An Appreciation of Phil Coulter's Lake of Shadows At Year's End
One of my passions happens to be Irish Folk Music. Hearing the pipe, tin whistle, curragh drum, spoons, harp and guitar that underscore wonderful lyrics has always brought a smile to my face, and peace to my spirit.
Everyone deserves a little lift of the spirits at this time of the year and there is no better elixir for the blues and the blahs than listening to some fine Irish music.
Great Irish musicians know how to tell stories that capture a mix of joy and pathos. There is none better than Phil Coulter.
His Lake of Shadows is a masterpiece. It's a seventy-minute tribute to simplicity and complexity. It has touched my soul.
Lake of Shadows deals with a pair of tragedies that the Fates had dealt to Phil, and his family, in the vicinity of Lough Swilley, one of the fjord-like incursions that grace the Northern Irish Coast in County Donegal. I won't share with you exactly what happened there, because it's worth your while to discover them for yourself, but I can say that these two tragic events had a profound and lengthy impact upon Coulter and his song-writing.
Lake of Shadows was and is his way of finding meaning behind a pair of inexplicable, senseless and reconcilable losses. His music allowed him to gain a sense of reconciliation.
To whet appetites for what Phil has to say, here just a few haunting words that set the tone of his CD:
" ... I often think about you ... this place is not the same without you ... "
By the way, you won't hear Phil's voice until the very last song on his CD. You will, however, hear the voice of Liam Neesen and those of other famous Irishmen and Irish women add their rather brilliant interpretations to Phil's sweeping scores.
Once you listen to how Phil scores his masterpieces, tears are sure to flow. Mine did, and, hopefully, so will yours.
As we come to the ending days of this rather dismal year, let's keep in-mind and, somehow, come to appreciate the fact that we all carry the baggage and the scars of our losses. It's not their weight that counts, it's how we deal with them despite the certainty that, oftentimes, we don't know how to, nor do we want to, come to terms with them.
After being enveloped into Lake of Shadows, any burden will be lessened.
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