|
 Hello/We
Are Happy
Country: Uganda
Lyrics:
We are happy,
we are happy on this day. (4x)
Mirembe to Lauren, hello hello...
We are happy, we are happy on this day.
More info: 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.
 Arsomo
Baba
Country: Morocco
Language:
Arabic
Lyrics:
Arsomo baba, arsomo mama, bil alwan,
bil alwan (2x)
Lily paints her father, Lily paints her mother, all in red, all
in red (2x)
More info:
Thanks to Mama
Lisa’s World for the words and melody to this song.
 Un
Barco Chiquitito
Language:Spanish
Lyrics:
Habia una vez un
barco chiquitito (3x)
Que no podia, no podia, no podia parar.
Habia una vez un avion chiquitito (3x)
Que no podia, no
podia, no podia parar.
Translation: Once upon a time there was a little boat
(3x)
That could that could that could not stop.
Once upon a time there was a little airplane (3x)
That could
that could that could not stop. More info:
Listen to the
tune on Vamos
a Cantar: Let Us Sing: A Collection of Children's Songs in Spanish
 A
Canoa
Country: Brazil
Language: Portuguese
Lyrics:
A
canoa virou, quem deixou ela virar
Foi por causa da [name], que
não soube remar
Siriri prá cá, siriri prá
lá
Translation:
The canoe flipped and who let it flip
was it you?
It was because of [name], now what are we going to
do?
Paddle this way paddle that way, paddle this way paddle
that way
More info: Thanks to Mama
Lisa's World for the lyrics and melody.
 Chocolate
Country: Mexico
Language: Spanish
Lyrics:
Bate
bate chocolate, tu nariz de cacahuate,
Uno, dos, tres, CHO!,
uno, dos, tres, CO!
Uno, dos, tres, LA!, uno, dos, tres,
TE!
Bate bate choclate, bate bate bate bate bate chocolate!
Translation:
Stir stir chocolate, your nose is a
peanut
One, two, three, CHO, one, two, three, CO!
One, two,
three, LA!, one, two, three, TE!
Stir, stir the chocolate! Stir
stir stir stir stir stir chocolate!
More info: Thanks to the
Texas State Library's El Día de los Niños collection
for this chant. From the Texas State Library: "Children in
Mexico often drink chocolate with breakfast. They stir it with a
special utensil called a molinillo which is held between the palms
and rotated back and forth. During the chorus of this rhyme,
children rub their palms together and pretend to "stir"
the chocolate with a molinillo. Children repeat the verse, faster
and faster each time."
 Chukke
Hakki
Country: India
Language:
Kannada?
Lyrics:
[Chukke hakki ba nehneh
balakehbah
chika kookah koo kee koo kee,
ba nehneh
balakehbah, ba nehneh balakehbah]
Can you catch the stars, can you catch the stars, can you jump
and catch the stars?
Can you catch the stars, can you catch
the stars, can you jump and catch the stars?
Look at all the
stars…
More info:
From Les
Chants des Enfants du monde Vol. 2: South India, children’s
songs from Southern Indian collected by French-Canadian
ethnomusicologist Francis
Corpataux.
 Daweedam
Country:Afghanistan
Language:Dari
Lyrics:
Daweedam,
daweedam, saray kohay raseedam
I run and run and run and run to
reach the field to make my bread.
I dig and dig and dig and dig
to plant the wheat to make my bread.
I mill and mill and mill
and mill and mill the wheat to make my bread.
I knead and knead
and knead and knead and knead the dough to make my bread.
I
bake and bake and bake and bake and bake the dough to make my
bread.
I eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat my
bread.
More info:
From the wonderful Qu
Qu Qu Barg-e-Chinaar: Children’s Songs from Afghanistan,
by the
Afghan Children’s Songbook Project.
 Despierta
Country: Nicaragua
Language:
Spanish
Lyrics:
Qué linda esta mañana
en que vengo a saludarte,
venimos todos con gusto, y placer a
felicitarte
Despierta, mi bien, despierta, mira que ya
amaneció,
ya los pajarillos cantan, la luna ya se metió.
Translation:
How beautiful is morning, we’ve
come to sing along
We all will sing together and we’ll
start with this song
Wake up dear, wake up my darling, rub your
eyes, it’s almost dawn
The little birds are singing and
the nighttime has gone.
More info: Thanks to Mama
Lisa's World for the lyrics and melody.
|
 Diarra
Loro Lora
Country: Burkina Faso
Language:Dioula
Lyrics:
Diarra
loro lora, diantissera diarrala
Diarra loro lora, diantissera
diarrala
The lion’s market is there and you can go if you
dare,
The lion’s market is there and you can go if you
dare.
More info:
Thanks to Mama
Lisa’s World for the lyrics and melody.
Dudarai
Country: Kazakhstan
Language: Kazakh
Lyrics:
Sweet Maria, Maria, Maria adored
A Kazakh boy named Dudur, they fell in love
And she said, my dear curly-headed Dudur,
I will love you forever and forever more
Dudarai im dudim
Bir sen ushin tudym
shirkin ai dudarai im dudimai.
Sweet Maria, Maria, Maria adored
A kind Kazakh boy, Dudur, they fell in love
And she said, my dear curly-headed Dudur,
I will love you forever and forever more
Dudarai im dudim
Bir sen ushin tudym
shirkin ai dudarai im dudimai.
More info:
The original version of this Kazakh folk song tells the story of a Russian girl, Maria, who loves a Kazakh boy, Dudur, despite her family's objections based on the longstanding conflict between Russians and Kazakhs. Many thanks to Lena from Leneshmidt.com for the translation and transliteration.
Jangar
Country: Mongolia
Language: Kalmyk
Lyrics:
Jangar
Asar ulagan Hongor
Stronger than a thousand men
We tell your tale and tell your tale and then we'll tell your tale again
More info:
This is a rousing reinterpretation of this super-rousing version of Jangar, the Oirat/Kalmyk epic tale of Jangar the great warrior. Check out this amazing clip from an authentic retelling.
 Kavuli
Tutu
Country: Kenya
Language:
Swahili
Lyrics:
Kavuli (Tutu) (8x)
Click your
sticks…! (Tutu) (8x)
Hop your sticks…! (Tutu)
(8x)
More info:
From David Nzomo’s Children’s
Songs from Kenya.
Kipenzi
Changu
Country: Kenya
Language:
Ki-swahili
Lyrics:
Kipenzi changu uchangamke, sasa
mimi wako
Nikakupenda, na kukutunza mpaka kufu kwangu
Oh my darling I’ll always love you more than you’ll
ever know
And though the days may be long my darling I’ll
never let you go.
More info:
A wedding/marriage song by Kenyan
guitarist and songwriter, David Nzomo, found on Smithsonian
Folkways’ African
Rhythms: Songs from Kenya.
La
llave
Language:Spanish
Lyrics:
¿Donde esta
la llave? Mate-rile-rile-rile
¿Donde esta la llave?
Mate-rile-rile-ro (pon!)
¿Quien ira a buscar? Mate-rile-rile-rile
¿Quien
ira a buscar? Mate-rile-rile-rile
Translation:
Where is the key? Let’s look for
it. (2x)
Who is going to find it?
More info:
Listen to the tune on Chago
Rodrigo's Smithsonian Folkways Album. (On the album it's calld
"Estrellita.")
La
Luna
Language:Spanish
Lyrics:
Quisiera ser tan
alto como la luna, Ay-ay-ay! Como la luna
Quisiera ser paloma y
poder volar, Ay-ay-ay! y poder volar
Translation:
I’d like to be as the moon way up
high, high, high, Ay-ay-ay! way up high, high, high.
I’d
like to be a dove so I could fly fly fly, Ay-ay-ay! I could fly
fly fly
More info:
Listen to the tune on Chago
Rodrigo's Smithsonian Folkways Album,
 My Dear Mama
Country:China
Language:Mandarin
Lyrics:
Oh my dear mama, mama you work so hard
Taking care of everything, oh my dear my mama.
Mama you must be so tired, mama you must be so tired, oh my dear mama.
I want to kiss you mama, I want to kiss you mama, Oh my dear mama.
More info:
From Les
Chants des Enfants du monde: Tribal minorities of China, collected by French-Canadian
ethnomusicologist Francis
Corpataux. Thanks so much to neighbor Jun Ma for the translation.
|
Pickle
Song
Country: India
Language:
Kannada
Lyrics:
Uppina kaayiya haadu keliri
Pickle pickle pickle pickle pickle pickle pickle song (4x)
More info:
From Les
Chants des Enfants du monde Vol. 2: South India, children’s
songs from Southern Indian collected by French-Canadian
ethnomusicologist Francis
Corpataux.
The Tea Plantation
Country: China
Language: Mandarin
Lyrics:
The Tea Plantation
We pick tea this springtime day high up in the hills
We join the chirping birds as they sing
The mountain is a handsome boy, strong and serious he stands
The water is a girl so soft and gently sweet
We pick tea this springtime day
We pick tea this springtime day high up in the hills
yun hai na ge meng meng yo man mian feng
Below we see the rippling stream, like a girl so gently sweet
We can touch the clouds that flow in like the sea
We pick tea this springtime day
More info:
From Les
Chants des Enfants du monde: Tribal minorities of China, collected by French-Canadian
ethnomusicologist Francis
Corpataux. Many thanks to Ke-Jian Jin from China's Guizhou Unviersity for the translation.
 Thinantsha
Country: South Africa
Language:
Zulu
Lyrics:
Thina salulutsha (4x), sisebatsha (4x)
We’re young, we are the youth, we won’t give up.
More info:
The youth of South Africa sang this
anti-Apartheid anthem, found on Smithsonian Folkways’ This
Land is Mine: South African Freedom Songs, to mark their
defiance of the Afrikaner government and their determination to
succeed in their struggle for equality.
 Tulo
Tulo
Country: Uganda
Language: Luganda
Lyrics:
Tulo
tulo kwata amwana, bwoto mukwate nga olimulogo, ssebo wulila ?
(2x)
Njagala ngendeko kumazina nzine kundongo, nkyuse kubulamu
obulamu
Tulo tulo kwata amwana, bwoto mukwate nga olimulogo,
ssebo wulila ?
Tulo Tulo, go to sleep my pretty baby, dream sweetly through
the night (2x)
In your dreams you'll dance in moonlight, in
your dreams you'll soar through the starry sky
Tulo Tulo, go
to sleep my pretty baby, dream sweetly through the night.
More info:
A lullaby from the Grammy-nominated Ugandan-Jewish CD,
Abayudaya:
Music from the Jewish People of Uganda. Many thanks to
Moses Sebagabo for the Lugandan lyrics.
Woo!
Country: India
Language: Tamil
Lyrics:
Ta
la la la la la na (2x)
Molly’s wearing blue pants, blue pants, Molly’s has
her blue pants on, WOO!
More info:
From the Smithsonian Folkways Folk
Music of India.
Wang Boto
Country: Suriname
Language: Sranan
Lyrics:
Wang Boto
Wang Boto e kong nanga wong fraga
Wang Fraga no’ mo’ hanga de?
One boat's coming with just one flag
Wang Fraga no’ mo’ hanga de?
More info:
The original version of this song appears on the Smithsonian Folkways recording, Creole Music of Surinam. Before tinkering, the lyrics read, "One boat is coming with one flat. Only one flag is flying?"
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.
|
