THE CARIBBEAN This fall All Around This World is focusing on music, stories and games from the Caribbean! Below you'll find information about just some of the tunes we'll enjoy. All Around This World owes a tremendous debt this season to legendary folklorist Alan Lomax and the many ethnomusicologists who contribute to the the Smithsonian Folkways record label for recording wonderful music from all over the Caribbean. Jay is currently trying to track down contact information for the publishers and/or composers of the songs in question. Please contact him if you own the copyright for any of these songs and he'll be in touch about how to license your music. Jay is working on real CDs for each season of All Around This World with full arrangements, professional musicians and 100% correct pronunciations. In the meantime, click the name of each song and you’ll find an mp3 of Jay singing it so at least you can remember how your favorite songs go in the days between classes. (Each song will open in a new browser window.) You may also follow the links in the "more info" section of each description to learn more the song and hear some original versions. Listen to songs from: All Around This World's Latin American session All Around This World's African session All Around This World's South and Central Asian session. All Around This World's Caribbean session. All Around This World's Eastern Europe and the Baltics session. All Around This World's East and Southeast Asia session.

Hello/We Are Happy Country: Uganda Lyrics: We are happy, we are happy on this day. Bonjou to Lily, hello hello We are happy, we are happy on this day. ("Bonjou" is hello in Haitian Creole/Kreyol) More info: Wait, Uganda isn’t in the Caribbean! We sing this Ugandan "hello" song every season. The Abayudya of Uganda are a small community of about 500 Luganda-speaking Bagandans who have been practicing Judaism for over 80 years. Abayudaya community members Rabbi Gershom Sizomu and his brother JJ Keki wrote these two welcome songs that are combined here into one. The Abayudaya have recorded four CDs of African-Jewish music, including Shalom Everybody Everywhere and Abayudaya: Music from the Jewish People of Uganda. Angelique O Country: Haiti Language: Haitian Crole Lyrics: Angelique, oh, Angelique, oh, Allé calle manman ou Anglique, oh, Angelique, oh Go to your mama Go back to your mama, dear, allé calle manman ou More info: A traditional Caribbean lullaby about a girl who comes to live with a family to help with chores but can't cook or clean well enough to stay. Found on the Smithsonian Folkways album, "Haitian Folk Songs." Ay Zuzuma Country: Jamaica Language: Jamaican Creole Lyrics: Me gone a town y'ereg, Ay Zuzuma Mind me pig fe me Min' me goat fe me Me gone a town y'ereg, Ay Zuzuma Me gone a town, oh Zuzuma Me gone a town, oh Zuzuma More info: "Ay Zuzuma" is a Jamaican children's circle game in which a man goes to town to go to the market and leaves a woman to make lunch. When he returns she tells him all the things she's cooked for him – corn pork and saltfish. Found on Smithsonian Folkways album, "Children's Jamaican Songs and Games." Bellamina Country: Bahamas Language: English Lyrics: Bellamina, Bellamina, Bellamina's in the harbor Bellamina, Bellamina, Bellamina's in the harbor Put Bellamina on de dock and Paint Bellamina black black black. "Bellamina" is about the Bahamanian crews of rum running ships trying to avoid the U.S. Coast Guard. In the case of the Bellamina they paint the white boat black so it will be less easily detected at night. Author Zora Neale Hurston heard "Belllamina" when she first arrived in the Bahamas, incorporated it into one of her plays and even made a recording of the song in the '30s. Bo Calinda Country: Trinidad Language: English Lyrics: Bo Bo Bo Calinda Bo Bo Bo Calinda Bo Bo Bo Calinda What you do my darlin' Right hand up, Bo Calinda Right hand up, Bo Calinda Right hand up, Bo Calinda What you do my darlin' More info: A traditional Trinidadian children's dance found on the Smithsonian Folkways CD, "Caribbean Songs and Games for Children."

Crapeaud Tingele Country: Haiti Language: Haitian Creole Lyrics: Ti-dong, ti-dong dong, ti-dong, crapeaud tingele The frog is hopping, hopping, hopping, hopping, crapeaud tingele Ti-dong, ti-dong dong, ti-dong, crapeaud tingele The horse is running, running, running, running crapeaud tingele More info: Found on the Folkways CD, "Music of Haiti: Vol 1., Folk Music of Haiti," this is a song about a frog – "a crapeaud" – and a horse who are in love with the same girl and have a race to determine who can court her. Good Morning Country: Nevis & St. Kitts Language: English Lyrics: Good morning, good morning, how you do this morning? Good morning, good morning, how you do this morning? More info: A happy good morning song, found on the Alan Lomax recording, "Caribbean Voyage: Nevis & St. Kitts." Jhulo Country: Trinidad Language: Bhojpuri Lyrics: Jhulo, jhulo, Kanhaiya palna Rock baby, rock, gonna rock you to sleep In your sandalwood hammock with silk woven deep Rock baby, rock, gonna rock you to bed And now that you're sleeping a kiss on your head More info:: Found on the Alan Lomax recording, "Caribbean Voyage: East Indian Music in the West Indies, this is a song Trinidadian women of Indian descent sing to their babies. The original song is about the Hindu god Krishna ("Kanhiaya") whose mother rocks him to sleep in a cradle made of sandalwood. Limbo Teacher Country: Jamaica Language: English Lyrics: I want somebody to limbo like me. Limbo, limbo like me. More info: From the Smithsonian Folkways CD, "Hellish Calypso." We're singing just the first lines of a hellish song by Mighty Wrangler. Loi Loo Country: Haiti Language: Haitian Creole Lyrics: Loi-loo, lo lo lo lo lo Loi-loo, la la la lo lo More info: From the Alan Lomax recording, "Caribbean Voyage: Caribbean Sampler. "Loi Loo" is actually just a line sung in a mainly spoken story about a man who has a clarinet, chak-chak (maracas) and a voilin. M'sieu Michel Country: Martinique Language: Antillean Creole Lyrics: Wey wey wey wey, wey wey wey wey, wey wey wey, oh M'sieu Michel, wey wey. More info: Found on the Smithsonian Folkways CD, "Un Ti Bo and other pleasures from Martinique," as performed by Groupe Mi-O. Mento Star Country:Jamaica Language:Jamaican Patois Lyrics: If you want to be a mento star, If you want to be a mento star, then show me your motion. Oh oh oh Molly Show me your motion Molly More info: This is a mento song credited to "Lord Composer," found on "Take Me to Jaimaica: The Story of Jamaican Mento." Mento is a pre-ska, pre-reggae form of Jamaican folk music that blends traditions brought to Jamaica by West Indian African with more European folk.

Nyabinghi Country: Jamaica Language: Jamaican Patois Lyrics: Oh mister ay ay ay ay ay ay ay ay ay ay ay ay ay (2x) More info: This chant comes at the beginning of a Nyabinghi drumming session captured on the Smithsonian Folkways CD, "Drums of Defiance: Maroon Music from the Earliest Free Black Communities of Jamaica." Jamaican Nyabinghi drumming is a style of Rastafarian ritual music in which three drums of various pitches – the bass (the "thunder"), the middle-pitched funde and the high-pitched akete – have a rhythmic conversation below the communal singing of familiar Rastafarian chants. Nyabinghi music was a rhythmic and cultural precursor to ska and reggae. More about Nyabinghi drumming. Petit Oiseau Country:Haiti Language:French Lyrics: Oh little bird, come with me Here's the cage I brought for you And the fruit I've picked, you'll see And the flowers wet with dew Petit oiseau viens avec moi Here's the cage I brought for you And the flowers wet with dew And the fruit I've picked, you'll see More info: Found on the Smithsonian Folkways CD, Caribbean Songs and Games for Children. Ragba Country: Grenada Language: Grenadan Creole Lyrics: Ragba ragba ragba ye A maa sun waju A maa maa fi a yo Round and round, round and round, make your head go round and round More info:: From the Alan Lomax recording, "Caribbean Voyage: Grenada – Croele and Yoruba Voices." Raisin de Bwa Bwa Country: Haiti Language: Haitian Creole Lyrics: Raisin de, bwa bwa Raisin de, bwa bwa Raisin de, bwa bwa bwa bwa bwa bwa This chant, found on Alan Lomax in Haiti, means "two roots—wood wood!," which doesn't seem to mean much of anything. Tree Fall Down Country: Anguilla Language: English Lyrics: Molly climb up the mango tree Oh tree fall down Molly climb up the mango tree Oh tree fall down So high up in the mango tree Oh tree fall down Too high up in the mango tree Ohhhhhhhhh! Tree fall down! More info: From the Alan Lomax recording, "Caribbean Voyage: Caribbean Sampler. This song hints at the Caribbean proverb, "Big tree fall down, goat bite e leaf"," which means "When a great man falls, he is no longer feared and respected." For more Caribben proverbs, visit Islandmix. Goodbye/We Are Happy Country: Uganda Lyrics: We say goodbye but we’re not sad because of all the fun we had We are happy, we are happy on this day... More info: We will be singing this "good-bye" song every season. In many African cultures there is an emphasis on positivity, or at least the appearance of positivity, that is unfamiliar to most Americans. In that spirit, this "good-bye" song is a celebration of the good times we had when we were together. (And yes, Uganda is still not in the Caribbean!)

Questions? Contact Jay.
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