About Me

As a teenager and adolescent, I played guitar and wrote songs, always on an amateur basis. But as the responsibilities of family life took over, the music faded into the background. Later in life, I discovered a love for acting and even worked as a training actor after retirement. The guitar stayed in its case for many years.

That changed in 2020, during the Covid lockdowns, when I rediscovered my guitar—and with it, my passion for songwriting returned. This had a connection with another fact of my life: Two years before in 2018 I had also been diagnosed with a preliminary stage of bone marrow cancer: (still smoldering) Multiple Myeloma, also known as Kahler’s Disease. In July 2021, the cancer was a fact now, the first tumor was found in my neck, leading to radiation treatment and more than a year of chemotherapy. Since then (October 2022), I’ve been successfully receiving ongoing immunotherapy.

When that first tumor was discovered, I had just written my second song, A Stranger In My House.. Without realizing it at the time, that song told me how to live with this cancer. And from that moment on, the guitar and writing songs became a great support to carry all of this with me and reflect on all its aspects. Many of my songs are like conversations with myself—sometimes a plea or prayer, and sometimes a reflection on the lessons I’ve been taught by all the ups and downs along the way. My life partner has been an unwavering source of support through all of it.

Facing this life-threatening illness strips away the illusion that life is endless—an illusion we all live with to some degree. Most of those who have been diagnosed with cancer will recognize this experience. For me, this awareness has been a strange kind of gift, giving life a deeper meaning.. To realize: everyone's life hangs by a thread, of which you do not know how thick it is. It gave birth to the name under which I now share my music: Songs Towards The End.

This website is here to share my story, my music, and to connect with those who are interested in my music, its background and maybe in a performance. I still perform occasionally—at small gatherings, open mics, and for fellow patients, sometimes with an exchange afterwards. My energy, of course, is somewhat limited. That’s why this website, alongside streaming platforms, seems to me a good way to share what I’ve created with a wider circle.

If you’re interested in a performance, whether in a living room or a public space, or if you’d like to talk—especially as a fellow patient or partner—I’d be glad to hear from you. You’ll find ways to contact me on the Contact page. Also; if you'd like to know where my next public performance will take place, just let me know and I'll send you my schedule.

This website contains on the My Song page the lyrics and chords to each of my songs, along with an introduction that explains what inspired them and what they mean to me. You can find and listen to my music on streaming platforms like Spotify, YouTube, iTunes, Apple Music, and Deezer, under my name, Karel Schuurman. On the My Song page, you will find the links to some of these platforms. I’ve also shared some images of performances on my YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/@KarelSchuurman.

On the Media page, you will find an interview with my wife and me about coping with cancer through music with Hematon Magazine, the Dutch magazine for hematological patients.

And now something about the logo and the title. In October 2022 my grandson Oscar made a drawing for my birthday. He was captivated by the phenomenon of perspective. I saw something else in it: the passage to the great Unknown End. And so with Oscar's full approval, the drawing became the logo under which all my songs were placed under the motto: Songs Towards The End.