NEWS
Press Release via AS Written, May 2023
MICK REACHES ACROSS BORDERS WITH NEW SINGLE
Folk songsmith MICK CITERN WALSH has returned to the airwaves with a new single that truly showcases a unique international element. In the great tradition of folk music, the song weaves a tale of hurt and remembrance, whilst shining a light on a dark moment in history.
The singer/songwriter’s May 26th release might also have marked a memorable first, as the song – SCAIP FUIL mo CHOMRÁDAÍ sa FEABHRA – is an Irish language version of the Bengali song, Amar Vaiyer Rokte Rangano (full title, Amar Vaiyer Rokte Rangano Ekushe February, Ami Ki Vulite Pari?, meaning, My Brother’s Blood Spattered 21 February, Can I forget That?).
Mick’s version ‘as gaeilge’ becomes the 13th language in which the song – written in recognition of International Mother Language Day (February 21st) in Bangladesh – has been recorded.
Mick’s single, however, has the distinction and honour of being the first foreign-language version of the song to be recorded outside of Bangladesh (previous recordings of Amar Vaiyer Rokte Rangano were by Bangladeshi university students).
“There are many reasons why being asked to record an Irish language version of this particular song was such an honour”, shares the Waterford native.
“The fact that I’d be adding a rendition in my own native language to a catalogue of more than twenty other languages was an opportunity that I couldn’t turn down, and a request that I didn’t need very long to consider saying yes to when I was asked to consider it by a gentleman called Syad Rahman. Syad has made his home in Ireland for the past thirty years, and is a former President of the Bangladesh Association of Ireland (B.A.I.). He’s also the founder of the International Mother Language Day Book Fair in Ireland, as well as also being the man behind the Bengali Cultural Festival in Kilkenny, the biggest Bengali cultural program in Ireland.
Mick continued, “So it’s a great privilege for me personally, as an artist, to be the one who gets to bring an Irish dimension to the subject, something that holds such a poignant and solemn place in the hearts of the Bangladeshi people.”
International Mother Language Day, which Mick’s new single symbolically marks in his own mother-tongue, reflects on the ultimate sacrifice made by several Bengali students, all for the love of their own language, more than seventy years ago.
“It’s a shocking story”, observes Mick, noting, “but one that I think Irish people – given our own history in this regard – will connect with in a very emotional way”.
Mick, who lives in Kilkenny, where he has become a mainstay of the ‘live’ music scene, continued, “In Pakistan, in 1948, Urdu was seen and treated as the only official and permissible language. And this was despite East Pakistan being a Bengali-speaking majority. So this rightly and naturally caused outrage. This outrage, as you’d expect, led to many protests. The way the Pakistani government decided to deal with those public demonstrations was to outlaw them”.
Four years later, however, as a group of students defied this law to continue their protests, tragedy – inevitably – struck.
“In 1952, having been fired at with tear-gas and with several students being arrested, there was an attempt to storm the legislative building of the East Bengal Assembly. In the confrontation that resulted, at least five students were killed, and hundreds more were injured. A tragedy, by any measure. That date – February 21st – is now revered in Bangladesh, and is a public holiday. In commemoration of that day’s terrible events, a sculpture called the Shaheed Minar (a representation of which is featured on the cover of Mick’s single), was erected at the site of the massacre. Bangladeshi celebrate International Mother Language Day by placing flowers at the Shaheed Minar and other sites where replicas of the sculpture are on display, with some being found in countries such as the United States, Canada, and Australia.”
After a nine-month war during which more than three-million Bengalis made the ultimate sacrifice, Bangladesh won its independence on December 16th, 1971. The Mother Language movement is widely acknowledged as having played a deeply significant role in the path to independence.
Amar Vaiyer Rokte Rangano was translated into Irish by Tom O’ Donoghue, an old school friend of Mick’s. Adding a further international dimension to proceedings, Tom, who is an author and a professor, now lives in Perth in Australia, having taught in Papua, New Guinea. The pair grew up together in Lismore in the 1960s.
Mick performed SCAIP FUIL mo CHOMRÁDAÍ sa FEABHRA at the International Mother Language Day Book Fair (this will be the third running of this event) held in Dublin City University on Sunday, May 28th, when he was also interviewed by two UK based Bangladeshi TV stations.
Follow Mick on Facebook for full details (search Mickciternwalsh).
~ SCAIP FUIL mo CHOMRÁDAÍ sa FEABHRA, the NEW SINGLE from MICK CITERN WALSH, is OUT NOW, available on all platforms. Scaip Fuil mo Chomrádaí sa Feabhra is an Irish language version of the Bengali song Amar Vaiyer Rokte Rangano.
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