Did last saturday surprise you? The City Centre was full of children singing songs in honour of an old man with a long beard on a white horse, namely Sinterklaas.

The name sounds like Santa Claus but it’s actually a different guy. I’m not going to tell the story of Sinterklaas here  ( try Wikipedia) but I will acquaint you with some of his songs. In this week’s playlist you can listen to all the songs that the Dutch children know by heart.

They sing them when they place their shoe near the fireplace or chimney for Sinterklaas so that he can leave some sweets in it, or a present. They sing them on 5 december when it is ‘pakjesavond’ when Sinterklaas brings dustbinbags full of presents to all the Dutch families, so be prepared to sing along  – or not.

The songs aren’t all traditional songs, though. Those by Fifty Sint and Snoep Piet (referring to 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg of course) are hip-hop parody.