Bobbejaan Schoepen
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Bobbejaan Schoepen is a pseudonym of Modest Schoepen (16 May 1925 – 17 May 2010), a Flemish pioneer in Belgian pop music, vaudeville, and European country music. Schoepen could have been characterized as a "total performer" and entrepreneur: he was a singer-songwriter, guitarist, comedian, actor, and professional whistler, as well as the founder and former director of the amusement park, Bobbejaanland.
Performing to the allied forces
In 1947 he came into contact with Jacques Kluger. Kluger asked Schoepen to entertain the American and Canadian troops during the Nuremberg Trials, and in Frankfurt and Berlin. Kluger was pleased to receive an unexpected, flattering letter from Major Mearker, and contracted Schoepen to go on tour in Germany for several months. In Berlin, which was still partly in ruins, his floor shows were also attended by the American general and military governor Lucius D. Clay, who asked him for two additional performances. These tours would further stimulate his country music tendencies.
