SMART (1985), an unique and very rare Dutch blues documentary.

I do not own the rights to this documentary!
(UPDATE: in about three short (view minutes) parts there is no audio. That's because of music rights issues.)

BUT...

This 1985 Dutch documentary ‘Smart’ holds unique footage of some known and (kind of) unknown American blues musicians that blueslovers need to see. But it also shows the atmosphere of the Chicago blues scene in the mid eighties and some very nice takes in the Mississippi Delta that period.

In Dutch the word ‘Smart’ means ‘feeling blue’. The Dutch type of music about these emotions is called the ‘smartlap’. This documentary follows the famous Dutch female singer Mary Servaes, also known as the ‘Zangeres Zonder Naam’, in The Netherlands.
This type of Dutch music is compared to what is called ‘blues’ in the United States.
Therefore the American bluesmusician David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards is followed in Chicago and on a trip to the South with a truck (driven by bassplayer Sylvester Boines) hauling living Catfish.
Besides the ‘Zangeres Zonder Naam’ and Honeyboy Edwards you can see footage of Tail Dragger (singer, truckdriver and co-builder of the Delta Fish Truck), Eddie Taylor, Koko Taylor, James Son Thomas, Sunnyland Slim, Johnny Littlejohn, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and others.

This unique Dutch documentary was made by Joost Kraanen. Harry de Winter was the producer.
Around 1987 it was on Dutch television one time. Since then it is in the Dutch Television archives and never re-released or whatsoever (as far as I know).

In 2008 maker Joost Kraanen and editor Hans Knottnerus met James Yancy ‘Tail Dragger’ Jones at a bluesfestival in Haarlem, The Netherlands.
Tail Dragger wasn’t aware of being part of this Dutch documentary.
He is the only musician still living (and performing!) from this film. September 30th 2020 he will become 80 years old.
March 2019 he and I went back with a group Dutch people to the place in Chicago where the old ‘Delta Fish Market’ used to be.
A 20 minutes film about this moment will be on YouTube soon. Tail Dragger tells a very nice story about this historic place and his experiences becoming a bluesmusician after meeting Hownlin’ Wolf.

Personal note: I want to thank Joost Kraanen and Hans Knottnerus for giving me a lot of inside information in 2008 about the making of ‘Smart’ and the fact that this documentary, that I saw on Dutch television in 1987, was very important for me to start my ‘career’ as young bluesmusician (17 years old) then.
This version of ‘Smart’ is the original version without Dutch subtitles that was given to me by Joost Kraanen.
And I really want to thank Tail Dragger (a personal friend since 2008) for all the beautiful stories, all our shows together and everything we experienced in The Netherlands, Europe, Chicago, Memphis etc. (and of course his lovely wife Bertha)
For me, now in the first days of the year 2020, it is time to share 'Smart' with the rest of the world. Enjoy this beautiful film with lots of places, material, people and music that is/are no longer with us.
If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact me.

Robbert Fossen.