The Mother Tongue is Hungry is presented as part of a partnership between Manchester City of Literature, Manchester Museum and Community Arts North West, and will be broadcast as part of Our City of Languages on 21st Feb. Tickets for this event can be purchased via the booking link.

The Mother Tongue makes us hungry for home, for distant memories, for a time that no longer exists. The Mother Tongue is a craving, sometimes forbidden, sometimes slipping out of reach. The Mother Tongue is hungry, hungry for change, hungry for revolution.

Three multi-lingual performers, Abas Eljanabi, Farjana Kabir and Louison Kangombe present a series of short films, extracts of their new collaborative performance piece, due to be shown later in 2021.

1 Farjana Kabir

It’s 5AM in Bolton. A single mother from Bangladesh finds herself in the UK, hungry for memories of home. Her best friend calls her from Bangladesh. She shares voice notes, pictures and familiar sounds. They take a trip via video call to a national Martyr Monument, Shaheed Minar, reflecting on the history of their mother language through songs and poems.

2 Louison

Lingala is the most widely spoken language in the Congo. It originated in a Congolese province and thanks to the army it became the main national language. But it has been affected by influences from other spoken languages of the Congo and it’s now a completely different language to what it was originally.

3 Abas Eljanabi

Language is an entire system of communication. A way of us presenting a whole way of being, one way or another. Abas Eljanabi resurrects a short monologue from a play originally written in Arabic in 1969. This short film explores meaning and significance of language and its relationship with revolution, courage and individuality.

Hunger is presented as part of a partnership between Manchester City of Literature, Manchester Museum and Community Arts North West

Community Arts North West, better known as CAN, develops outstanding artistic programmes with artist, young people and communities, where people can stand up, speak out and thrive through creativity.  CAN has a special interest and expertise in arts and migration and collaborates with the most exciting international artists, who have made Manchester their home.