Tuesday 1 December 2009

An example for all of us

Today, Ramses Shaffy (born 1933) died. He was a popular and much-loved singer and actor throughout my youth, and most of all he was a bohemian with a life-long love of life. In his own words, he "had a little bit too much love" and he "loved alcohol". I was happy to see him two years ago in a very emotional and fragile performance on Amsterdam's Rembrandtplein. He was extremely charming, positive, full of life, curious and friendly. The comments today from other Dutch singers, and average people on the street, say it all:
"he lived"
"he didn't care about yesterday or tomorrow, he lived today"
"all of Amsterdam was in love with him"
"i think we would all have wanted to swap our lifes with him"
May he rest in peace.
This song "Zing, vecht, huil, bid, lach, werk, bewonder" translates as "sing, fight, cry, pray, smile, work and admire"

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