First question I get asked: How do you say umberlune?
Here it is: uhm-ber-loon
Next question: What does it mean?
Here's the story…
One night when I was a child, I had the sudden and wonder filled realization that moonlight casts shadows. That might sound strange, but I grew up in cities (Montreal & Ottawa). If I was outside at night, there were usually streetlights, car lights, porch lights, etc… One fortuitous evening, however, while visiting family friends who lived way out in the country, I went cross-country skiing under the light of a full moon. I could barely take my eyes off my moon cast shadow, racing with me through the blue-ish, midnight snow. It wasn't that I didn't know that the moon, reflecting the sun's light, could cast shadows, I had just never really thought about it before.
Then I started thinking about it. A lot. For years, actually. It eventually occurred to me that the shapes cast by the moon's light simply could not be called shadows; it just wouldn't do. I put together the Latin words for shadow and moon, umbra and luna. I guess I'm a word nerd from way back!
Last question: Why do you call yourself umberlune?
When I started making music, I mean really writing and creating original songs, and started calling myself a musician, I just sort of knew that the name for that was also umberlune. It was a clear, distinct understanding.
umberlune
uhm-ber-loon or uhm-ber-loon
Noun: umberlune
In the absence of other light sources, the shadows cast and the casting of shadows by the moon, especially a full moon
It is used in the singular, plural or collective
Proper noun: umberlune
Canadian singer-songwriter, AKA Sarah Foster, as well as her musical and creative output whether performed live or recorded
The first letter is never capitalized (unless the rest of the word is also in all upper case).
Image credit: umberlune