TONGUES BLOODY TONGUES

The Akkadians called it Babili, the Hebrews Babel, the Greeks Babylon.
The Sumerians called it Uruk, the Hebrews Erech, the Arabs al-Iraq, the British simply "Iraq" or "the Iraq."
Tongues Bloody Tongues is an opera about this.
It is an opera about Babel and Babylon.
It is an opera about the Tower, and the story of the Tower that every culture knows without needing to be told.
It is about Iraq and Irak and every other name the land between the rivers has borne.
It is about those two rivers as the edges of the known world.
Yes. Saddam Hussein will be there.
He will be there, between the rivers, in a tangerine beret.
He will provide unwelcome narration, and he will lead the orchestra as only Saddam Hussein can.
But he is not the hero.
There are no heroes in this opera.
And there are no villains in this opera.
Because there are no heroes or villains among us.
And we are all Iraqis.

Tongues Bloody Tongues was originally conceived to be a parade opera, to be done in the street.
Conceived by who? By Los Angeles musicians' collective KILLSONIC.
But before that.
Before the floats and the street closures and the Saddam Hussein hot air balloons.
Before all that, an excerpt of Tongues Bloody Tongues debuted as an adaptation for the stage.
This happened at the REDCAT, in Downtown L.A., on July 22, 23, and 24 in the year 2010.
This excerpt's proper title was Tongues Bloody Tongues: 11 July 1926.
It was focused on the British period.
It was focused on one British person.
Her name was Gertrude Bell.
And this excerpt was the story of her last day in Iraq.
It was the story of her last day anywhere.
It comprised roughly one-fifth of the complete Tongues Bloody Tongues.