

Sommigen noemen het zingen in dialect of streektaal een trend, maar er zijn in Vlaanderen altijd artiesten geweest die dat deden. Anderen vinden het verwerpelijk dat er weer wordt gezondigd tegen het Algemeen Nederlands. Nog anderen koesteren het dialect juist om zijn emotionaliteit en authenticiteit. Maar iedereen lijkt het erover eens dat het vooral de supernostalgische tekst van Kvraagetaan is die nagenoeg niemand die in het Vlaanderen van de jaren tachtig is opgegroeid onberoerd kan laten. We proberen het u uit te leggen.

Kvraagetaan —1
makkik binnen makkik binnen om een lieke te beginnen
over de dinges die kik mij ammaal herinner
uit de goeien ouwen tijd
van rekenen en vlijt
een leven zonder zorgen ambitie of spijt
heelder dagen gaan sjotten
voor den donkere thuis
alleen maar wa ravotten
en 't school daar kwam niks van in huis
drei keer durven was doen
maskes plagen liefde vragen — 2
en al wa ge zegt da waarde zelf
me a broek in den helft —3
het was zo simpel ammaal
zo simpel ammaal
zo simpel as ik vraag het aan
Kvraagetaan

er was nog gene gsm gene vtm —4
en niemand die a hannibal of murdock wilde zen — 5
rons honeymoon carolientje merlina met de parafix — 6
en voerdes was er niks
we mochten niks mor dejen alles
urbanus was nen held — 7
ons pa diejen oj nog haar en we telden al ons geld veur de kermis
showen in de boksauto's
outrun in plaats van onze commodore — 8
er waren geen cd's geen mp3's
alleen mor wa cassetjes
en buurman wa doet u nu
veur ons allereerste tetjes — 9
het was zo simpel ammaal
zo simpel ammaal
zo simpel as ik vraag het aan
kvraagetaan

derde couplet potteke potteke potteke vet —10
de g'ed al honderd was men eerste brevet —11
't songfestival jeuj later naar bed
the reflex fl-fl-fl-flex op ons tennisracket —12
ja jonges we zagen het groot
we wieren ammel profvoetballer of piloot
en haten was nog geen nationale sport
alleen misschient die koteletten op ons bord
bivakpotsen sponsen broekskes karbonaaien
die knielappen die z' aan ons broekskes wilden naaien —13
betsaksaai bettemakemaai —14
ik stop ermee wa is men schaai
het was zo simpel ammaal
zo simpel ammaal
zo simpel as ik vraag het aan
kvraagetaan


I'm on you —1
Can I come in, can I come in to start singing a song
About all of the things I remember
From the good old days
Of doing maths and being fruitful
A life without sorrow, ambition, or spite
Go kick the ball for days on end
Get back home before dark
Just playing around a bit
And not worrying a bit about school (a proverb: literally, "school (or other things) never made it to our house", we did not do anything about it)
Three times a "dare" was a "do"
To tease a girl was to ask for love — 2
And everything you say was what you were yourself
With your pants in half —3
It was all so simple (easy)
All so simple
As simple as kvraagetaan

Mobile phones did not exist, nor did VTM —4
or anybody who wanted to be Hannibal or Murdock— 5
Ron's honeymoon Carolientje Merlina with the parafix — 6
besides that there was nothing
we weren't allowed to do anything but did it all the same
Urbanus was a hero — 7
Dad hadn't lost his hair yet and we counted all our money for the fun fair
Showing off in the dodgem/bumper cars
Outrun instead of our Commodore — 8
There were no CDs, no MP3s,
Just some cassettes
And neighbour what are you doing now
Provided us with our very first titties — 9
It was all so simple (easy)
All so simple
As simple as kvraagetaan

third stanza little pot pot pot with grease —10
"you've had a hundred" was my first diploma —11
Eurovision song contest yes staying up late
The reflex fl-fl-fl-flex on our tennis racket —12
Yeah Gosh we were thinking big
We'd all become football players or pilots
And to hate was not a national sport yet
Except maybe the chops on our plate
Balaclavas sponge pants and carbonnades
Those knee patches they wanted to sew on our trousers —13
WillshebiteifIpether willhebiteifIpethim —14
I quit (playing) what's my debt (and damage)
It was all so simple (easy)
All so simple
As simple as
kvraagetaan

1 — Literal transcription of the expression "ik vraag het aan" (literally, "I ask it on"), which means something like "I ask for it", or "I apply", in relation to the innocent love affairs of children and youngsters. The way children ask each other varies over time and from region to region. The keywords ("liefde/love", "verliefd/crush") are usually left unspoken. In our school we used to step (gently) on a girl's toes to "ask it". Two answers were open to her: step on our toes (good news) or kick our shin (bad!).

2 — The proverb "Meisjes plagen is liefde vragen" (To tease a girl is to ask for love) gives a useful insight into the relations between the sexes. A boy who pays a lot of attention to a girl - be it by teasing her - has an ulterior motive.

3 — Great absurd proverb. During childhood, when so much pestering is going on, it is used a lot to return insults.

4 — VTM, the first commercial TV station in Flanders, started broadcasting on 1 February 1989. That day marked the end of the Eighties in Flemish culture, and divided a public that was used to seeing the same programmes together on national television.

5 — Hannibal and Murdock were the characters in the US TV series The A-Team that youngsters were least likely to imitate. As role models, Mr T and Face were better options.

6 — Ron's Honeymoon Quiz was a show on Dutch TV, famous for its tanned and dentally overdeveloped host Ron Brandsteder, who refereed contests between three newly-wed couples. Dutch TV was very popular in Flanders in the years before VTM, especially the big shows and programmes that were shockingly liberal by our (Catholic) standards. Carolientje and Merlina, however, were Flemish productions, and as charming and educationally correct as could be. The latter was a detective series for kids, and the "parafix" a successful invention of Merlina's friend the professor: a futuristic umbrella ("paraplu") you could "freeze" (or "fixate") your opponent with.

7 — Urbanus van Anus was, and still is to a lesser extent, a hero for all lovers of home-grown Flemish comedy. Born and raised in the Pajottenland (Tollembeek) just outside Brussels, he even conquered Holland with his jokes and songs.

8 — "Outrun" was a 1986 Sega computer driving game that outdid the stuff on the then very popular Commodore 64 Console.

9 — "Oh, neighbour what are you doing now?" was a rhetorical question asked in a high-pitched voice by the quintessential Dutch sex kitten Tatjana Simic in an infamous garage scene in the pedagogically totally incorrect movie Flodder. For a glimpse of our "first titties" we had to resort to Dutch television.

10 — Absurdist folksong that repeats in each of its countless stanzas the question, "Who put that little pot of grease on the table?"

11 — "Je hebt al honderd" (literally: "You've reached a hundred now") is a fairly blunt way of making clear that you've had enough of whatever the other person is doing/saying. It may come from the fact that for many children the first real diploma ("brevet") they ever got was the one obtained after having swum their first hundred metres.

12 — Imitating the primitive sound effect used in Duran Duran's huge hit single "The Reflex" was cheesy even in the Eighties. Doing it on a tennis racket that had to pass as a guitar was probably as low as you could go in claiming fame as a rock star in your own right.

13 — Four things young boys didn't like, but were forced to do by merciless parents. 1. Wear the same absurdly warm balaclavas to school as gangsters wore in order not to be recognised while robbing banks. They made your head all prickly to the point where you went insane. 2. Keep on wearing, to the age of ten or so, those short sexless shorts in a spongy material mothers considered comfortable to play in and easy to wash. Healthy boys considered them suitable only for little boys who still peed in their pants. 3. Subscribe to the common assumption that Flemish carbonnades (stews) are a regional delicacy, while their leathery and fibrous texture makes it impossible to even begin digesting them. 4. Prolonging the lives of their dreary brown trousers by allowing mother to stitch those oval knee patches over the holes that your knees made in them while you were playing football. Wearing those knee patches drew attention to the frugal and outmoded lifestyle of your parents that you loathed so much.

14 — Cryptic and very local way of pronouncing "bijt ze als ik haar aai, bijt hij als ik hem aai?" ("Will she bite if I pet her; will he bite if I pet her?"). A question addressed to the owner of a dog you meet for the first time.

:: 6.7.2007 21.00 Hee Tervuren Marktplein Tervuren, 0473-94.77.86, 02-769.20.28, heetervuren@tervuren.be, gratis

:: 7.7.2007 20.00 Vijverfestival, Dilbeek, park van Dilbeek, 0494-53.31.33, info@vijverfestival.be, gratis

:: 29.8.2007 12.00 Boterhammen in het park, Warandepark, 02-548.24.24, info@abconcerts.be