Pierre Kartner to write Dutch entry... in Dutch!

Peter Kuipers, Director General of TROS, says: "We are proud that he accepted the invitation right away. He is a great composer, maybe the biggest of our country." Kartner was awarded as such by the Dutch Top 40 association.

In 1977, Kartner was asked to write a promotional song for an  animated movie, which turned out to be about The  Smurfs. The record company pressed 1,000 copies, since they were  unsure about the success of the single. However, they were all sold  within one day at a Schlager festival. After a repress, 400,000 singles  where sold in a short period. A full Smurfs album (LP) was then  created, which also climbed the charts, with 500,000 sold copies. People  in other countries also started to notice the catchy tune, and it was  released in several countries, in German, French, Italian,  Spanish, Swedish, and Japanese, all sung by Kartner himself. He scored a  number one hit in 16 countries. Altogether, his 'Smurf' works have about 30 million sold copies (source: Wikipedia).

Pierre Kartner himself is honoured: "It is the biggest task I got in years. I am honoured to be invited for this. About the fact that it will be a song in Dutch, I can say: Finally we shall sing as we speak again!" 

It is not the first time Kartner writes the Dutch Eurovision Song Contest entry. In 1973, he wrote De Oude Muzikant, which brought singer Ben Cramer a 14th position.

The remaining question now is: Who will perform the Dutch entry? More details about the Nationaal Songfestival 2010, which will take place on 31 January and 7 February, will be announced shortly.

TROS also confirmed the commentators for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest. Cornald Maas, who has been the Dutch commentator since 2004 (until 2005 with the late Willem van Beusekom) will be joined by radio DJ Daniel Dekker.