Limburg alone by Jo Erens. According to Luc Appermont it could easily be the national anthem of Limburg. But it also reminds him of his late father who suffered from dementia. “When I sang this to him, he responded. Then there was precise contact,” he tells Bent Van Looy Singing is gold.
Luc Appermont was the second guest of the second season of Singing is gold on VRT Canvas. Bent Van Looy received the Bilzen presenter in his studio to sing a song of his own choosing. “Or at least an attempt at singing,” Luc laughed. The choice stood out Limburg alone by Jo Erens, an unknown song for Van Looy. “Jo Erens was one of the first troubadours. He comes from Dutch Limburg. For me, what that man created is on the same level as the songs of Jacques Brel. I once incorrectly called it the official anthem of Limburg. But for me it is.”
Dementia
But the song has an even deeper meaning for Appermont. “Both my parents had dementia,” he says, while he is clearly having a hard time. “It was very difficult to have contact with my father when we chatted, showed or told something. But then I sang that song, and then I saw that there was a reaction. He responded to this song. I found that very strange, because he has never been musical himself. But still a recognition came. His eyes opened and there was a contact.”
Luc’s father developed dementia at the age of 80. “We never really had a conversation,” he tells Bent about the contact between father and son. “It was only after he saw that I was not doing badly in my profession that he changed his mind. After that, my parents actually became my biggest fans. In the beginning it was a world that those people did not know.” De Bilzenaar does not blame his father that the contact was difficult. “That really has to do with his upbringing. My father himself comes from a family of eleven children. I can imagine that there was little room for personal conversations there. He also had a hard time when Bart came into my life, but he accepted that in the long run.”
“I think it should urgently become the official national anthem,” concludes Bent Van Looy after accompanying Luc Appermont on the ukulele.
The episode of ‘Singing is gold’ can be rewatched via VRT MAX
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