Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Klingon Language
2. The Blood Was Ankle Deep And Other Music
Some humans listened to enough Klingon music in their rebellious adolescent years that it made their family’s eyes hurt. Others may have listened to a certain Klingon drinking song on repeat to such a degree that they learnt it by heart. To echo Jake Sisko, however, when was the last time you listened to Klingon opera? Surely, you must know at least one theme from Aktuh and Melota? In any case, definitely don’t get stuck with filtering out the sub-harmonic distortions in Worf’s collection.
What you may not know is that a real-world three-act opera, called ’u’ ["universe" or "universal"], was written and performed in Klingon. (Note that both the apostrophes in its title indicate glottal stops). Composed by Eef van Breen, the libretto was co-authored by none other than Marc Okrand and Kees Ligtelijn. The piece premiered in The Hague in September 2010.
In the form of an epic poem, it tells the story of Kahless’s battle through the underworld to defeat rival Molor and unite the Klingon people. In true Klingon style, the narrator of the opera was called "Master of the Scream".
Ahead of opening night, Okrand even recorded a "Message to Kronos" in Klingon, inviting delegates to come to Earth to see the opera. The message was then "transmitted in the direction of Qu’noS" via radio telescope.
’u’ went on to be performed elsewhere in The Netherlands, as well as in Croatia, with a final performance in Berlin in 2013.
Now, sing along! 'ej HumtaH 'ej DechtaH 'Iw…