Vader Abraham ('Father Abraham') is the alias of Dutch Petrus Antonius Laur… Read Full Bio ↴Vader Abraham ('Father Abraham') is the alias of Dutch Petrus Antonius Laurentius 'Pierre' Kartner (born Elst, The Netherlands, 11 April 1935 - died 8 November 2022), who was a songwriter, singer and performer of popular Dutch carnaval and levenslied ('life song') repertoire - as well as music that can be regarded as the Dutch equivalent of the German Schlager tradition. Kartner also wrote many Dutch evergreens for others, including 'Huilen is voor jou te laat' for Corry en de Rekels (1970) and 'Manuela' for Jacques Herb (1972).

Kartner had his big break as Vader Abraham in 1971 with the hit 'Vader Abraham had zeven zonen'. He scored one Dutch hit after the other throughout the 1970s. His best known tune by far is 'Het Smurfenlied' (1977), a happy sing-song with world famous cartoon figures The Smurfs. The song was recorded in numerous languages and was a smash hit in many countries, the several translations selling some 25 million copies worldwide.

His perhaps most famous song was released in late 1975: 'In 't kleine café aan de haven', about a small old pub by the harbor. The song was covered by international greats such as Mireille Matthieu, Demis Roussos and Engelbert Humperdinck and is known worldwide under the title 'The Red Rose Café'.

In total, Vader Abraham had 41 hits in the Dutch Top 40 and no less than 69 in his home country's second favorite chart, the Nationale Hitparade. The man who was Vader Abraham, Pierre Kartner, also penned two Dutch Eurovision Song Contest entries: 'De oude muzikant' (performed by Ben Cramer in 1973) and 'Ik ben verliefd (Sha-la-lie)' (performed by Sieneke in 2010).

A less known, but somewhat controversial part of his catalogue were his political songs. Kartner was a conservative, prone to expressing populist opinions in song. Most controversial was 'Wat doen we met die Arabieren hier?' ('What do we do with the Arabs here?'), which was released in 1975, but the singles were quickly removed from the shops, leaving Kartner's record label embarrassed.

Pierre Kartner remained active as a songwriter and performer until the age of 85. He died peacefully at home on 8 November 2022, aged 87.