C+B Museum Grolloo

The C+B Museum at Voorstreek 4 in Grolloo, south of Rolde, keeps the memory of Harry Muskee and Cuby & The Blizzards alive. It opened in June 2011 and has 250 square metres of space. The collection covers more than eighty years of music history, with the emphasis on Muskee and his band. Alongside the permanent exhibition, the museum puts on a new one from time to time, and it also wants to pass the music on to younger generations.

The band

Cuby & The Blizzards formed in 1964 around singer Harry Muskee and lead guitarist Eelco Gelling. The first line-up also included Hans Kinds (rhythm guitar), Willy Middel (bass) and Dick Beekman (drums); in 1966 Hans Waterman took over on drums. The debut album Desolation from 1966 won the band an Edison, the Dutch music award. The second album, Groeten uit Grollo from 1967, bears the old name of the village. It also includes “Somebody Will Know Someday”. In 2018 the readers of the music magazine Lust for Life voted Groeten uit Grollo the third-best album from the Low Countries.

Heartbroken, Muskee had withdrawn to a small rented farmhouse in Grolloo, and the band rehearsed there too.

Break-up and return

Between 1969 and 1972 the band played with Helmig van der Vegt (piano), Herman Deinum (bass) and Hans la Faille (drums). In 1972 the band split up. Muskee then tried again under other names, with less success. In 1995 Cuby & The Blizzards came back, on the initiative of Johan Derksen among others, who was also the band's manager until 1998, and with the support of the sponsor Henk Aa. Eelco Gelling did not take part; Van der Vegt, La Faille and Deinum did, with Erwin Java on lead guitar. Muskee spent the last part of his life in Rolde, where he died on 26 September 2011. That also brought the band to an end.

Visiting

Opening times, admission prices and the current exhibition are on cubymuseumgrolloo.nl. You can also book a ticket there.