WEIR: The Voice of Desire: 2. White Eggs In the Bush

COMPOSER: Judith Weir
Alice Coote, mezzo-soprano
Graham Johnson, piano
BBC Proms Chamber Music recital, Monday, July 16, 2007.

(TEXT: "Blue Cuckoo" -- from HUNTER POEMS OF THE YORUBA, translated by Ulli Beier)

The blue cuckoo
lays white eggs in the bush.
When war captures the town
the blue cuckoo cries:
"Kill twenty, kill twenty!"
The red-bellied coucal cries:
"Kill thirty, kill thirty!"
Then death will not fail to come,
then death will not fail to come.
When men begin war,
the blue cuckoo cries:
"Fools, fools!"
The red-bellied coucal cries:
"The world is spoiled!"
Then death cannot fail to come,
then death cannot fail to come.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• alice
• coote
• judith
• weir
• graham
• johnson
• mezzosoprano
• composer
• song
• cycle
• voice
• of
• desire
• yoruba
• white
• eggs
• in
• the
• bush
• piano

[beteltree]

R.I.P Horst Ulrich (Ulli) Beier (30 July 1922 – 3 April 2011) who translated "Blue Cuckoo" from the HUNTER POEMS OF THE YORUBA.

[obinna022]

rest in perfect peace master of the modern day arts.