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Topic: A word of many resonances, Amethyst< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
nightspore Offline




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Posted: July 27 2020, 04:24

The many different meanings and nuances of the word "Amarok" have been mentioned on this forum. Last night another one suddenly occurred to me: "amethyst" is also a stone, and shares the first two of its three syllables with "amarok". Perhaps, too, the "r" in "amarok" is borrowed from the other similar-sounding gem, emerald. And of course, emerald is Mr Oldfield's birthstone.

Amethyst + Emerald = Amarok.
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nightspore Offline




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Posted: Aug. 02 2020, 00:19

Yet another resonance: "amarok" rearranges to "am okra" - perhaps indicating Mike's fondness for this vegetable.
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bluemlein Offline




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Posted: Sep. 06 2020, 16:53

perhaps he is expressing his maternal qualities "am orka"

really, some of these sillinesses are dated. amarok was a gigantic wolf in inuit mythology.  

in greenland amarok was used to denote the lone hunter wolf who stalked any idiots stupid enough to hunt at night (and a long night it was, leading me to suspect that by the end of it, amarok would have been hardly able to waddle) whereas the rest of the inuit used the term to mean any wolf.

so: is oldfield sending you code that suggests he is wolfish? (perhaps in the musician's sense of so many gigs, so many more girls)

i forget just now, does he howl on any part of this album? ;)
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qcfoetus Offline




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Posted: Sep. 07 2020, 12:16

Quote (bluemlein @ Sep. 06 2020, 16:53)
i forget just now, does he howl on any part of this album? ;)

Yes he does, approximately 36 m 35 s into it! Thanks for this insightful explanation.
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Tom Ciderwell Offline




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Posted: Oct. 04 2020, 11:28

Quote (nightspore @ July 27 2020, 04:24)
Amethyst + Emerald = Amarok.

There is a rock on the moon named Sinus Iridum "bay of rainbows" that sparkles with the sunrise ...

A moon rock

Amethyst + Emerald + Diamond = Amarok (vinyl)

:)
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bluemlein Offline




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Posted: Oct. 09 2020, 14:19

Quote
Yes he does, approximately 36 m 35 s into it!
thanks for that nugget - foetus i am irredeemably bent by the canadian landscape and mindset by now (laid over older, stranger influences)

the "qc" prefix means i have to ask: are you in quebec city??
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qcfoetus Offline




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Posted: Oct. 10 2020, 11:18

[quote=bluemlein,Oct. 09 2020, 14:19]
Quote


the "qc" prefix means i have to ask: are you in quebec city??

I'm north of Montreal, actually. The "qc" prefix refers to the Québec province and to my proud status as a "frog" (to our non-Canadian friends: check out "List of ethnic slurs" on Wikipedia.). :D
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bluemlein Offline




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Posted: Oct. 10 2020, 13:35

i'm in st kitts, qcfoetus. quebec holds an honoured place in north america (supported by l'acadie, au nouveau-brunswick et dans l'etat de louisiana, n'est-ce pas?) it's good to have non-anglo input on anything, particulairement les croissants fourres avec les abricots. do you ever find that your perception and interpretation of oldfield's (or other musicians';) works differs from your anglo friends'?
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bluemlein Offline




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Posted: Oct. 10 2020, 13:43

or maybe  he meant amarok as in simon et garfunkle's

i amarok, i am an island,

referring to his absolute determination to remain out of immediate reach of journos, fans, fiends, critics et al.
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nightspore Offline




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Posted: Oct. 10 2020, 21:58

No man is an island, but let's hope all are continent.  :p
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qcfoetus Offline




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Posted: Oct. 11 2020, 18:55

Quote (bluemlein @ Oct. 10 2020, 13:35)
i'm in st kitts, qcfoetus. quebec holds an honoured place in north america (supported by l'acadie, au nouveau-brunswick et dans l'etat de louisiana, n'est-ce pas?) it's good to have non-anglo input on anything, particulairement les croissants fourres avec les abricots. do you ever find that your perception and interpretation of oldfield's (or other musicians';) works differs from your anglo friends'?

Ah, St. Kitts! I was there once, briefly, while cruising the Caribbean.  Lovely place. To my knowledge, Mike has never been *hugely* popular in Quebec (or the rest of Canada, for that matter). Probably not a language thing, though, as US/British music is prevalent in our media. I'd say Mike never got (sought?) the same exposure on this side of the Atlantic as he got in Europe. He toured us only once (Montréal 1982), and I was there! The Wilfrid-Pelletier hall (one of the city's largest) was packed, and a crowd of 3,000+ cheered at the top of their lungs. A fit greeting for a true international star!
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Tom Ciderwell Offline




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Posted: Oct. 11 2020, 19:30

Quote (nightspore @ Oct. 10 2020, 21:58)
No man is an island, but let's hope all are continent.

I did a Google search for an Amarok sailship. As it happens there was one as part of the Greenland Patrol Fleet.

The Amarok was involved in rescuing the crew of the Terra Nova, when the ship ran into trouble and sank on its way to Bell Island in Newfoundland. Although another GP ship got there first and the Amarok turned back, what I find curious is that the Terra Nova is a kind of sibling to the RRS Discovery - both ships built by the same shipbuilding company, and both ships had took Cpt. Scott to the south pole.

Listening to the Discovery song I don't see any interrelationship between music and events, or for that matter, serving any useful meaning or purpose whatsoever :p so, here endeth my history lesson.
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