{"id":82764,"date":"2018-01-11T13:29:59","date_gmt":"2018-01-11T12:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=82764"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:55","slug":"after-the-love-has-gone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2018\/01\/11\/after-the-love-has-gone\/","title":{"rendered":"After the love has gone"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevien Willemse<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

It\u2019s a new year and another blank canvas to fill with new memories. Don\u2019t worry, this won\u2019t be a column about New Year\u2019s resolutions. But part of my New Year\u2019s ritual is looking back and asking myself a simple question: \u201cWhat did I do in the previous year and what have I achieved?\u201d I brew some coffee, put a vinyl record on the record player and sit back in my sofa to reflect for a while.<\/p>\n

While listening to my record, I reach a simple conclusion: the biggest development I discovered during my life in 2017 was actually delving and understanding how music has been relevant and primordial for my life. Not only have I explored new boundaries in music and amassed a respectable collection, even when I go back to my memories, music is always there, and each record I own has a distinct remembrance attached to it.<\/p>\n

As soon as the needle lifts off the initial record I set, I head to the player, pick up the record and put it back in my crate. I slowly browse through my crate looking for the next record to listen to, looking for the next memory to think about. I soon reach into my funk section where I instantly stop as soon as I read the magic words \u2018Earth, Wind and Fire\u2019.<\/p>\n

Many songs by Earth, Wind and Fire are special to me, but it is listening to After the Love has Gone<\/em> that really takes me back to one of last year\u2019s fondest memories, when I visited my parents during the summer holiday. Strolling downtown in my father\u2019s car, I was changing the radio until I stumbled upon the classic music station. A song was playing and my dad immediately grabbed my hand so that I wouldn\u2019t move on to the next station. With a grin he just said: \u201cThis song is an instant classic, it just takes me back in time!\u201d My dad started singing to it in his hilarious broken English. Fortunately, I knew the song as well, so I enthusiastically joined his lonely chorus. Through that experience, I saw how music could easily bridge an evident generational gap.<\/p>\n

As the song finishes, I snap back into my living room with an empty coffee mug. Following my routine, I stand up, lift the record from the player and look into my vinyl crate for another memory.<\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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