| I can hear the cry of the geese that fly Between the Mountain and the Moon And the flags that blow in Himalayan snow Are carried like a haunting tune  Prayer flags at Dzogchen Beara a Buddhist centre on the Beara Peninsula in West Cork, Ireland Cover Photo - Luka Bloom |
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As I Waved Goodbye was inspired by Heinrich Harrer » Austrian explorer Soshin is decicated to Maura O'Halloran Love Is A Place I Dream Of is decicated to Christina Noble Hands Of A Farmer is decicated to Micho Russell |
| Heinrich Harrer |
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As I waved goodbye from the riverside |
| Luka Bloom: There is a moment in Heinrich Harrer's book, Seven Years in Tibet, when he describes saying farewell to his friends in Lhasa. It¹s 1950, the Chinese have invaded, and he has to flee. He is in his boat, waving to his friends, looking up to the Potala, where the young Dalai Lama is looking down at him. It is a sad and beautiful moment in a sad, ongoing struggle. I tried to capture the sense of this moment in this song. |
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Heinrich Harrer Seven Years in Tibet, 1944-1951 Wherever I live, I shall feel homesick for Tibet. I often think I can still hear the cries of wild geese and cranes and the beating of their wings as they fly over Lhasa in the clear cold moonlight. My heartfelt wish is that my story may create some understanding for a people whose will to live in peace and freedom has won so little sympathy from an indifferent world. from Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer www.harrerportfolio.com |
Originally published in 1953, this adventure classic recounts Austrian
mountaineer Heinrich Harrer's 1943 escape from a British internment camp in
India, his daring trek across the Himalayas, and his happy sojourn in Tibet,
then, as now, a remote land little visited by foreigners. Warmly welcomed,
he eventually became tutor to the Dalai Lama, teenaged God-King of the
theocratic nation. The author's vivid descriptions of Tibetan rites and
customs capture its unique traditions before the Chinese invasion in 1950,
which prompted Harrer's departure. A 1996 epilogue details the genocidal
havoc wrought over the past half-century.Amazon.com |
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More Books on Tibet - Return to Tibet - by Heinrich Harrer - Lost Lhasa: Heinrich Harrer's Tibet by Heinrich Harrer & Galen Rowell - A collection of hundreds of previously unpublished intimate photographs of the Lhasa that used to be - Freedom in Exile - The autobiography of His Holiness the Dalai Lama |
| Maura O'Halloran |
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Everything in the world is new |
| Luka Bloom: This song is dedicated to Maura O'Halloran. Maura was born on the evening of 24th of May, 1955, in Boston, America; to Irish and American parents. I was born the previous day in Ireland. We were in Trinity College Dublin at the same time, but never met. In the late 70s Maura went to Japan to study Zen Buddhism. She studied in a monastery in Morioka, in Northern Japan, where she was the only woman and only foreigner. The name given to Maura in the monastery was Soshin, meaning 'pure heart, enlightened mind'. In 1982 Maura decided to return to Ireland with great plans, and dreams. Sadly she died in a bus crash in Thailand. Maura's family created a beautiful book called Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind, which presented Maura's diaries, and journals during her time in Japan. The book is a wonderful tribute to Maura. I felt a bond with Maura reading the book, and wrote this song. Beth O'Halloran contributed the lovely sketches accompanying some of the songs on my sleeve package. |
| Maura O'Halloran was born on May 24th, 1955, in Boston. In 1979 she went to Japan to study Zen Buddhism. During her three years of Zen training in Iwate and Tokyo, she was known as Maura-san, or by her monastic name of Soshin-san. She received transmission of her roshi in 1982. Six months later (22nd of October) on her way back to Ireland, she was killed in a bus accident on the road to Chiang-Mai. She continues to be revered as a Buddhist saint by her fellows in the Kannonji Temple. |
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I'd be embarrassed to tell anyone, it sounds so wishy-washy,
but now I have maybe 50 or 60 years (who knows?) of time,
of a life, open, blank, ready to offer. I want to live it for other
people. What else is there to do with it? Not that I expect to
change the world or even a blade of grass but it's as if to give
myself is all I can do, as the flowers have no choice but to blossom. Maura Soshin O'Halloran
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Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind: The Zen Journal and Letters of Maura O'Halloran by Maura O'Halloran and Elizabeth O'Halloran (Illustrator) Berkley Publishing Group (Hardcover - May 1994) Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc. (Paperback - October 1995) Im Herzen der Stille by Manuela Haselberger Krueger Verlag, Frankfurt (1995) |
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Maura O'Halloran was a young Buddhist nun whose diaries were published by her mother after her death in an automobile accident. |
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| Christina Noble |
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Love is a place I dream of |
| Luka Bloom: This song is dedicated to Christina Noble, a great Dublin woman, who has devoted much of her life to giving shelter and love, to children who often have nothing. There are times in your life when you are privileged to be in the presence of greatness, and this was my experience of meeting Christina. |
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The song was written and recorded for Steve Jeffares documentary Mama Tina.
The concept of the documentary was a project that Director Steve Jeffares from Irish descent and living in Australia wanted to do for
many years, after learning about and researching the life and works of Christina Noble. He finally gained support from
RTE Ireland and December Productions in Australia. The one hour documentary was released on RTE in Ireland
in February 1998 and launched by the Irish President, Mary McAleese.
Bridge Across My Sorrows Mama Tina 
Inspired by a dream and motivated by her horrific past as a street child in Ireland, Christina Noble arrived in Vietnam in 1989. Against all odds, she has established the Christina Noble Children's Foundation in Vietnam and Mongolia to provide medical and educational programs for poor children and families. It has helped more than 140,000 children and has fundraising offices around the world. |
| Micho Russell |
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Hands of a farmer and dreams of a child |
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Luka Bloom: Ireland seems to have a rich supply of heroes in the world of music and song. Some are greatly celebrated, others virtually unsung. One of the great Irish legends of my time, was a man from Clare called Micho Russell. A farmer who sowed his oats in Clare, who in his fifties realised that there were people outside Ireland who longed for the music and song he had in his rich veins. Micho sang, played and told stories all over the world for many many people. His greatest gift was the gift of simply being Micho. He loved people, and people surely loved him. I still do. |
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The Well of Spring Water - A memoir of the Clare musicians Packie (1920-1977) and Micho Russell (1915-1994) by Michael Coady "For all his openness and what people may have thought of as his rustic 'simplicity',
ultimately there was something mysteriously inaccessible and opaque about Micho Russell's nature. In the way he
approached the world he was as clear as spring water, you could look into the well, but never comprehend its essential core......
He wore no mask, and perhaps that in itself was the mystery since, in one way or another, we all wear masks." Book Review by Vic Smith
Micho Russell Festival Weekend - Doolin, Co Clare Recordings featuring Micho Russell: |
© Rena Bergholz - Luka Bloom Page