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I have written about the beauty of the heathland, and I’ve been there a lot of times lately – but of course it is my neighbourghood ….. and again today I spend the whole day deep buried in the beauty of this heatland – though it wasn’t only for joy,  because a friend and I were there as First Aiders at a motocross event for children and youngsters. Luckily nobody was hurt, so we sat the whole day long enjoying the early spring sun, the wind and the nature.

After 10 hours in the sun your skin feels exactly as if you’d spend an hour at the westcoast – and that was exactly what got me to think and to miss the coast – I really hope I’ll get the possibility to go there in this Easter vacation. The coast, the area, where you really are set free, the place of hope, dreams, myths, legends, connections and farewell – the place where everything is possible.

There are a lot of songs connected to the sea, and I love a lot of them, but this evening I got to think of two songs. The one is from Lars Lilholt band – they are very present in my mind, because yesterday I got tickets to one of the first concerts with the band – a rehersalsession – that’s really great. The song is called “the seal woman” or “The selkie woman”

The other song is a brandnew song from Andrew Huggan called “The selkie’s song”  – a very nice song, which hit me right in the heart because both melody and text hit  the feelings I have when I sit out there on the outer groyne and get the wind and spindrift in the head and look at Scotland and dreaming me away - my head is being emptied of every day, week, month heavy thoughts – that is where you come to feel free and able to do everything – it’s just there, you get recharged and get plenty of energy and courage for taking new decisions in life - AND  here your imagination, dreams and creativity grows – that is the epitome of everything beautiful and nice and bright, and at the same time it is brutal and dangerous … .. I really believe it is the  most beautiful place of the world. 

Andrew Huggan sings about how he as a child got aware of the selkie’s song – and it is with him wherever he goes. You can almost hear the waves in his song, and see the selkies at the shore.  Andrew Huggan describes how he has traveled around in Scotland and heard the seals singing, as they always do at Dornoch Firth, which is a small place, located on the north side of Invernessfiord – at the eastern shore of Scotland … .. So is there anything to say to that caught by such a song – the song of the seal sent from  Scotland and across the water to the edge of my little paradise – the shores of “Vesterhavet”.

 Listen to the song here: http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/1356918

 

The Seal woman by Lars Lilholt is taken from the myth of seals who can take human forms and go on shore – a very beautiful story … .. about a young fisherman, who falls in love with a beautiful woman one night. She is a sealwoman – and he builds a house for them away from the water. They got lots of kids and live happily till one day he goes fishing when it is stormy. The wife tries to avoid him going, but he will not listen and his ship sinks. His seal-woman rescues him, but dies herself, and he gets crazy because of love and emptiness.

It should be clear that both songs (again) show some  common roots between the Danish and Scottish cultures. Though it is said that the myths about the selkie primarily are found in the faroese, Icelandic, Irish and Scottish cultures – but as shown here also the Danish. It is clear in the language too, selkie or selch is the scottish word for seal – the old English is seolh and the Danish sæl or sael.

Again we’ve got a lot in common – as if I haven’t said that before – and each time I find new common things, I once again get confirmed in my love – to the sea – to Denmark, Scotland, the Nordic culture, all my roots – and I find the whisper from that old common history in every wave in the sea and in every windy wet breeze I get in my face each time I stand at the shore of my paradise ……and even when I sit in the middle of the heathland of Jutland   – amazing what music can do

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