In the Delius (Song of Summer) video, KB plays the Swan (obviously!) and PB plays the part of Delius, upon the bank, wearing an 'Apollonian sun mask'.
The sun mask could reference Apollo or an Egyptian solar deity, such as Ra, or Amun-Ra (Amun merged with the sun god Ra)...
And the cover of AERIAL repeats the solar disc reference, becoming one big solar mask.
The Delius (Song of Summer) video seems very much to reference the ancient world.
Sources of inspiration could be:
1) Homeric Hymn 21 to Apollo...
Phoibos [Apollon], of you even the swan sings
with clear voice to the beating of his wings,
as he alights upon the bank by the eddying river Peneios;
and of you the sweet-tongued minstrel, holding his high-pitched lyre,
always sings both first and last.
And so hail to you lord! I seek your favour with my song.
APOLLO & ARTEMIS: The sun and the moon...
APOLLO was the god of the sun. Each day he drove his chariot of fiery horses across the sky to give light to the world. [Aerial Sky?] Apollo was believed to be one of the best archers. He was the son of Leto and Zeus, and also the twin brother of the virgin huntress Artemis. Apollo was also the Greek god of music and poetry and the hymns that were sung to Apollo were called paeans. Apollo was the leader of the Muses and also the expert director of their choir. Apollo became god of the sun and Artemis became goddess of the moon.
ARTEMIS was associated with the moon as her brother the sun. Artemis, goddess of the Moon, is the quintessential female archetype. Artemis is known as the goddess of the night, the huntress, the goddess of fruitfulness, Lady of the Beasts, the woodland goddess, the bull goddess, the personification of the moon. The association between Artemis and the moon is revealed in one of the epithets used to describe the goddess - Phoebe ("the bright one").
2) Winged Maat Paying Homage to Hathor, Valley of the Queens, Egypt. Dynasty XIX 1270 B.C.
This scene shows the Goddess Maat kneeling with her wings extended in a pose of paying homage to the Goddess Hathor who is seated on a throne. Maat is the Goddess of Truth and Justice who personifies cosmic order and harmony as established by the Creator-God at the beginning of time. Her symbol is an ostrich feather on her head. Hathor is the great Sky-Goddess often represented as a cow who became known as a universal Mother-Goddess. Hathor was the Goddess of joy and motherhood and the embodiment of all that is best in women. Hathor was also considered the Goddess of music, dance, light-hearted pleasure and love. She was considered the protectress of pregnant women and midwives. The goddess Hathor later became assimilated with the goddess Isis.
3) Relief of the goddess Isis from the Temple Philae.
Egyptian goddess Isis protecting a mummified pharaoh, a late Ptolemic relief from the Philae Temple, which was first built in the thirtieth dynasty, c. 380-343 B.C. as a temple to Hathor and later enlarged by Greek and Roman rulers of Ancient Egypt who built temples to Isis and Osiris.
In Egyptian mythology, the goddess Isis is the wife and sister of Osiris and the mother of Horus. The goddess Isis, a moon goddess, gave birth to Horus, the god of the sun, and together, Isis and Horus created and sustained all life and were the saviors of their people.
Isis was worshipped as the archetypal wife and mother. Her name literally means "she of throne", that is, "Queen of the throne", which was portrayed by the emblem worn on her head, that of a throne. However, the hieroglyph of her name originally meant "she of flesh", i.e. mortal, and she may simply have represented deified, historical queens. She also is known as being the goddess of magic and healing. Ancient Egyptians believed that the Nile flooded every year because of her tears of sorrow for her dead husband, Osiris. He was killed by her other evil brother, Seth, god of chaos and destruction. Seth sliced Osiris into bits and flung them into the Nile River, letting the animals eat the remains of his body. However, all the pieces survived, except for one of them.
Throughout the Graeco-Roman world, Isis becomes one of the most significant of the mystery religions, and many classical writers refer to her temples, cults and rites. Temples to Isis were built in Iraq, Greece, Rome, Pompeii. At Philae her worship persisted until the sixth century, long after the wide acceptance of Christianity. Philae was the last of the ancient Egyptian temples to be closed, and its fall is generally accepted to mark the end of ancient Egypt.
After her assimilation of Hathor, Isis's headdress is replaced with that of Hathor: the horns of a cow on her head, and the solar disc between them. Usually, she was depicted with her young son, the great god Horus, with a crown and a vulture, and sometimes as a kite flying above Osiris's body or with the dead Osiris across her lap. Some scholars believe that Isis worship in late Roman times was an influence behind Catholic development of the cult of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
4) On the NFE vinyl centre label, KB appears as 'The White Swan'.
In Swan Lake, an evil sorcerer, von Rothbart, has captured Odette and used his magic to turn Odette into a swan by day and a woman by night. Once Prince Siegfried knows her story, he takes great pity and falls in love with her. When they realise the spell can never be broken, both Odette and Siegfried drown themselves by leaping into the lake... The Ninth Wave? Ophelia? etc.
@Theresa_Gionoffrio it's simply about Frédéric Delius, a poet who died of Syphilis.
And the reference to "AERIAL"? there's no link whatsoever; do you know how many years are between those two albums? (Never Forever was released in 1980 and Aerial in 2005. No links whatsoever.
@Theresa_Gionoffrio it's simply about Frédéric Delius, a poet who died of Syphilis.
And the reference to "AERIAL"? there's no link whatsoever; do you know how many years are between those two albums? (Never Forever was released in 1980 and Aerial in 2005. No links whatsoever.
YOUTUBE: Kate Bush - Delius - Song of Summer
In the Delius (Song of Summer) video, KB plays the Swan (obviously!) and PB plays the part of Delius, upon the bank, wearing an 'Apollonian sun mask'.
The sun mask could reference Apollo or an Egyptian solar deity, such as Ra, or Amun-Ra (Amun merged with the sun god Ra)... And the cover of AERIAL repeats the solar disc reference, becoming one big solar mask.
The Delius (Song of Summer) video seems very much to reference the ancient world. Sources of inspiration could be:
1) Homeric Hymn 21 to Apollo... Phoibos [Apollon], of you even the swan sings with clear voice to the beating of his wings, as he alights upon the bank by the eddying river Peneios; and of you the sweet-tongued minstrel, holding his high-pitched lyre, always sings both first and last. And so hail to you lord! I seek your favour with my song.
APOLLO & ARTEMIS: The sun and the moon...
APOLLO was the god of the sun. Each day he drove his chariot of fiery horses across the sky to give light to the world. [Aerial Sky?] Apollo was believed to be one of the best archers. He was the son of Leto and Zeus, and also the twin brother of the virgin huntress Artemis. Apollo was also the Greek god of music and poetry and the hymns that were sung to Apollo were called paeans. Apollo was the leader of the Muses and also the expert director of their choir. Apollo became god of the sun and Artemis became goddess of the moon.
ARTEMIS was associated with the moon as her brother the sun. Artemis, goddess of the Moon, is the quintessential female archetype. Artemis is known as the goddess of the night, the huntress, the goddess of fruitfulness, Lady of the Beasts, the woodland goddess, the bull goddess, the personification of the moon. The association between Artemis and the moon is revealed in one of the epithets used to describe the goddess - Phoebe ("the bright one").
2) Winged Maat Paying Homage to Hathor, Valley of the Queens, Egypt. Dynasty XIX 1270 B.C.
This scene shows the Goddess Maat kneeling with her wings extended in a pose of paying homage to the Goddess Hathor who is seated on a throne. Maat is the Goddess of Truth and Justice who personifies cosmic order and harmony as established by the Creator-God at the beginning of time. Her symbol is an ostrich feather on her head. Hathor is the great Sky-Goddess often represented as a cow who became known as a universal Mother-Goddess. Hathor was the Goddess of joy and motherhood and the embodiment of all that is best in women. Hathor was also considered the Goddess of music, dance, light-hearted pleasure and love. She was considered the protectress of pregnant women and midwives. The goddess Hathor later became assimilated with the goddess Isis.
3) Relief of the goddess Isis from the Temple Philae.
Egyptian goddess Isis protecting a mummified pharaoh, a late Ptolemic relief from the Philae Temple, which was first built in the thirtieth dynasty, c. 380-343 B.C. as a temple to Hathor and later enlarged by Greek and Roman rulers of Ancient Egypt who built temples to Isis and Osiris.
In Egyptian mythology, the goddess Isis is the wife and sister of Osiris and the mother of Horus. The goddess Isis, a moon goddess, gave birth to Horus, the god of the sun, and together, Isis and Horus created and sustained all life and were the saviors of their people.
Isis was worshipped as the archetypal wife and mother. Her name literally means "she of throne", that is, "Queen of the throne", which was portrayed by the emblem worn on her head, that of a throne. However, the hieroglyph of her name originally meant "she of flesh", i.e. mortal, and she may simply have represented deified, historical queens. She also is known as being the goddess of magic and healing. Ancient Egyptians believed that the Nile flooded every year because of her tears of sorrow for her dead husband, Osiris. He was killed by her other evil brother, Seth, god of chaos and destruction. Seth sliced Osiris into bits and flung them into the Nile River, letting the animals eat the remains of his body. However, all the pieces survived, except for one of them.
Throughout the Graeco-Roman world, Isis becomes one of the most significant of the mystery religions, and many classical writers refer to her temples, cults and rites. Temples to Isis were built in Iraq, Greece, Rome, Pompeii. At Philae her worship persisted until the sixth century, long after the wide acceptance of Christianity. Philae was the last of the ancient Egyptian temples to be closed, and its fall is generally accepted to mark the end of ancient Egypt.
After her assimilation of Hathor, Isis's headdress is replaced with that of Hathor: the horns of a cow on her head, and the solar disc between them. Usually, she was depicted with her young son, the great god Horus, with a crown and a vulture, and sometimes as a kite flying above Osiris's body or with the dead Osiris across her lap. Some scholars believe that Isis worship in late Roman times was an influence behind Catholic development of the cult of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
4) On the NFE vinyl centre label, KB appears as 'The White Swan'. In Swan Lake, an evil sorcerer, von Rothbart, has captured Odette and used his magic to turn Odette into a swan by day and a woman by night. Once Prince Siegfried knows her story, he takes great pity and falls in love with her. When they realise the spell can never be broken, both Odette and Siegfried drown themselves by leaping into the lake... The Ninth Wave? Ophelia? etc.
@Theresa_Gionoffrio it's simply about Frédéric Delius, a poet who died of Syphilis. And the reference to "AERIAL"? there's no link whatsoever; do you know how many years are between those two albums? (Never Forever was released in 1980 and Aerial in 2005. No links whatsoever.
@Theresa_Gionoffrio it's simply about Frédéric Delius, a poet who died of Syphilis. And the reference to "AERIAL"? there's no link whatsoever; do you know how many years are between those two albums? (Never Forever was released in 1980 and Aerial in 2005. No links whatsoever.