Songs for Mukul (2021)
Commissioned by The Opera People
Poetry by Md Mukul Hossine (trans. Cyril Wong)
Instrumentation:
high voice, piano
(version for medium voice is available)
Duration: 13' 30"
Songs For Mukul is cycle of three songs 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 three poems explore themes of labour, fatigue, homesickness, love and a transient state of being.
An orchestra version of Golden Mother was commissioned by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra for a Mother's Day programme in 2025, conducted by Lien Boon Hua.
I. I Possess No Address (5')
"Walking in streets without boundaries
How I lost myself I don’t know
I possess no address"
II. I Will Be A Firefly (3')
"I will be a firefly at your window
I will peer in
Look into your eyes
Lock gaze with my heart’s eyes"
III. Golden Mother (5' 30")
[orchestra version available]
"Mother, o mother,
where are you?
I’m not myself anymore, mother,
come see how I live.
(...) Call me khoka, just once."
Hear The Opera People's podcast on Spotify: Opera Tok - Songs For Mukul
"In Chen Zhangyi’s ‘Songs For Mukul’, Moira Loh’s sustained notes ring pure and true in ‘I Possess No Address’, before she moves on to ‘I Will Be A Firefly’, allowing us to vividly imagine the scene of a single firefly going on a long journey, flitting around the space. By this time, she is fully in the zone as she ends off with ‘Golden Mother’, immersing us in the mood."