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Adults with Senile Dementia Reclaim Their Youth with AC/DC Songs

Inspire

Heartrending images show how music is capable of making time and illness disappear for two or three minutes.

In April 2015 one of hard rock’s most legendary guitarists, Malcolm Young, announced his departure from AC/DC, the band that was formed in 1973. The reason: senile dementia. It was sad news for his fans, but it appears to have been a decision that was inevitable, as the 61-year-old could not play iconic songs, such as T.N.T. and Highway to Hell, from memory.

Following the news, Brazilian radio station 89FM interviewed elderly people who suffered from the same condition as Malcolm and coaxed them to remember the old days with AC/DC songs. The aim was to demonstrate that music is a conductor that does not respect age or illnesses.

In this video we see them recall the days of their youth and we can appreciate, at least for an instant, the transformation that the rhythms produce in their bodies through their sound. Which is a reminder that there exists music therapy designed to stimulate patients’ memories. It would appear that, among the many benefits that music brings us, we could include a kind of cognitive regeneration where memory is concerned.

Young now lives in a care home, but the message of this exercise is as clear as his immortal riffs: music is a beautiful messenger, not only of emotions and sensations, but also of memories.

 

 

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