Rebecca-Anne Withey: My top 3 BSL Christmas signed songs to get you in the festive spirit!

#sleigh bells riiiiiiiing are you listening?#

Erm no, I’m watching rather – I can’t hear the bells you see 😁 But that still doesn’t stop me from enjoying a good old warble and sign song to the Christmas classic “Winter Wonderland.”

There haven’t been any BSL interpreted Christmas songs on music channels lately – and I should know because I’ve had marathon gift wrapping sessions with the Christmas is Magic channel.

Magic is pretty reliable with its captions hence it’s my go-to channel for the festive period. But I want to see some signing!

So on a whim, I decided to browse YouTube to see what festive BSL songs I could enjoy. Oh Lord. I found myself laughing and cringing at some of the very strange and perhaps wrongly labelled “BSL” translations.

#Last Christmas I literally cut my heart out my chest and handed it to you# probably isn’t what Wham really meant…

#when the man was snowing and he brought you some snow in a bag# I was told by one Wizzard fan…

And I was rather concerned by a Cliff Richard translation telling me #the chips are on the fire and the boxes are right on top of the tree# Confused, much?!

Despite the majority of my findings being SSE interpretations at best (its Christmas, I’m being kind 😉) I did, however, find some real gems.

To save you the hassle of traipsing through videos online, I’ve chosen my top 3 BSL Christmas signed songs, which I think you will really enjoy.

In 3rd place is sign song legend, Colin Thomson with his rendition of Cliff Richard’s Mistletoe and Wine. 

 

Colin is one of the original British sign singers and he did actually sign a song for Cliff Richard in real life!His translation of Mistletoe and Wine is clear, easy to follow and a favourite with school children nation wide. He manages to make the swaying motion of the music visible while still conveying crisp, clear BSL.

At second place is a real diva who turns me into a fangirl when she signs songs. It’s Caroline Parker with her BSL interpretation of Band Aid’s Do they know it’s Christmas.

What is marvellous about this video is Caroline often steps out of the songs rhythm to really emphasise the lyrical meaning in pure BSL. And then – like magic (ha!) – she steps back in, encouraging us to dance along like we would at an office party. She doesn’t just translate, she embodies the song and performs as though the music was written for her.

At the top of my list is the stunning BSL version of Silent Night by Nadia Nadarajah with music by Ruth Montgomery and Roger Montgomery.

The artistic performance manages to capture the sacredness and deep peace of the night while remaining respectful to the gentleness of the music. The graceful BSL translation brings the lyrical meaning to life as Nadia personifies Mother Mary, holding the “holy infant so tender and mild.” Breathtaking. Do watch.

What are your favourite BSL Christmas songs? Would you like to see any particular ones translated? If you need any ideas, why not check out the Christmas medley I did for ai-media (on their Facebook page) featuring 12 songs in BSL! I couldn’t choose just a few fave tunes so I thought “what the heck!” and did samples of 12. I do love a Christmas sign song. So feel free to bombard me with your BSL signed videos songs 👍

Who knows, maybe I will be seeing you on the Magic channel, sign singing soon?

Happy sign singing!

Rebecca-Anne Withey is a freelance writer with a background in Performing Arts & Holistic health. Read more of Rebecca’s articles for us here.

She is also profoundly deaf, a sign language user and pretty great lipreader. 

Her holistic practices and qualifications include Mindfulness, Professional Relaxation Therapy, Crystal Therapy and Reiki. 

She writes on varied topics close to her heart in the hope that they may serve to inspire others.