Henri Frans de Ziel explained

Trefossa
Birth Name:Henri Frans de Ziel
Birth Date:1916 1, df=yes
Birth Place:Paramaribo, Suriname
Death Place:Haarlem, Netherlands
Occupation:writer, poet, teacher
Notable Works:God zij met ons Suriname
(Suriname's National Anthem)
Language:Dutch
Sranan Tongo

Henri Frans de Ziel (15 January 1916 – 3 February 1975), working under the pen name of Trefossa, was a neoromantic writer in Dutch and Sranan Tongo from Suriname. He is best known for the Sranan Tongo stanzas of Suriname's National Anthem.[1]

Biography

He was an educator and lived in the Netherlands from 1953 to 1956.[2] Upon his return to Suriname he was part of the editorial staff of the magazines Tongoni (1958-1959) and Soela (1962-1964).[3] He also served briefly as the director-librarian of Suriname's Cultural Centre (Cultureel Centrum Suriname (CCS)).[2] He subsequently returned to the Netherlands to work on the publication of Johannes King's memoirs.[3]

Trefossa wrote primarily about the beauty of his native country, Suriname, especially as a source of peace to the restless mind. He influenced many writers in Suriname, including Corly Verlooghen, Eugène Rellum, Johanna Schouten-Elsenhout and Michaël Slory, but the depth and subtlety of his verse remain almost unique.

Trefossa was annoyed about the negative nuance in the National Anthem at time, and started to transform the second stanza into a positive message. Trefossa combined this with a poem he wrote in Sranan Tongo on the death of Ronald Elwin Kappel.[4] His anthem was unanimously approved by the Government of Suriname on 7 December 1959.[1] De Ziel originally used a melody by Johannes Helstone, however the government preferred the original 1876 melody.[1]

In 1969, his health started to deteriorate, and he was admitted to the sanatorium Zonneduin in Bloemendaal. Here he met his wife, Hulda Walser, whom he married in 1970. On 3 Februari 1975, de Ziel died in Haarlem.

On 21 November 2005, a monument was dedicated in his honour on the Sophie Redmondstraat in Paramaribo. His ashes and the ashes of his wife, Hulda Walser, were also placed at the monument.[5] A documentary film, Trefossa: I Am Not I (Trefossa: Mi a no mi), by filmmaker Ida Does, was produced in 2008.[6]

Poem

The poem by Trefossa, referenced in the external link about the mural at the bottom, is translated from Sranan into English below:

GronmamaEarthmother
Mi a no misolanga mi brudu
fu yu a n'e trubu
na ini den dusun titei fu mi
I am not myselfuntil my blood
is infused with you
in all of my veins
Mi a no misolang mi lutu
n'e saka, n'e sutu
mi gronmama
I am not myselfuntil my roots
sink down, shoot
into you, my earthmother
Mi a no misolang m'no krari
fu kibri, fu tyari
yu gersi na ini mi dyodyo.
I am not myselfuntil I manage
to keep, to carry
your image in my soul
Mi a no misolanga y' n'e bari
f' prisir' ofu pen
na ini mi sten.
I am not myselfuntil you cry out
with pleasure, or pain
in my voice

Sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Trefossa en het volkslied van Suriname. Star Nieuws. 19 May 2020. nl.
  2. Web site: Ala poewema foe Trefossa. H.F. de Ziel. Digital Library for Dutch Literature. Digital Library for Dutch Literature. 19 May 2020.
  3. Web site: Wortoe d'e tan abra. Shrinivási. Shrinivási. Digital Library for Dutch Literature. 19 May 2020.
  4. Web site: ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 163559. Aviation Safety. 19 May 2020.
  5. News: Herdenking 40ste sterfdag van Trefossa . Dagblad De West. 19 May 2020. nl.
  6. Book: Romero . Ivette . Knight . Franklin W. . Gates . Henry Louis Jr. . Henry Louis Gates, Jr . Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro–Latin American Biography . 2016 . . Oxford, England . 978-0-199-93580-2 . Does, Ida (1955–), film director and journalist.