Articles about 'Cameroon'
December 10th, 2011
Nyango M. Nambangi sent us this Cameroonian song from her childhood in Africa. It’s a lovely song to sing with children and they can even dance while singing! Like many African songs, it’s a call and response song.
In the recording below, Nyango explains how to sing and dance to the song. Then she sings...
July 21st, 2011
I asked Nyango how to say “hi” in Cameroonian Pidgin English. Here’s what she wrote:
Most people will greet you in pidgin with "How na?" which is actually "How now?" and actually means: "How are you?" "What’s up?". A lot more will say: "Good morning" or what ever the time of day is. Most people do...
June 13th, 2010
Warning: This song is extremely catchy! All you have to do is listen to the mp3 below and then watch the video at the link and you’ll be singing it for weeks.
This song is called “Marry Me” or “A Little Sailor Boy”. It’s about men in different professions coming to ask a young...
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May 20th, 2010

Nyango sent me this song from Cameroon, Africa that’s about the shape of Italy. Here’s what she wrote: “…wondering if I had given you this song we learn as children in Cameroon during Geography. It goes;
The shape of Italy is admittedly
Often described as the shape of a boot
The shape of Italy is admittedly
Often...
April 26th, 2010
In Thread the Needle Games, the players stand in two rows across from each other. They hold hands in an arch with the person across from them. Players go under the arch and join the end of the line once they’re through the arch. Sometimes they’re played while singing a song. ...
April 19th, 2010
In the past, I posted the Victorian poem “My Mother” written by Ann Taylor. Ann was the sister of Jane Taylor the author of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. It turns out that 2 verses of this poem are sung by children in Cameroon, Africa as a song.
I posted the poem My Mother...
April 15th, 2010
Nyango Melissa, who has sent me many songs from Cameroon in Africa, sent me this email today…
Hi, all:
You can listen to some samples from African Harmony and watch them at rehearsal. Just scroll down the home page.
African Harmony is the choral group of the Minnesota African Women’s Association, MAWA’s cultural program. African Harmony is made...
January 28th, 2010
Nyango Melissa, originally from Cameroon, recently sent me these songs with a recording. Here’s what she wrote with the mp3 of the songs…
Just thought of these the other day. The clock/time songs sound a lot like they’re of British origin:
MP3 of Tick Tock Songs
1) Tick, says the clock, tick, tick,
What you have to do,...
October 26th, 2009
I woke up this morning with a cup of coffee and by listening to “Good Morning to You” in English, French and some African languages on my computer. What a wonderful way to wake up!
The recording was done by recording a phone call over the internet. Thanks to Nyango Melissa for calling and...
October 25th, 2009
Nyango M. Nambangi sent us this Cameroonian song from Africa. What’s even better is that we have a recording to go with it!
Nyango wrote: “Here’s a song our mother taught us and her Middle School students. The tune is very British, in my opinion, but I have not been able to find...
February 22nd, 2009

We’d love it if you’d join the Mama Lisa Facebook Group. You can post anything you’d like about your culture. You can post your own musical recordings or YouTube videos… Links to culture and musical sites… Photos of your country… Questions about songs or cultural issues… Anything related to World Culture and...
June 7th, 2007
I’ve been corresponding with Nyango Melissa Nambangi who’s originally from Cameroon. Nyango Melissa mentioned that children in Cameroon sing a lot, so I asked if adults do too. Her response was so interesting that I asked her permission to share it here:
Yep! Cameroonian adults sing all the time. We sing while working –...
January 6th, 2007

In addition to this blog, I also host Mama Lisa’s World. Mama Lisa’s World is a large collection of children’s songs and rhymes from countries all around the globe.
Matt, a music teacher from Rhode Island, wrote a question to me, the other day, about Mama Lisa’s World:
Hey Mama,
I love the concept of your site....
November 30th, 2006
A significant part of the Mama Lisa sites is a large collection of songs and nursery rhymes from around the world. We currently have about 750 songs from around 90 countries and cultures.
When you consider how many languages there are in those cultures – that’s a lot of information! In order to make...
May 31st, 2006
I’m happy to announce that I’ve added Cameroon to Mama Lisa’s World!
Here are links to the new pages, where you’ll find six new songs…
Children’s Songs from Cameroon &
Children’s Songs from Cameroon with French Translations
I particularly like Bring Back, which you can sing with children when they’ve lost something, like a teddy bear. ...
May 30th, 2006
Here are two versions of a song called Mr. cocoji I received from Cameroon. They’re in Pidgin English. I can understand parts of the lyrics, but not all.
This is the version of Mr. cocoji from the north west province…
Mr. cocoji
(Pidgin English)
Mr. cocoji
ih begin di follow goat
ih nack ih oneside jiga
ih one...
May 27th, 2006
I received this song from Cameroon a while back. It was identified as coming from the Bali tribe. Unfortunately, the language wasn’t identified, and an English translation wasn’t provided.
The Bali tribe speaks Mungaka. But I’m not sure if they speak any other languages also.
Here are the lyrics in...
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