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Oscar Bonikowsky

by MILES BONNY

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about

All music Performed. Written and Recorded in Lublin, Poland by Miles Bonny Nov 2017. Mixed and Mastered by Miles Bonny - Taos NM in 2018.

Miles traveled to Lublin Poland in 2017 after being invited to spend a month there collaborating with local musicians and exploring his heritage. Miles Bonny is his real name however "bonny" came from his grandfather named Oscar Bonikowsky.

Oscar lived in Eastern Poland ( KROBONOSZ ) as a young boy until his family was ordered to leave and sent to Siberia. Oscar and some of his siblings survived that terror. They eventually made their way to England and then the Canada and then the USA. When he arrive in USA Oscar could not read or write in any language, not even his native German. Oscar's next feat was to somehow be accepted by a college in upstate New York where he learned English and later became a minister. Many people in the USA could not pronounce his last name, so he changed it from Bonikowski to Bonny.

While in Poland, Miles revisited the land that his grandfather was sent from, the 1st in his family to do so since that fateful time in the early 1900s. It was an amazing and emotional experience for Miles and this song was created during that time.

lyrics

The Churchyard
your family's there
a little boy
who soon will fear
the orders came on Sunday service
as people cried
everyone was nervous

You were sent to
a foreign land
decided by some powerful man
you chased the trains
you ran and hide
maintained your faith
while many others died

Siberia
must have been so cold
from Krobonocz
only five years old
a hundred years ago
and since that time
you've managed to cross many other boarder lines

Your son grew up to be my dad
what a man he is
because of you I have
the courage to persevere
grandfather I wish you were near

Humanity needs our help again
I promise to be a friend

To all who are stunt upon
become headlines as they're shuffled along
out of mind

I'll do what I can with what you've given me
and now I'm a man who seeks to know what it was to be
a little boy in a polish land
I'll do my best to understand

The trauma
The fear
The sadness
that brought you here
that brought me here
that brought you there
that brought me here
thank you oscar

oscar

credits

released December 6, 2018

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MILES BONNY Tres Piedras, New Mexico

New Music for Old Souls. Musician based in Taos, New Mexico. Born in NYC.

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