Long before there was a peace process in Ireland, Van Morrison
unwittingly did his bit to unite a nation divided. Born in the heart of
East Belfast in the North, he is revered as a Celtic soul hero in the
South. His music, while rooted in jazz and blues and soul, has an Irish
accenta distinctly Protestant Irish accent. Morrison's songs form a map
of this small islanda map of places, people, and cultures, too. They
evoke a longago Belfast at a time before it became violently divided by
sectarian conflict during the Troubles. They laud literary giants James
Joyce, W.B. Yeats, and Oscar Wilde. They tell of the immigrant
experience, the going away from the land that has long been Ireland's
heartache. And they form a map of Morrison himself, revealing more than
this notoriously difficult character ever would in interviews or
conversations. A Sense Of Wonder is not a biography of Van Morrison.
Rather, it is a journey through the Ireland depicted in his songsa
journey that begins in Hyndford Street, where we encounter the likes of
John McCormack and The McPeake Family, and culminates in a unique
picture of an idyllic, almost mythical Ireland where spirituality trumps
organized religion, and art yields a stronger legacy than politics.
Drawing on original research and interviews with a wide range of
charactersfrom collaborators and associates of Morrison to Northern
Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson and actor Liam Neeson.
