From Sri Lanka to Béal na Bláth
Introducing Michael Collins superfan Mustafa, who’s made a Big Fella tribute album to the man he admired as ‘a sort of Dennis the Menace meets James Bond’
THE legend of Michael Collins has been immortalised in a new tribute album by a Sri Lankan musician who was captivated by the life and times of the revolutionary hero.
Mustafa Khetty, who was raised in Dublin after leaving Sri Lanka for ‘damp, soggy’ Ireland at 11, became inspired by Collins when learning about him in school here.
He told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘Our history teacher, Michael Halliday, had an iconoclastic approach to the subject so he would talk about personalities as much as the events and dates.
‘Collins is leaps beyond everyone else, not only by his achievements, but with his mischief, escapades and wit. I looked at him like a sort of Dennis the Menace and James Bond.
‘He was multi-faceted. He was the prankster, the fighter and the finance minister.
‘He had a great gift of the gab, walking into situations as the most wanted man in Ireland, and talking himself out of it.’
‘He was prankster, fighter and finance minister’
Two years ago, Mustafa came across the Michael Collins Society, when he says he experienced a ‘eureka moment’ that inspired him to write the musical tribute.
‘I thought, “Why don’t I write something about the person who was my idol when I was young”,’ he said.
Mustafa spent the next two years researching Collins’s life, and even got some input from the War of Independence hero’s family.
The album, named Torn in Love, Torn Apart: The Story of Michael Collins & Kitty Kiernan, will be released on October 16, to coincide with Collins’s birthday.
It narrates Collins’s life and focuses on the letters between Collins and his fiancée, Kitty Kiernan, at the time he was negotiating the Treaty with the British.
With influences of Celtic, progressive rock, neo-classical and funk music, Mustafa says the album reflects the international appeal of Collins and his heroic character. He told the MoS: ‘I look at Michael Collins as a world hero.
‘The Irish embrace him as their own, aware of the magnitude of his achievements, capabilities and stature.
‘He inspired Mahatma Gandhi, Che Guevara, Nelson Mandela and a stream of others who looked at him and his tactics in the Irish struggle.
‘He had brains, brawn and Adonis looks. The more I find out about the extraordinary dexterity and depth of his capabilities, the more I’m flabbergasted.’
Wicklow actress Claire O’Donovan acts as a narrator while the Dublin Gospel Choir provided back-up vocals on one track, Requiem, Mustafa’s personal favourite.
‘When I was young, I was a choir boy so choral music had a huge influence on me,’ he said.
‘Some tracks are more funk, rap and hip hop and then there’s the Requiem, which takes the mood away completely from the rest.’
The final songs recall the story of Collins’s untimely death during the infamous ambush at Béal na Bláth.
‘He was a very sad-looking man in the months after the Dáil debate that accepted division,’ he added.
‘The track, set the day before he is shot, is a Requiem. The next track captures the tragic day of August 22 and begins with simple chords that open into progressive rock heavy metal and ends with machine gun fire and a single bullet and then returns to the original theme with Kitty’s worst nightmare… no more Michael.’
Mustafa describes his historical hero as a political and military chess player.
‘He was a strategist who saw nine moves ahead of his enemy. Very few of the 20th Century’s leaders had such a totality of skills.’