Reading My Way Around the World

Monday 28 July 2014

I Am Not At War With Anyone

Fiddlers Green Festival finished last night and a great week was had by all - there was so much good music and wonderful weather set it all off ... We're all in need of a rest now as we say goodbye to the visitors from England, Scotland, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Denmark and I'm sure many more that I didn't get to meet.   Our own gigs went off really well - yesterday we played a concert of new material from our forthcoming CD with a guest uilleann piper ... hopefully I'll have a video from that soon.  And my singing workshop on Friday was really good fun - multi lingual group of singers. 

You come to the end of a week like this and think you've missed so much, because there's so much happening and you can't possibly get to everything ...

One of the highlights for me was to hear Luka Bloom sing - he was wonderful - apparently simple songs but lyrics that really get to the point.   This was his opening song - although it's sung in this video by a children's choir -  he wrote this song to protest against the war in Iraq and decided to write it as a child would see it.   And somehow I think it's a fitting song at the minute.





I Am Not At War With Anyone
 by Luka Bloom

I am not at war with anyone

I am not at war with anyone

Go away warplanes

You bring fear and shame

I am not at war with anyone

I give my love to Iraq, and to America

I give my love to Israel, and to Palestine

We could live as one

Between the sea and sun

I am not at war with anyone

I don’t need to be friends with everyone

But I’d like to live in peace with everyone

This rush to war is wrong

And so I sing this song

I am not at war with anyone

I am not at war with anyone

I am not at war with anyone


I am not at war with anyone

Go away warplanes

You bring fear and shame

I am not at war with anyone

I am not at war with anyone


© 2003 Luka Bloom

And here's Luka live from a TV show, playing with Steve Cooney who lives here in the village - a guitar wizard.  
This song is called Heart Man.   We hear so much news about bad men - this was written for all the good men in the world. 




I've been absent from blogging most of this month - what with feeling really under the weather, and family stuff and festival rehearsals and lots of visitors - andt I'm still feeling jaded and out of sorts ...  However, it's good to get time to pause and reflect and I'll be coming back with a few more reviews in the coming days and weeks.  

And finally, the reward of our wonderful summer this year, my passionflower has bloomed!!   
Such a strange looking flower.  
 It has been more than 12 years since it last bloomed - so it's well worth the wait.
I just love it :)  It makes me smile :)

What's blooming in your garden?   Heard any good songs lately?  You know I love to hear.  

6 comments:

  1. It's lovely to have you back, Fil and the song with the children singing is perfect - I have to confess I welled up. I think I will suggest this for a concert song at my school. Your passionflower is amazing - how long does the flower last - a few days or is it just a few hours? I have been given a hibiscus plant and it is flowering non-stop but the flowers do not last long at all.

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    1. I was thinking of you Pempi when I posted it. I think I"m going to do it with my community singing group too.
      The passion flower only lasts for one day - each bloom that is. But we only had 2 or 3 flowers :( The heat didn't stay long enough.

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  2. Hi Fil - great songs to promote ... so pleased to be able to read the one and hear it sung, while the Heart Man is an excellent reminder too.

    Love the passionflower - I've always loved them .. so so pretty - while I enjoy the granadilla fruits ...

    Hope you feel better soon and get your zest for life back .. take care - cheers Hilary

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    1. Many thanks Hilary :) I'm finally starting to feel a bit brighter.

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  3. The festival sounds great. Hope you will feel better soon, take care.

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    1. Thank you Inger - I am. Feeling a good bit better ... just needed a rest I think. I'm looking forward to catching up with you all over the coming days and weeks :)

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