Golden Mother
(2021/2025)
for high voice and orchestra
Instrumentation:
2(II=picc.).2(II=Cor.A).2.2. 4.2.3.0. (timp. + 2perc.) high voice. strings
[Orchestral Suite version available]
Duration: ca. 6'
Golden Mother is part of the song cycle Songs For Mukul, based on poetry from Md Mukul Hossine's poetry collection "Me Migrant" (published by Ethos Books). Transliterated from the original Bengali text by Cyril Wong, these poems explore themes of labour, fatigue, homesickness, love and a transient state of being. The cycle was originally commissioned by The Opera People, premiered by soprano Moira Loh and pianist Pauline Lee in 2021.
The orchestra version of Golden Mother is written for the Singapore Symphony Orchestra for its SSO Mother’s Day Concert 2025. It was premiered by soprano Teng Xiang Ting, led by conductor Lien Boon Hua on Sunday 11 May 25 6.00pm, at Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage, Singapore Botanic Gardens.
Golden Mother
Md Mukul Hossine (tr. Cyril Wong)
Mother, o mother,
where are you?
I’m not myself anymore, mother,
come see how I live.
In the bottomless heat of this distant land,
life burns towards its end.
Come see where I am?
Uncountable pain, wails by the thousands,
I weep alone, mother.
Nobody looks at me.
Tears from the corner of my eyes
whenever I think of you
but cannot reach you.
Wandering the blank desert,
so tired, I can’t bear it, mother.
Call me khoka, just once.
To hear the call from you
like a swallow,
I am waiting, o mother.