WEBVTT 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:06.000 (Whistling) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:07.000 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:09.000 Thank you. 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:11.000 (Applause) 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:13.000 Thank you very much. 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:16.000 That was whistling. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:19.000 I'm trying to do this in English. 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:23.000 What is a chubby, curly-haired guy from Holland -- 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:25.000 why is he whistling? 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:29.000 Well actually, I've [been] whistling since the age of four, about four. 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:31.000 My dad was always whistling around the house, 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:34.000 and I just thought that's part of communication in my family. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:36.000 So I whistled along with him. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:40.000 And actually, till I was 34, 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:44.000 I always annoyed and irritated people with whistling, 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:46.000 because, to be honest, 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:49.000 my whistling is a kind of deviant behavior. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:53.000 I whistled alone. I whistled in the classroom. 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:56.000 I whistled on [my] bike. I whistled everywhere. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:59.000 And I also whistled at a Christmas Eve party 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:01.000 with my family-in-law. 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:04.000 And they had some, in my opinion, 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:06.000 terrible Christmas music. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:08.000 And when I hear music that I don't like, 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:11.000 I try to make it better. 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:14.000 So "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" -- you know it? 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:17.000 (Whistling) 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:19.000 But it can also sound like this. 00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:22.000 (Whistling) 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:24.000 But during a Christmas party -- 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:27.000 at dinner actually -- it's very annoying. 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:29.000 So my sister-in-law 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:32.000 asked me a few times, "Please stop whistling." 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:34.000 And I just couldn't. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:37.000 And at one point -- and I had some wine, I have to admit that -- 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:40.000 at one point I said, "If there was a contest, I would join." NOTE Paragraph 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:42.000 And two weeks later 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:45.000 I received a text message: "You're going to America." 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:47.000 (Laughter) 00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:49.000 So, okay, I'm going to America. 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:51.000 I would love to, but why? 00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:54.000 So I immediately called her up, of course. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:56.000 She Googled, 00:03:56.000 --> 00:03:58.000 and she found this World Whistling Championship 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:00.000 in America, of course. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:05.000 She didn't expect me to go there. 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:08.000 And I would have lost my face. 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:10.000 I don't know if that's correct English. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:12.000 But the Dutch people here will understand what I mean. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:15.000 (Laughter) 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:17.000 I lost my face. 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:20.000 (Applause) 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:22.000 And she thought, "He will never go there." 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:24.000 But actually I did. 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:26.000 So I went to Louisburg, North Carolina, 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:30.000 southeast United States, 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:33.000 and I entered the world of whistling. 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:35.000 And I also entered the world championship, 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:38.000 and I won there in 2004. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:41.000 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:43.000 That was 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:46.000 great fun, of course. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:48.000 And to defend my title -- 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:51.000 like judokas do and sportsmen -- 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:53.000 I thought, well let's go back in 2005, 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:56.000 and I won again. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:58.000 Then I couldn't participate for a few years. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:00.000 And in 2008 I entered again 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:03.000 in Japan, Tokyo, and I won again. 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:06.000 So what happened now 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:09.000 is I'm standing here in Rotterdam, in the beautiful city, on a big stage, 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:11.000 and I'm talking about whistling. 00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:15.000 And actually I earn my money whistling at the moment. 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:18.000 So I quit my day job as a nurse. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:23.000 (Applause) 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:25.000 And I try to live my dream -- 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:28.000 well, actually, it was never my dream, but it sounds so good. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:30.000 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:32.000 Okay, I'm not the only one whistling here. 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:34.000 You say, "Huh, what do you mean?" 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:37.000 Well actually, you are going to whistle along. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:43.000 And then always the same thing happens: 00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:45.000 people are watching each other and think, "Oh, my God. 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:47.000 Why? Can I go away?" 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:49.000 No, you can't. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:53.000 Actually it's very simple. 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:55.000 The track that I will whistle 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:57.000 is called "Fête de la Belle." 00:05:57.000 --> 00:06:00.000 It's about 80 minutes long. 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:03.000 No, no, no. It's four minutes long. 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:06.000 And I want to first rehearse with you your whistling. 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:09.000 So I whistle the tone. 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:11.000 (Whistling) 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:13.000 (Laughter) 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:16.000 Sorry. I forgot one thing. 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:18.000 You whistle the same tone as me. 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:20.000 (Laughter) 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:26.000 I heard a wide variety of tones. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:33.000 (Whistling) NOTE Paragraph 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:43.000 This is very promising. 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:45.000 This is very promising. 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:48.000 I'll ask the technicians to start the music. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:51.000 And if it's started, I just point where you whistle along, 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:53.000 and we will see what happens. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:00.000 Oh, hah. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:02.000 I'm so sorry, technicians. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:06.000 (Laughter) 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:08.000 I'm so used to that. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:11.000 I start it myself. 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:13.000 Okay, here it is. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:15.000 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:18.000 (Music) NOTE Paragraph 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:24.000 (Whistling) NOTE Paragraph 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:35.000 Okay. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:42.000 (Whistling) NOTE Paragraph 00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:25.000 It's easy, isn't it? NOTE Paragraph 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:32.000 (Whistling) NOTE Paragraph 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:03.000 Now comes the solo. I propose I do that myself. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:12.000 (Whistling) NOTE Paragraph 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:30.000 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:33.000 Max Westerman: Geert Chatrou, the World Champion [of] Whistling. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:35.000 Geert Chatrou: Thank you. Thank you.