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or French Translations
or Spanish Translations
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Archive for the 'Ghana' Category
Contents
Posts
Can Anyone Help with a Ghanaian Song “Be Be Be Lay Bo”?
Friday, June 5th, 2009Susan Gerber Berning wrote:
Hi Lisa. I’m looking for the Ghanaian words to the song that sounds like this “Be Be Be lay bo, Eiyhah yay ah yay,” I remember it as a song they used to pull boats into the shore. Help!? Tough one, I know. It’s a Ghana traditional song– everyone seemed to know it. Thanks!
If anyone can help out Susan with the lyrics and/or an English translation, and/or identifying the language, please let us know in the comments below. Thanks!
Mama Lisa
Mama Lisa Now Has a Facebook Group
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009We’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 Music…
Click on the icon below to access the group. If you have a Facebook account already, you just need to click on “Join the Group” to join. If you’re not a member, you simply have to sign up for free to become a member and then you can join the Mama Lisa Group…
Looking forward to seeing you in Facebook!
Mama Lisa
Obwisana Song with a Translation and YouTube Video
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009LisaMarie wrote to me asking about the Ghanaian song Obwisana. I posted her email below, followed by the lyrics, an English translation, two YouTube videos of the song and finally a link to the score.
Here’s LisaMarie’s email…
Hi
I was hoping you could help. I’m training to be a teacher and for my music assessment I have to discuss a piece of music and have chosen to look at Obwisana but was wondering if you could tell me where I could obtain a free version of the traditional song.
Yours
LisaMarie SheppardHere are the lyrics to Obwisana:
Obwisana
Obwisana sa nana
Obwisana sa
Obwisana sa nana
Obwisana sa.English Translation of Obwisana:
The rock has crushed my hand, grandma
The rock has crushed my hand.
The rock has crushed my hand, grandma,
The rock has crushed my hand.Here are two YouTube renditions of Obwisana. The first video is an expanded version of the song that includes other lyrics…
The second version includes lots of sound effects and beats…
Obwisana is a circle game. Kids sit in a circle while singing ob-wi-sa-na and they pass around a rock. Each kid taps the rock on the ground and passes it to the next kid. The taps make a beat at each syllable of the song.
Susan Arnold wrote me:
“I know this song as an Akan song from Ghana. ‘Obo asi me nsa, nana, obo asi me nsa’ which is sung in a circle by children. The Akan place great importance on co-operation and this circle game can’t be played without that and a high degree of accuracy when placing the stone, especially as it gets faster and faster and more intricate with 2 stones tapped together or going round in the opposite direction.”
Here is an Obwisana Score.
You can visit our Obwisana song page for a midi tune and for Spanish and French translations!
I hope this all helps you LisaMarie!
Mama Lisa
PS If anyone knows more about the extended lyrics to this song, please let us know about it in the comments below. Thanks in advance!
Can Anyone Help with a Translation of the Song “Aweneh Makole”?
Thursday, May 1st, 2008Susan Arnold wrote to me with a question about a song:
I am looking for an accurate translation of the song “Aweneh Makole”. The only thing I know about the song is that it is call and response. I’ve known it for ages and it’s used quite a lot in schools here in the UK. I suspect it is West African, possibly even Ghanaian, but others may know differently. I’m looking for a translation of:
“Aweneh Makole, Mbako Menoshway” and the correct pronunciation for it. I think it is sometimes sung:
Akeeley Makole…Good wishes and thanks for the website.
Susan
If anyone can help with this song, and/or provide information about its language and country of origin, please comment below.
Thanks!
Mama Lisa
How to Find Sheet Music, Tunes and MP3’s on Mama Lisa’s World
Saturday, January 6th, 2007In 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. It’s been exciting to watch it grow. My only frustration is not being able to find either written (preferably) or audio music to accompany the lyrics. How do I find the tunes for all these great lyrics?
Matt
Music Teacher, Rhode Island, USAHere’s what I wrote back, I’m sharing it with you, in case it helps you too…
Hey Matt,
Thanks for writing!
We’ve just added basic sheet music to a lot of songs on the Germany, France, Hungary, Spain and Mexico pages – plus many others.
We’re now in the process of converting the whole site to a database. We’re halfway through. Hopefully by the summer we’ll have a feature that will let you do a search on songs that have sheet music, midis or mp3’s. Midis play the tune of a song. MP3’s are recordings – usually of someone singing the song.
But for now, the songs on the countries that are in the database are working on a simple system. On the country pages they have symbols next to the song if they have special features. Here’s the key…
KEY TO SYMBOLS
– this song has sheet music
Midi – this song has a Midi tune
MP3 – this song has an MP3 recording
– this song has a Video recording
If there’s anything in particular you’re looking for, you’re welcome to ask – in case I know if we have it or not – I may be able to guide you to the right place to find what you’re looking for.
And, of course, we’re always looking for more sheet music, midi’s and mp3’s, so if you’d like to contribute any from your culture, we’d be thrilled!
I hope this helps!
Mama Lisa
Mama Lisa’s World News and Multimedia Features
Thursday, November 30th, 2006A 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 it easier to access all of the songs, we are in the process of converting the sites to a database. The database allow our visitors to search for songs on the site by language, by songs with sheet music, recordings, etc.
While we’re putting the songs into the database, we’re trying to obtain as much information as possible about each song. So if we can find the tune, we’ll include a midi tune and sheet music. If we find a recording of the song on the internet, we’ll provide a link to the recording. Sometimes we’ll make a recording ourselves. Anything we can do to help you know everything possible about that song.
If you happen to see any songs on the site that are missing a tune or recording and you know it, we’d be very pleased if you could help us get the tune. We’re able to make midis from sheet music, if that’s what you can send. We’re also happy to post recordings if you’d like to sing the song, play it on an instrument, or even hum it. Really, anything to help others get an idea how to sing or play the song.
Once the database is complete Mama Lisa’s World will have 98 countries and cultures and over 850 songs. How great is that!
-Lisa
UPDATE: The Database is now complete! We have 100 countries and cultures. We’re now working on a Spanish version of Mama Lisa’s World which will feature children’s songs, folks songs and nursery rhymes from around the world with Spanish translations.
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