Tuesday, April 24, 2012

OF LOVE AND NONSENSE



Uno dos tres yan un tres sais (One, two, three and a three six)
dos na kuåttro ocho yan un ocho diesisais (two fours, eight and an eight sixteen)
yan un ocho bentikuåttro yan un ocho trentaidos (and an eight twenty-four and an eight thirty-two)
gi si Baza yan si Nena y'an humihita na dos. (at Baza and Nena when the two of us are together.)

Mångge si Daling? (Where is Daling?)
Amånu nai gaige gue'? (Where could she be?)
Sa' esta yo' gof mahålang (Because I am already missing a lot)
sa' åpmam ti hu lie. (it's been a while since I've seen her.)
Pinite i korason-ho (My heart is aching)
sa' guiya hu hahasso. (because I think of her.)
Yanggen un lie si Daling (If you should ever see Daling)
tågo' fan ya u fåfåtto. (tell her please to come by.)

Chamorro ditties can be whimsical and nonsensical.  It's not so much the meaning of the words, as it is the sound of the words, whether they mean anything when put together or not.

I remember in Saipan in the early 90s putting a song together which I thought was pretty funny.  But the audience laughed the most at the refrain, which was just a filler that went "tiru liru li, tiru liru la."

The second song is one of romance and love forlorn.  Also quite prominent in Chamorro music.

No comments:

Post a Comment