In the summer of 1999,
a nine-year-old little Korean girl filled her days with the medieval European fantasies of Blackmore’s Night.
My parents brought home a Blackmore’s Night CD from the United States.
The delicate acoustic instruments, the medieval costumes,
the imagery of nature and wandering —
my mum was enchanted by it all.
She once told me that she heard the song for for the first time in a shop in New York.
You know that moment — when a song just catches you,
for no dramatic reason at all.
It happened to her.
Pre-Shazam era, of course, she asked the shop what was playing —
and, romantically enough, the owner knew exactly what it was.
That’s how she learned it was Blackmore’s Night.
The CD came home with her to Korea.
Blackmore and Night were truly golden.
Blackmore’s Night — the project of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and vocalist Candice Night — builds its sound around Renaissance and medieval textures, acoustic instruments, and a deliberate refusal of modern urgency.
Yup. The band name simply comes from their surnames. Easy and perfect!
When I opened the transparent CD case and unfolded the liner notes tucked inside,
an ethereal, storybook world would open quietly before me.
I would look closely at the image of Candice Night.
To me, she seemed like a fallen fairy.
The dress, messy golden hair with the calm setting behind her, it all felt magical.
Even whilst playing The Lion King when I was 9,
I kept the CD standing upright in front of the screen!
Then in 2023, it started all again,
traveling through Dartmoor in England,
driving across those enchanted, rolling green hills,
as if struck by sudden lightning,
their music flashed through my mind.
For the first time in decades,
I pressed play on Blackmore’s Night again.
That album I had looped about hundreds of times —
it still pressed into my heart..
I suppose I have always been someone
who feels a bit of thrill in breaking open time and space,
as I listen, write, and suddenly find this in Kyoto now.
I sit with my coffee and play one of my favourite songs of theirs,
Wind in the Willows,
Castles And Dreams
and Be Mine Tonight.
They’re on our new playlist.
Love and light - - - *