"Erika" is a traditional German folk song, sung by my mother, Britta.
As a child growing up in Innsbruck, Austria, during World War II, my mother recalls hearing soldiers singing this song in a militant fashion, as they marched through the streets on their way to war.
She later performed the song in a gentler fashion, believing it was more true to the song's lyrics about a flower, and also as a protest to war which remains a nightmare for many children around the world.
In 2012, I recorded my mother singing this song at the age of 80 years. The music is arranged in keeping with her guitar finger picking style, and the guitar parts have been graciously performed by my Taiwanese friend, Jia-hung.
I am presenting this song as a gift to my mother, and to our dear friend Josef Bauchinger and his wife for whom this song has special meaning, and finally to say "happy mothers day" to mothers everywhere.
May we cherish our time together, and learn to live in love and peace.
[Note: In the past two years, this video has received a noticeably increasing amount of neo-Nazi commentary. This video is absolutely opposing the values of Nazi Germany, so if you post your racist comments here, you're a fool, and we will promptly report you for hate speech.]
Matthew Lien
www.matthewlien.com
