Kate McGarrigle, 1946-2010

各位（如果還有人在看的話）不要被英文嚇跑。偶的英文粉簡單的。國中單字程度足已。

I came to know Kate McGarrigle's music from,sadly, the articles that memorize her after she passed away of a rare cancer last month. Her last piece, Properpina became the first one I heard. It's so emotional to hear this song when you know that this gifted and graceful lady was suffering from cancer for years and this was her last night to share her works with fans. This "Not so silent night" concert was held in London one month before she left the world, at the concert Kate and her family & friends performed together to fundraise for cancer research.

I immediately fell in love with her folk music style. Yet what really moves me is her passion: passion for music and life. Her family are all talented singers (her son is Rufus Wainwright and her daughter is Martha Wainwright, and so are ex-husband and her sister Anna....) and the bonding they showed in the last concert touched me deeply. Kate's health seemed wasn't well then and you can see the family and friends were there to support and keep her in good spirit through their beautiful voices.

Kate began the song with an introduction in simple piano chords:
“It’s a story of Persephone, or Proserpina, as I’ve chosen to do it, and this is a song about her. Proserpina causes winter. I’m not going to explain it, you can look it up later. She runs away with Pluto and goes to the dark world, and her mother gets very angry, because she doesn’t come back. Her mother is the goddess of good stuff, like food. So they make a deal that her mother gets her six months of the year, and her husband, who lives underground, gets her the other six.”
(sources and a short biographic account of Kate: http://www.vanityfair.com/online/culture/2010/01/20/kate-mcgarrigle-a-tribute.html)

Here is the lyrics. The melody and lyrics is so simple yet full of love and sadness. My tears welled up when I watched the clip, not only because of the heavy heart of her passing but also about the inspiration of a wonderful life. And a song about mother-daughter-bond like this always comforts me when I feel to cry. Kate's music and life confirm me again that the healing power of art, any kinds, can be great and transformative. I can only hope that before I leave this world, I am able to offer something to people who I know or not, even in a very trivial way. I hope I can be a provider of healing power, rather than just be a consumer (if not a parasite...).

Dear Kate, thanks for your beautiful music. R.I.P.