Ernst van Altena  

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Le plat pays

Le plat pays (French) or in Dutch Mijn vlakke land is a song by the Belgian singer Jacques Brel, who performed the song in both languages.

The flat country referred to in the song is West Flanders, the region in Belgium from which his family originated. It is a region with many open fields and few trees. Because this landscape is rather typical not only of the West Flanders, but of large swathes of the Low Countries, the Dutch version of the song is popular in the Netherlands.

The French lyrics are by Jacques Brel, the Dutch lyrics by Ernst van Altena.

Valencian singer Ovidi Montllor wrote a largely modified version, "El Meu Poble Alcoi" ("My Hometown Alcoi"), which he dedicated to the city where he was born and grown up.

The song was also referenced in the original French language version of Asterix in Belgium, where the Belgian leader tells Asterix, Obelix and Vitalstatistix that "in his flat country oppidums are the only mountains."



Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Ernst van Altena" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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