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MATSUYAMA KAGAMI (The Mirror of Matsuyama) / after 'Moon'

from Three​-​Crossing River (after YOKAI) by Laura Sampson

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about

This track, inspired by me looking at Maurer & Moore's 'Moon' retells the noh version of famous folk tale MATSUYAMA KAGAMI (The Mirror of Matsuyama), and explores heredity, protection, and the idea of some being able to see what others can't. Crazy, or gifted, or somewhere between?

View this and the other images from YŌKAI at White Conduit Projects gallery, London (until 27/2/22) and at www.maurer-moore.com.

lyrics

There are mirrors that allow you to see people who are dead, as if they were still alive. There was once a father, whose daughter owned a mirror. In it, she said, she could see her dead mother. He hesitated before breaking it to her that what she saw was her own reflection - a daughter, whose face is the image of her mother’s. Together, they looked into the mirror - of course - it's nothing but what you see when you look into the face of a pond! Their happy tears clouded their reflections.

But there was more to it than that - more to the mirror than that. And it was the hearts of the father and daughter, not their eyes, that were clouded.

Because the mother WAS inside the mirror.

The mirror was a magical relic, once split in half by an ancient Chinese emperor and his wife, so they could look and remember each other while he was away. He forgot her and remarried - but the wife’s magpie companion miraculously transformed into the lost half, and the mirror was made whole again.

The mother was stuck inside that mirror with a demon trying his best to pull her to hell. That was, until her daughter - not mad, gifted - recognised her, and released her.

What is here and what is there - what is real and what is fabrication, is a matter of perspectives. Which are as changeable as the Asuka river, and that other river, which we will all cross, one way or another, one day.

credits

from Three​-​Crossing River (after YOKAI), released February 15, 2022
Laura Sampson: Words, vocals
Sam Enthoven: Sounds, mixing
Stephan Barrett: Sounds

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about

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wordbird London, UK

Laura Sampson is a storyteller and writer from London, UK, inspired by world myth and folklore.

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