Marvellous soundtrack this weekend.

Love Glasto weekends to discover (or even rediscover) music.  Missed being at Glasto in person but still pretty good to see it on TV in the safety of my home...  :)

Foster The People 'Coming of Age'  Great track, how did I miss it?!?!?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBqzrj18S2w

Shugo Tokumaru 'Rum Hee' Not at glasto, randomly happened upon it!  Little Big Planet Soundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FJ99ju9rfw

Wolf Alice 'Bros' New band sounding pretty cool!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M96C8TB-lG0

Arcade Fire 'Reflector' The greatest band in the world at the moment!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp4gm544kHI

Warpaint 'Undertow' Excellant all female band capturing the 90s alt sound.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jeZ8KnjyXQ

Love peace and mud!

Delving through the old archives

This song is ancient.  April 1996.  Written by a 15 year old me, sung by a 33 year old me.  



'Do You See Me Cry For You?'

Look at you sitting opposite me, looking so pretty
Now and then I look at you, you don't look back, you never do
You never notice, what I go through just for you
  
    One day
    I won't be tongue tied
    And I will tell you what you mean to me

Your hair's so dark it could hide the stars, glittering pretty your chocolate eyes make me drool
Now and then you talk to me, it feels so great,
It's written in the stars, can never go wrong

    Some day
    I won't be tongue tied
    And we'll look back and say
    Wasn't it nice back then

        Do you see me cry for you?
        I'd paint they sky red for you
        I'd steal the stars just for you to put against your hair

        I think I love you, no I'm sure I love you
        Do you care, you're never aware, you never notice what you do to me?

        Do you see me cry for you?
        You light the candle you put it out...

Now I need to work on getting simpleton back together for a 20 year reunion...!

3 Million Dead - The Forgotten Genocide

(originally posted on MySpace blog 2010)

Today is Language Martyr Day or International Mother Tongue Day. This is a day in Bangladesh that commemorates the language movement, especially those who died for it.

History

Partition of India involved separating Muslim majority areas from those that were Hindu majority due to communal tensions. Some people wanted it, some people did not. Unfortunately it still happened.

Two pieces of India were carved out to form West and East Pakistan, 1000 miles apart with India in between. Logistical stupidity?

East Pakistan was made mainly out of East Bengal, leaving West Bengal in India. Culturally and geographically East Pakistan had absolutely nothing in common with West Pakistan; religion did not unite two completely different peoples. That is not a dig at religion, people who are different cannot be united by it and what happened between West and East Pakistan shows this.

The mainstream Pakistan government decided that the state language should be Urdu, despite the fact East Pakistanis (East Bengalis) clearly were the majority population wise. I.e. there were more speakers of Bengali than Urdu.

There were many protests against this decision. Students died. This is where Language Martyr Day comes from. One should have the right to be able to speak their mother tongue; one culture should not suppress another.

1947-1971 West and East Pakistan still did try to exist together, but for many reasons it did not work. Eventually war broke out and acts of genocide. The Bangladesh Genocide is the forgotten genocide, after the Holocaust it's one of the biggest: 3 million dead.

The West Pakistan Army decided that the problem was Bengali Culture, that by destroying it that would help create a unified West/East Pakistan. People were brainwashed into thinking Bengali culture was not Islamic. But Urdu containing a few words of Arabic is an Islamic language, even though it's derived from Persian and Hindi languages that had nothing to do with the Arabs.

Hindus that had not migrated were targeted at first. To the point that if they were unable to tell if a man was Muslim or Hindu they would check to see if they were circumcised. If you have a foreskin you're going to die, otherwise we might let you live.

Then the intelligentsia. People who were considered the intellectuals of East Bengal society were rounded up. Killed for their art. My Mother tells me stories of going into hiding, not only themselves but their books. They were not allowed to show any signs of being an educated family. Imagine being killed for being able to read a book?

After a bitter war and help from India, East Pakistan became independent as Bangladesh in 1971. A secular country united by a common culture rather than just religion. Secularism – the way forward is together. Unfortunately these events are being forgotten, and worse still the current Bangladesh government has done nothing to bring those who collaborated to justice. Worse still the crazy religious extremism that lead to the genocides has not completely died, which is a bit sad considering how many people died.

Anyways I am writing this rather sombre blog as me doing my part to make sure these events are not forgotten. This is what Language Martyr Day is about. Please Re-Tweet, please forward, awareness is in our hands.

Please read this:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_genocide 

 

http://www.genocidebangladesh.org/ 

It's an oldie... But a newie...

Someone asked me to sing them a lullaby.  I remembered this song of mine...

Sleep Lullaby

Sleep my sweet, sleep my sweet

Tomorrow is another day

When the morning comes for you

You will wake to glisten again

In the morning air...

Sleep my dear, sleep my dear

I hope you find me in your dreams

When the morning begins to be

I will hold you in sunlight

In the morning air...

            And I will whisper in your ear

            Words to make the monster disappear

            A song to keep you here

            Hide you away from all your fear

When the night comes, when the night comes

I will leave a light on for you

Watch you sleep and watch you dream

You are safe in my arms

Till another day...

Sleep my love, sleep my love

I will wait till sunrise

The night will burst with the gold of the dawn...

 CLICKMEEE