Name: Bregje Kaasjager
Date and place of birth: 9 December 1973, Barendrecht
Longshanks Member since: 2008
Autobiography:
My introduction to music started when I was about
six years old. I received my first ballet lesson and
was instantly hooked. Totally sold on classical music:
"Sleeping Beauty" and ofcourse "Swan
Lake".
Later my interest in music due to the dancing expanded
to Jazz ballet, modern dance and streetdance.
My father deemed the time right for him to start
playing an instrument and piano was his choice. He
bought himself a second hand Ibach with ivory keys
and took lessons. I saw him wrestle and thought to
myself:
"I can do that, and better too...". So at
the tender age of nine I enroled. I was hooked instantly.
Until I was 17, I played mostly classical pieces,
by Bach, and lots of Jazz and Blues. My family became
really fed up with "Bright Eyes" by Art
Garfunkel and I also played "Für Elise"
more than once...
At the age of 11 I really started listening to music
(because of my elder brother Sanne Kaasjager). I was
mainly 'into' Madonna, Michael Jackson and Queen.
When I was 14, my brother played guitar in a band
called 'The Unknown Fact' and oh, how cool I thought
that was! I kept telling him that I also wanted to
be in that band, as a singer. At last I was granted
an 'audition', at which I was assisted by lead singer
Alexandra den Heijer. It turned out I didn't have
what it took to be part of this band, but I still
became their biggest fan! In 1990 the band performed
live in Barendrecht at the square in font of City
Hall.
When I was 17 I went to college in Maastricht and
dragged my piano along wherever I went. Even there
I still received tutoring, though at that time it
didn't have that much priority anymore.
In my last year at college (1996) I got the chance
to play a part in the musical "Dubbelloops".
Ik played the bitchy 'Antoinette' who silenced many
with her venomous spot-on remarks. A part that fitted
me like a glove.
It was during this period that I had my first studio
experience: at the recording of the songs from the
musical. I was scared to death and thrilled at the
same time and I still like to listen to the end result
nowadays.
At the end of 1996, I applied for a job at the ICT-consultancy
company CMG, and there met the guy who is now my husband:
Alex van de Graaf. After having tried our love for
three months, I was ready to introduce Alex to the
rest of my family, and so also to my brother. At some
point Alex had to go 'wash his hands' and he returned
from the toilet red faced and agitated. It turned
out that my brother had a photograph on the wall of
his 'washroom' from that gig of 'The Unknown Fact',
which depicted Alex' ex-girfriend Alexandra (!). We
soon found out that both I, Alex and André
Kamer had all been in Barendrecht on that same day
in 1990, at that square in front of City Hall, watching
'The Unknown Fact' perform. Talking about Fate!
Alex and I moved to Barendrecht in 1998, with the
piano ofcourse. Unfortunately I didn't dare to really
play there, as it had been such a while that I had
and as I didn't want to bother the neighbours with
my playing, fearing to become the nuisance of the
neighbourhood.
This all changed when in 2005 we moved to our beautiful
1930's house. My piano is now situated at a terrific
spot with great acoustics and I'm enthousiastically
taking lessons again. From 2005 until now I have tried
to experiment more myself, but it hasn't really worked
well yet.
As told on the Longshanks 5 page at the History section,
Longshanks has resurfaced/restarted with Alex and
André getting together again. This inspired
me so much that I also became involved. It worked
out well with the three of us, The rest is history...
As you can read, all through my life I've been involved
in music someway, somehow, and it has been and still
is an essential part of my existance. I really wouldn't
know what to do without it.
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