De Ketel Binken

Zeemanskoor De KetelBinken

Who founded the Ketel Binken Dick Leurink and his wife Marie founded our Seamen’s Choir the Ketel Binken

25 years ago, on September 9, 1999 at 9:09 PM. Not a shanty choir, but a real seamen’s choir because it offers a broader musical range.

Dick was the founder of Shanty choir de Kamper Koggezangers in 1996, but he did not stay with this choir for long because after some board friction Dick left the Koggezangers, but when he left the Cog Singers, blood is thicker than water.

When Dick was on his way with his boat from the west of the Netherlands to Kampen, he stopped at Spakenburg, where he was invited by the harbor master to come and watch and listen to the local fishing choir… that was the moment he said to himself “but we can do that in Kampen too”… and the transition from Koggezangers to Ketel Binken was not that difficult for Dick anymore. So Dick quickly had his plans ready for the establishment of the sea shanty choir de Ketel Binken, named after his own boat the “Ketel Bink”.

The first rehearsals were with 12 people of which Dick was the artistic director and conductor.  These rehearsals were held in the canteen of the municipal works Kampen, on the Loswalweg, where Dick and his wife also provided coffee and a drink.

In November 2002, the definitive collaboration with the sea shanty choir De Ketel Binken and founder Dick Leurink ended.

To this day we still sing Dutch songs and many of our own lyrics and that is successful.

The name “Ketel Bink” originates from a combination of ‘ketel’ and ‘bink’. The word ‘bink’ comes from Bargoens and means big guy. The IJssel flows into the Ketelmeer, hence the name “Ketel Bink”.

The “Ketel Binken” rehearses every Tuesday evening from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM in the TOG building on the Cellebroeksweg in Kampen.

Conductor is Art Silver, substitute conductor Henk Sollie.

Cees Vlieland played their song, Het is 5 Uur Vroeg in de Morgen (english:  “It’s 5 O’clock Early in the Morning”) on his 12/3/2023 edition of Het Zeegat Uit. [There the group name was spelled as “Kettelbinken”.]