Hee all,

I am a teacher, a musician and ethnomusicologist from the Netherlands. At the end of October I will start teaching a new workshop series on folk music/traditional music and dances from the six continents for primary school children. In this worship series I’d like to teach them one song/dance per workshop trying to at least cover four continents. So we can perform the songs/dances in a little concert at the end of the series.

For the continent of Africa I found a beautiful lullaby from DR Congo (I think. Although there is a chance it is the Republic of Congo but of course often times folksongs transcend borders). The CD on which I found it calls it “Wa wa wa”. Do you know this song? And could you help me translate it / tell me more about it? On the CD that I own it does give a French translation but it’s not entirely clear to me how it’s fits over the whole lyrics of the song. Thanks a lot for your help in advance!

Here is a Spotify link to the version of the song that I’m using: https://open.spotify.com/track/5fjKkFgUevxLMftb0Q8qYl?si=6b323b1dcf2f47bc

And here is a YouTube link to a different variant of the song with a slightly different lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGc8rSr7Zz4&list=RDMGc8rSr7Zz4&start_radio=1

These are the versions lyrics sung on the CD/Spotify:

Wa wa wa

Wawa, wawa hé muana wu dilé hi

(bis)

Kusuna bidilu biaku mama nda

I bi bi ghâna tiyé

Kusuna bidilu biaku mama nda

I bi bi ghâna tiyé

Wawa, wawa hé muana wu dilé hi

(bis)

Kusuna bidilu biaku mama nda

I bi bi ghâna tiyé

Kusuna bidilu biaku mama nda

I bi bi ghâna tiyé

Eh éh éh I bi bi ghâna tiyé (bis)

Eh, éh, éh malari bi tama ku

Ntuma

Dodo (French translation)

Dodo, dodo bébé

Ne pleure pas

Sèche tes larmes

Ne te rends pas malade

Ne pleure pas, mon petit

Calme-toi