I have been feeling very Acholi lately. I wore my custom African dress yesterday and today I figured out the chords to an Acholi lullaby. I don't know the exact translation, but it's about standing, walking, and dancing before Jesus on the day of judgement. This song was pretty much the only spoken language that Heidi and I could share with the children because they didn't understand an ounce of English. I'll always remember singing it with them over and over while we did art projects in the HEALS classroom. I miss them so much.
So here it is! Dress, beads and all (although the guitar is totally blocking the dress)!
An a bi cung, a bi cung inyim la ngol kop pa yesu
An a bi cung, pira kena
Pe tye ngatimo ma twero cung pira
An a bi cung pira kena
An a bi wot, a bi wot inyim la ngol kop pa yesu
An a bi wot, pira kena
Pe tye ngatimo ma twero wot pira
An a bi wot pira kena
An a bi myel, a bi myel inyim la ngol kpo pa yesu
An a bi myel, pira kena
Pe tye ngatimo ma twero myel pira
An a bi myel pira kena
*DISCLAIMER: The girl who wrote this out for me didn't appear very confident in her spelling....so if there's anyone out there who is fluent in Lwo, I could use some help.
Hi Katie
ReplyDeleteI am In South Africa and me and a Group of my friends were helping out at one of the Shelters for Homeless Children. amongst them there were those that came from other African countries that had no were to live but this shelters. So when we were done Giving them what we had. THEY SANG. they started with songs that we knew and then the Foreign Children Sang This Exact Song. I was in Tears. I Still am. I have been searching for this now for almost a Year. the only thing I knew was " Anabi cung pira kena" You sang that so beautifully I could see those children. Thank you So Much... I am still looking for the full song if there is a place where I can buy it please tell me. God Bless You.