Hugo Matthysen (born 30 January 1956, in

Ekeren Ekeren () is a northern district of the municipality of Antwerp in the Flemish Region of Belgium. The suburb celebrated its 850th birthday in 2005; the name of the town was first mentioned in 1155, as "Hecerna". The name possibly originates from ...

) is a Belgian (

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

) singer, guitarist, columnist, writer, Master in Philosophy and actor. He lives in the municipality of

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th cen ...

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

Biography

In 1978, he played with

Bart Peeters Bart August Maria Peeters (born 30 November 1959) is a Belgian singer, musician, television presenter and actor. Biography Early years Peeters studied Germanic philology and drama in Antwerp. There, he met Jan Leyers and Hugo Matthysen, with ...

and

Jan Leyers Jan Anna August Leyers (born 16 May 1958 in Wilrijk, Belgium) is a singer, songwriter, and television personality. He was a member of the group Soulsister and later became a solo musician and host of various television series. Music career Jan ...

in the coverband Beri-Beri. In 1984, he regularly appeared with Bart Peeters and

Marcel Vanthilt Marcel Céline Gerard Edgard Vanthilt (; born 24 August 1957) is a Belgian singer and television presenter.Heerema,Y.Marcel Vanthilt – Presentator Marcel Vanthilit NCRV-gids 1, 5 till 11 January 2008. Retrieved 29 April 2011. Early life Mar ...

in Peeters' programme Villa Tempo as "De Hermannen". De Hermannen were three people with sunglasses, blonde wedge and wearing black jackets with a white sweater beneath, with which they intentionally looked like the German singer

Heino Heinz Georg Kramm (born 13 December 1938), known professionally as Heino, is a German singer of Schlager and traditional Volksmusik. Having sold a total of over 50 million records, he is one of the most successful German musicians of all time ...

. They played absurd sketches. Matthysen then also started to write for the magazine

HUMO ''HUMO'' is a popular Dutch-language Belgian weekly radio and television supermarket tabloid. History and profile ''Humoradio'' (meaning a portmanteau of 'humor' and 'radio' in English) was first published in 1936 as a Dutch-language counterpar ...

, for which he would create several columns. He also founded a humouristic rock band, named "Hugo Matthysen en De Bomen", and in 1989 he delivered weekly contributions to the absurd programme Lava by

Kamagurka Luc Zeebroek (born 5 May 1956), better known as Kamagurka, is a Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, suc ...

and

Herr Seele Herr Seele, the pseudonym of Peter Van Heirseele (Torhout, Belgium, 13 April 1959), is a Flemish cartoonist, author, actor, piano tuner and piano collector. He is mainly known for the absurd humor comic strip ''Cowboy Henk'', for which his col ...

. Together with Bart Peeters he created the radio programme Het Leugenpaleis for

Studio Brussel A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial d ...

. Later a television version came out with the (anagram) title Het Peulengaleis. Apart from that, he is the writer of TV series for children like Kulderzipken and Dag Sinterklaas and he is also author of the theater piece Frankenstein by Smrntwsk Alleen (1989). On top of that, he wrote some music texts for De Nieuwe Snaar. The Dag Sinterklaas series he wrote about

Sinterklaas Sinterklaas () or Sint-Nicolaas () is a legendary figure based on Saint Nicholas, patron saint of children. Other Dutch names for the figure include ''De Sint'' ("The Saint"), ''De Goede Sint'' ("The Good Saint") and ''De Goedheiligman'' ("The ...

(=Saint Nicholas, European origin of

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...

) since the early 1990s gave children in Flanders, Belgium a view on the daily life of the holy man. Also, it explained some of the questions children have around the event: why

Zwarte Piet Zwarte Piet (; lb, Schwaarze Péiter, fy, Swarte Pyt), also known in English by the translated name Black Pete, is the companion of Saint Nicholas ( nl, Sinterklaas, fy, Sinteklaas, lb, Kleeschen) in the folklore of the Low Countries. The ...

(Black Peter) is black (not his original skin colour, but because of sliding through the chimney) and how Sinterklaas acquires the presents (with a special kind of money). 20 years later, Bart Peeters stated it is thanks to Matthysen that in Belgium the Sinterklaas event has not been subject of a racism discussion as it has been in the Netherlands, because the series explains the figure of Zwarte Piet has nothing to do with slavery. In 1990, together with HUMO chief-editor

Guy Mortier Guy Mortier (born 24 March 1943) is a Flemish journalist and radio and television personality. He is known as former chief editor of magazine ''HUMO'' for over thirty years (1969–2003). He was also jury member in the radio programs ''De taalstr ...

, he presented the acts on the festival Torhout-Werchter (currently

Rock Werchter Rock Werchter is an annual music festival held in the village of Werchter, near Leuven, Belgium, since 1976 and is a large sized rock music festival. The 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012 and 2014 festivals received the Arthur award for ''best festiv ...

). His alter ego Clement Peerens became famous with his band CPeX (Clement Peerens Explosition – together with Ronny Mosuse and again Bart Peeters) and the girl band Hormonia. In the summer of 2008, Hugo Matthysen again gave concerts with the Clement Peerens Explosition. In 2010, he wrote the humouristic TV program Anneliezen.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Matthysen, Hugo Living people 1956 births 20th-century Flemish male actors Belgian male singers Belgian pop singers Belgian rock singers Dutch-language singers of Belgium Belgian male guitarists Belgian comedy musicians Belgian male comedians Belgian columnists Belgian radio presenters Flemish writers Belgian surrealist artists Belgian surrealist writers Flemish television writers Belgian television presenters Flemish male voice actors Male radio actors Flemish male television actors Male television writers People from Ekeren