More Videos Of Concentration 64 Hand Games

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents five videos of the concentration 64 hand game and a bonus video clip from the American television game show ConcentrationMup.

The content of this post is presented for recreational and educational purposes.

This post serves as a companion post to http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/11/concentration-64-handclap-game.html Concentration 64 Handclap Game

That post includes videos of concentration 64 and my speculations about how that game came to be called "concentration 64".

All copyrights remain with their owners.

****
FEATURED VIDEOS
(Notice that like other hand games, Concentration 64 can be played as a two person partner game or as a group game. Concentration 64 (and other hand games) can also be played as a three person game.

Also notice the different words that people use to begin this game and the different ways that people use their hands to clap this game.

Example #1: ESL FUN GAME - Concentration


vibrantray74
Uploaded on Aug 24, 2008


Video clips of one of the ESL fun games we played during Elsa's Farewell Party. In this particular video we played the game called "Concentration."

Mechanics:
1. Players should sit or stand in a circle.
2. Everyone should know and remember every player's call name.
3. Everyone should follow the rhythm with 4 beats or counting. Tap your laps first, then clap your hands together, after that, snap your fingers on your right hand and followed by snapping your left fingers.
4. While snapping your right fingers, you should say your name and then say the name of the person you wanna call when snapping your left fingers.
5. Everyone should chant this rhyme together specially in the beginning of the game:

"Concentration, United Nations.
Follow the rhythm. (optional)
Concentration now begins.
My name, your name...."

6. While the game is going on someone will surely make mistakes. Therefore, whoever makes mistake shall be asked to give anything from them like a watch, pencil, etc. Collect them all until the game ends and punish them accordingly.
7. Since this is a concentration game. It can't be avoided that players would make mistakes, especially, to those people who have bad memory about English names. Everyone should be alert and concentrate on the rhythm while remembering the players names.

****
Example #2: concentration game



che3na23, Uploaded on Mar 14, 2008

che3na,nana,ishy,mamaz,alyssa,jhay-r,&&j¬honny!

****
Example #3: Concentration 64, Avocado, and cherry cherry ding dong



TheMusicislife2698, Uploaded on Jul 16, 2011

Fun games are played

****
Example #4: concentration game



cholocs2000, Uploaded on Jul 26, 2011

pilapil pre-reunion get together

****
Example #5: Concentration 64

.

michie1688, Uploaded on Jan 12, 2012
Kids playing concentration, while waiting for lunch to be served at the restaurant.

****
BONUS VIDEO
Editor: This is a video clip of the final round of one program of the American television show Concentration. In the final round the contestant has to remember & match numbers of examples of cars or on other shows examples of another item that is pictured in the boxes.

Marla Wins At The Final Second!



classicconcentration Uploaded on Apr 23, 2010

After Alex gave her a car, Marla just barely wins one on her own!

****
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks also to those who are featured in these videos, to the producers of these videos, and to the video's publishers on YouTube.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Read More

More Examples Of The Zimbabwean Song "Gwabi Gwabi"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of a two part series on the Zimbabwean song "Gwabi Gwabi". The title of this song is widely and incorrectly given as "Guabi Guabi".

Part II of this series provides additional information about this song, and features information and additional examples of "Gwabi Gwabi".

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-real-meaning-of-song-gwabi-gwabi.html for Part I of this series.

Part I of this series provides information & comments about and examples of Arlo Guthries' performances of this song. Guthrie is credited with popularizing the song "Gwabi Gwabi" (using the title) "Guabi Guabi" in the USA and in other parts of the "Western" world.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "GWABI GWABI"
From http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=4060&messages=25 “Origins: Guabe, Guabe / Guabi", posted by MikeofNorthumbria on 12 Jun 00
"Guabi Guabi can be found on a field recording collected by Hugh Tracy in the mid 1950s. It was released on a Decca 10" LP called Guitars of Africa. I don't know if there have been any re-issues since. Jack Elliot and several other folkies used to play this tune in the '60s. A version of it was printed in Sing Out magazine round about then.

According to the sleeve notes on the Tracy recording, the singer (and presumably composer) was George Sibanda, who came from the country now known as Zambia*, but once called Northern Rhodesia. The song is based on a children's game - one child hides something behind his/her back and invites the other child to guess what it is (apparently "Guabi" means "Guess").

The lyrics, more or less phonetically transcribed, go like this:

Guabi guabi guzwange, lay tombyami

Laleng kambi, shu yantanda (2x)

Nizabu tengi, la ma banzi,

Izu wiji, lay banana! (2x)

Any Swahili* speakers out there who can give a translation (and correct my spelling)?
-snip-
Besides being a pretty little song, "Guabi Guabi" also features a nice bit of guitar-picking...
-snip-
*BIG CORRECTIONS – The African nation is Zimbabwe and not Zambia and the language in the song is Ndebele and not Swahili.

****
FEATURED VIDEOS
Example #1: Chuzi Mama Gwabi Gwabi from Wait A Minim! (1966)



WaitAMinim, Uploaded on Oct 26, 2011
Chuzi Mama Gwabi Gwabi, from the Original Broadway recording of

Wait A Minim! (1966)
-snip-
"Gwabi Gwabi" begins at .037.

Here's information about that musical revue from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wait_a_Minim!:
"Wait a Minim! (1962-68) was a musical revue conceived by Leon Gluckman, with original songs by Jeremy Taylor, and a collection of international folk music arranged by Andrew Tracey. Many authentic instruments were played to accompany dances and pantomimes satirizing the national characteristics and political and social eccentricities of many different countries. The only spoken words were when the cast was introduced, and in the South African scene where apartheid was ridiculed."

****
Example #2: Alastair Moock - Guabi Guabi



steveide59, Uploaded on Mar 3, 2010

Rose Garden Coffeehouse, Mansfield, Mass., Feb. 27, 2010. For more videos, photos and articles, visit http://folkbluegrassblog.com
-snip-
Alastair Moock correctly credits this song’s composer [George Sibanda], the nation from which it comes [Zimbabwe & not South Africa] and language [Ndebele and not Zulu or Swahili]

Moock also got the song's story right [A man teases his girlfriend by hiding something behind his back, saying "Guess what it is.]

However, this commenter wrote that the performer spelled the song wrong.

ntandoyenkosi sibanda, 2012
"The correct spelling is Gwabi gwabi"
-snip-
Notice that this commenter has the same last name as the "Gwabi Gwabi"'s composer, George Sibanda. This probably mean that this commenter is Zimbabwean and might even mean that the commenter is related to that composer. By the way, ntandoyenkosi sibanda wrote this same comment on several videos or sound files of this song.

****
Example #3: Peter Lang / Guabi Guabi/ Live April 2008



Peter Lang, Uploaded on May 18, 2008

Live at the Dakota Jazz Club , Minneapolis, with Dave King (The Bad Plus), Joe Lang, and Jonathan Thomas.

This Zulu folk tune was originaly recorded by South African George Sibanda in the 1948. Sibanda became one of the first Pan-African music stars. The song illustrates the relationship between blues and its African ancestory.
Copyright 2008
-snip-
Here's a comment from this video's viewer comment thread:
Mduduzi Michael Ncube, 2012
"Not South African but Zimbabwean ,not Zulu But Ndebele"
-snip-
This commenter wrote this same comment on several other videos or sound files of this song.

****
Example #4: Guabi Guabi

.

ksorel1968 Uploaded on Mar 24, 2011
-snip-
A baby dances & sings to a recording of the song "Gwabi Gwabi" (given as "Guabi Guabi”)

****
EDITORIAL COMMENT
YouTube.com has a sound file of "Gwabi Gwabi" that is sung by George Sibanda, who was the first person to record it. I very much regret not showcasing the audio of that song. However, I have chosen not to embed or link to that sound file because it includes photographs of topless women. I've made that decision because it's my hope that this video will be used as a supplemental resource in schools, and public schools in the USA, at least, would disqualify this post because of those photographs.

That said, here are selected comments from that sound file's viewer comment thread:
"Ukungazi kufana lokufa. This is George Sibanda 1942. He is the first Zimbabwean international superstar. Some of his songs were done by the Beatles. He is still popular in Sweden today. Many bands play his songs today...
-yizo4sho, 2010
**
This is a Zulu folk song lol, Arlo by no means did it first.
-shakinthembones, October 2011
**
It also a Ndebele folk song
-08736409, October 2011

****
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to George Sibanda for introducing the song "Gwabi Gwabi" to the world. Thanks to all those who are featured on this post, including the commenters who I have quoted and the authors of online post about this song.

Thanks to the producers of this sound file and these videos and thanks to their YouTube publishers.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Read More

The REAL Meaning of The Song "Gwabi Gwabi" (Guabi Guabi)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post is Part I of a two part series on the Zimbabwean song "Gwabi Gwabi". The title of this song is widely but inaccurately given as "Guabi Guabi".

Part I of this series provides information about the song "Gwabi Gwabi", showcases three examples of Arlo Guthrie's performances of this song, and includes comments about & corrections of Guthrie's early stories about that song.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/more-examples-of-zimbabwean-song-gwabi.html for Part II of this series.

Part II of this series provides additional information about this song, and features information and additional examples of "Gwabi Gwabi".

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "GWABI GWABI"
"Gwabi Gwabi" is a Ndebele folk song and a Zulu folk song which was first recorded by the Zimbabwean guitarist/singer George Sibanda in the 1940s or 1950s. American folk singer Arlo Guthrie is credited with popularizing the song "Gwabi Gwabi" in the USA and in other parts of the "Western" world.

Here's information about Arlo Guthrie's early recordings of this song that he titled "Guabi Guabi":
http://www.arlo.net/resources/lyrics/guabi.shtml

To summarize the first two parts of this article, White American folksinger Arlo Guthrie made up two completely inaccurate stories about the meaning of the word that he spelled "guabi" and the meaning of the song "Gwabi Gwabi". Those stories can be found at the link given above.

Guthrie's stories about this African folk song "read" like American fanciful "lying contests" ("tall tales"). In both of those stories, Guthrie incorrectly translates the word "gwabi" (which he spells "guabi") as a personal name. In both of these stories that Guthrie made up about this African folk song, the man is depicted in ways that mirror the United State's coon stereotype of Black men. And in both of Guthrie's "explanations" about this song the man is depicted on a banana peel and dying for one reason or another.

In the first story the man is arrested because "he cut some sandals out of the tires down there at the dock and they brought him up to the police station--about 13 stories up in the air. The next day they found Guabi had somehow got out the window of a room in a police station that was "13 stories up in the air" and "ended up down the road about three miles."

Continuing that story that Guthrie spins about the song "Gwabi Gwabi" -which he calls "Guabi Guabi", the police gave another account of Guabi's death- that he slipped on a banana peel and fell out that 13th floor window. But, as a result of an investigation, the "actual" account of Guabi's death was that he was chased by the police and his sandals made out of tires blew up.

You will recall that this "tall tale" was used as an introduction for a Southern African song during the time of South African apartheid when numerous acts of police brutality toward Black South Africans was occurring, the result of which led to "unexplained" or fancifully explained deaths. In my opinion, this makes Guthrie's inclusion of such a tall tale in a Southern African folk song even more unconscionable.

The second "explanation" that Arlo Guthrie gives for the meaning of the song "Guabi Guabi" is said to be an earlier "translation" pf this African song. That story is featured in Example #1 of this post. In that story, the main character is again named "Guabi", but is called "Guabs" by his friends. Guthrie indicates that both of this man's names were "Guabi" because he was "so poor that he didn't have 2 names".

Not only in his introduction, but also during his singing of that song, Arlo Guthrie describes "Guabi" as a stupid man. According to this story, that man slips on a bananna peel, falls off a bridge, and is killed by piranhas.

While it's true that the actual lyrics to the song "Gwabi Gwabi" mention bananas, in light of the widespread trope in the United States of describing Black people as monkeys, I believe that Guthrie's inclusion of the "slipping on a banana peel" ruse is quite problematic.

It's probable that Arlo Guthrie didn't intend for his "tall tale" stories of the meaning of this Southern African folk song to be to be racist. However, intent is no defense for what actually is racist.

The actual story of that song is given in the third section of that article which is entitled the is labeled "The Truth of It All":
"Guabi, Guabi: a South African folk song tremendously popular with folkies in the 60s and 70s, thanks to the recordings of Jack Elliott(1), Jim Kweskin, and Arlo Guthrie. It's a Zulu children's song with a wonderful melody and addictive guitar fingerpicking, and was taken from the singing and playing of guitarist George Sibanda(2). It can be found on an album put out by Decca called Guitars of Africa.

The song is about someone who teases his girlfriend by holding something behind his back and saying, "Guess what I've got." It's an interesting mix of Zulu and French expressions, and this English transliteration and translation is from Andrew Tracy of the African Music Society thanks to the guitar tutorials of Happy Traum (who put out a book with the tablature for Guabi Guabi):

"Guabi, Guabi, guzwangle notamb yami,
(Hear, Guabi, Guabi, I have a girlfriend)
Ihlale nkamben', shu'ngyamtanda
(She lives at Nkamben, sure I love her)

Ngizamtenge la mabanzi, iziwichi le banana."
(I will buy her buns, sweets, and bananas.)

If you've never heard the song sung before, the above is miles away from the actual sound of the African language. Such is the transliteration and its shortcomings.

Good luck with pronouncing the transliteration if you don't have a recording. As for the chords, it's straight C, F, and G. The fingerpicking takes a little more...

One other possibility-write to the Int'l Library Of African Music at Grahamstown,SA (Andrew Tracey) for more on his, and his dad's remarkable work. Their albums, obviously, fueled many-a-crafty folkie, besides doing their intended work...

(1) Jack recorded "Gaubi Guabi" on a 1964 LP called JACK ELLIOTT (Vanguard). That LP has been combined with a live recording from that era and released on a single CD as THE ESSENTIAL RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT (Vanguard).

(2) George Sibanda was an Ndebele guitarist who recorded for the Gallotone label (78rpm) in about 1950; a discovery of Hugh Tracey, eminent saviour of trad. African music. For a time he was funded, in part, by this commercial concern, acting as a "talent scout" for potential "hit" material (as was the case here) in exchange for the ability to document more traditional styles. The record gained some prominence in Europe, being reissued in a series of 10" discs on London(1950s); the series re-shuffled & augmented on 12" Gallotone lps (1960s-S. Africa) and in the early 1970s re-reissued on Kaleidoscope (NYC) -all under the editorial imprimatur of Dr.Tracey. Sibanda was (is???) a lovely guitarist and had many successes in his early days."
-snip-
CORRECTIONS: This song is from Zimbabwean and was originally sung in the Ndebele language and not the Zulu language. I'm not sure if any of the words to this song that Guthrie sings are in Zulu or French.
-snip-
Additional information about the song "Gwabi Gwabi"
can be found in Part II of this series.

*This is spelling of this title that is most widely used, probably because it is the one that Arlo Guthrie, who popularized this song, used.

****
FEATURED VIDEOS
Example #1: Arlo Guthrie /Guabi Guabi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXnn9ihSqes

embedding disabled by request

jguth3, Uploaded on Jul 14, 2007

Tour of 1978 with Shenandoah. This tour was recorded live. Guabi Guabi didn't make it on the "One Night CD" However this song (not the story) is on his CD titled, "Amigo."
-snip-
Editorial Comment:
Some commenters on this video's viewer comment thread excused Arlo Guthrie's made up story about this song with statements that such as "This is just what Arlo Guthrie does; He is known for telling inaccurate stories".

However, it seems to me that the fact that Black Africans and Black people of African descent have been negatively stereotyped and dehumanized so often and to such a large extent, and the fact that traditional Black African songs are so scarcely known outside of Africa that it should behoove a singer of goodwill to be careful not to use negative, racist stereotypes, not to poke fun at, and not to demean Black Africans while introducing or while singing an African folk song. My conclusion is that Arlo Guthrie's stories about this song is that they are indeed racist and I'm thankful that some commenters called him to question about the erroneous and in my opinion racist stories he made up about this song.

Here are a few selected comments from this video's viewer comment thread http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXnn9ihSqes
devojane, 2010
"- Not racism, just ignorance. Arlo didn't know, nobody told him, so he made up a funny story. Piranhas are from South America anyway"
**
andries. Colin van niekerk, 2011
Sorry but your comment about Guabi Guabi are not quite right yes it is a tease song to his friend that he has a girlfriend and that she is with him in the camp could be a prison/police camp not jail and that he is going to buy her buns/sweets/and bananas....

Reply

Mduduzi Michael Ncube, 2011
"The song was done in Zimbabwean Ndebele closely related to Zulu. Your translation is very proper.The camp in this sense refers to a Compound(inkomponi)
-snip-
“Very proper” here probably means “quite correct”.
**
Mduduzi Michael Ncube, 2012
"Gwabi gwabi kuzwa ngilentombi yami ihlale enkambeni shuwa iyangithanda

(Look I have a girlfriend she [s]tays in the compound surely she loves me)

Ngizamthengela amabhanzi, iziwiji,lebhanana

I will buy her buns ,sweets and banannas"

****
Example #2: Arlo Guthrie - Guabi Guabi (with Translation).wmv

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVcV38R7oxM

[embedding disabled by request]

MyMoppet52,Published on Jun 20, 2012

This African folksong is about a young man who wants to bring sweets, buns, bananas to his sweetheart. There is a loose translation below. Arlo Guthrie sings, "Guabi Guabi" on his ninth album released in 1976, "Amigo". I hope you enjoy! The song is about someone who teases his girlfriend by holding something behind his back and saying, "Guess what I've got." It's an interesting mix of Zulu and French expressions, and this English transliteration and translation is from Andrew Tracy of the African Music Society thanks to the guitar tutorials of Happy Traum (who put out a book with the tablature for Guabi Guabi): "Guabi, Guabi, guzwangle notamb yami, (Hear, Guabi, Guabi, I have a girlfriend) Ihlale nkamben', shu'ngyamtanda (She lives at Nkamben, sure I love her) Ngizamtenge la mabanzi, iziwichi le banana." (I will buy her buns, sweets, and bananas.)
-snip-
This "video" is a high quality slide show with a sound file of Arlo Guthrie singing this song. The publisher mistakenly gives the language as Zulu instead of Ndebele.

On a viewer comment thread of another video of "Gwabi Gwabi" (The song title is given as "Guabi Guabi") in which this song is performed by another artist, a commenter shared this information:
"Zulu & Zimbabwean Ndebele are closely related as both nations came from Zulu Kingdom.However give credit to the proper Nation. It was done by George Sibanda Of Zimbabwe . the song is in Ndebele & not Zulu"
-08736409, October 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0mo9tAxrLI

****
Example #3: Arlo Guthrie - Guabi Guabi - Guthrie Center - Oct 7, 2012



moonchilddave, Published on Oct 8, 2012
-snip-
This video begins with Arlo Guthrie sharing a story about how he was introduced to eleven Africans who he helped perform at a "hootenanny" in which Guthrie was performing. Guthrie sung "Guabi Guabi" that evening, and he said that the Africans enjoyed the performance and one of them said to Guthrie "You could make a living singing songs like that".

The song "Guabi Guabi" begins at 3:56.

****
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to George Sibanda for introducing the song "Gwabi Gwabi" to the world and thanks to Arlo Guthrie for popularizing this song, even though in my opinion his early stories about it were very problematic.

Thanks to all those who are featured on this post, including the commenters who I have quoted and the authors of online post about this song. Thanks to the producers of these videos and to their YouTube publishers.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Read More

Debunking The Urban Myth About "Hooka Tooka Soda Cracka"

Edited by Azizi Powell

"Hooka Tooka Soda Craka" is a song that is most often associated with the Rhythm & Blues singer Chubby Checker or the Folk/Pop singer Judy Henske.

I've read a number of places online a story that is attributed by her fans to Judy Henske that the lyrics to "Hooka Tooka Soda Cracker" come from Black American children who would sing this song to warn their prostitue mothers that the police were outside. For example, read this YouTube sound file publisher's summary:

Hooka Tooka Two



Man06ful, Uploaded on Aug 22, 2009
"the main lyrics here came from a skip rope song by children of prostitutes playing outside the whore houses. Somehow Judy Henske found this song - svaed [sic] it. The kids were holding soda crackers and chewing tobacco to pass to their mothers if there was a bust."
-snip-
This video uploader expands on that story in his or her comments on that sound file's viewer comment thread:
"Henske made up the lyrics - Green Rocky Road - and had a law suit for years with Chubby Checker who - used her lyrics. Henske introduced the song - explaining the bit about kids in front of whore houses holding chewing tobbacco and soda crackers for their mothers if there was a bust - because in jail they werent allowed cigarettes and the bread was mouldy. The rythme - lyrics are exactly like other skip rope songs....
-Man06ful, 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsAt9hrrKh0
-snip-
The story that "Hooka Tooka Soda Cracka" comes from a "skip rope song by children of protitutes playing outside the whore houses" just doesn't seem credible to me.

It ssems probable to me that this story is an elaboration by fans of a joking comment that Judy Henske made during an introduction to that song, an elaboration which was not only accepted by some of her fans, but grew to include the "holding soda cracker and chewing tobacco" portion. According to a blogger with the screen name "old frat" on this 1996 discussion thread https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/rec.music.folk/SkUpw3iKaQs "Hooka Tooka My Soda Cracker"
"Judy Henske does a great version of this song ["Does your mama chaw tobacca?], and is probably the one you remember.

On the album, it starts with a humorous monologue intro where she asks the group to repeat the chorus. She then says, "You sound like a bunch of kids outside a Chicagoe whorehouse." The song itself doesn't really seem to be about this subject at all --or I've been mssing the true meaning of soda cracker all of my life."
-snip-
The question about which album this comment is found in was answered by this comment that was posted in 2003 by Joe Offer on this thread of the Mudcat Folk & Blues music forum http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=59549 "Lyr Req: PLease help 'Hucka CHucka soda cracka'?":
"I found the Henske arrangement - it's on her self-titled album, released on Elektra in 1963 and recently reissued on CD. She calls it "Hooka Tooka," and says it's traditional, arranged by Henske."

If this story isn't an elaboration by her fans of a comment that Judy Henske made about the quality of her audience's singing that "Hooka Tooka" song, if Judy Henske actually believed the story about the song being used by children to warn their mothers of a police bust story, I have these questions:

How did that singer learn that the jump rope rhyme/song "Hooka Tooka Soda Cracka" was used by those Black children (in Chicago or elsewhere) as a means of warning their mothers or other women in that whore house that a police bust was imminent? Did she hear the children singing that song and then go up to them and ask them why they were singing it? If the children told her that story, did she believe it without checking it? And how would she check such a story? Isn't it possible that those Black children made up a fanciful story for that White woman?

Also, how did she know that they were "holding soda crackers and chewing tobacco to give to their mothers if there was a bust? Where were these items placed while they were turning a jump rope and jumping rope? Furthermore, is it consistent with mothers' behaviors that they would force their children or encourage their children to play in front of the house where they are whoring so that their children would warn them in a pre-arranged manner of a possible police bust?

In my opinion, that this story has been accepted by so many people without questioning its crediblity speaks to Americans' negative stereotypes about Black women.

Even if Judy Henske somehow learned that "Hooka Tooka Soda Craker" was sung by some children in Chicago to warn their mothers of a police bust, that doesn't mean that this song was first sung for that reason. Nor does it mean that this song was always sung for that reason.

CORRECTING THAT URBAN MYTH
I believe that the song "Hooka Tooka Soda Cracka" is an American (probably African American) adaptation of the United Kingdom children's counting out rhyme "Icka Backa Soda Cracker". I also believe that the United Kingdom children's singing game "Walking On The Green Grass" is another source of "Hooka Tooka Soda Cracker" song. The American song "Green Green Rocky Road" sometimes include a version of "Hooka Tooka Soda Cracka". Click this page of my Cocojams cultural website for text versions of these & other songs that I believe are related to "Hooka Tooka Soda Cracka": http://cocojams.com/content/text-analysis-hooka-tooka-soda-cracker.

By the way, the end word of "hooka tooka soda cracka" rhymes with the second line in that couplet -"does your mama chew tobacca". The "does your mama chew tobacco" line probably originated as a "dig" (an insult, rip, diss). That phrase definitely predates Judy Henske's 1963 song, "Hooka Tooka" song e.g. read the entry "Green Green Rocky Road" given below which "was collected [in 1955] from the children of Lilly Chapel School in York, Alabama and is found in "Negro Songs From Alabama" by Harold Courlander".

I'll let others debate whether Judy Henske or Ernest Evans (Chubby Checker) was the first to write the "Hooka Tooka" song.

****
FEATURED SOUND FILES AND VIDEOS

Example #1: Chubby Checker Hooka Tooka Forever Gold 1999



JesusSierra408, Uploaded on Jun 22, 2009

****
Example #2: hookatooka

.

redheadedberry, Uploaded on Feb 22, 2009
-snip-
Girls singing "Hooka Tooka" around a camp fire.

****
Example #3: Taj Mahal & André Christovam - Green Green Rocky Road



Annecysavoie | December 27, 2008
Heineken Concerts - Bourbon Street - São Paulo - 2000

****
Acka Backa Soda Cracker!



julietlovesjoe Published on Jun 12, 2012

They played a game at Luka's concert this morning. Check it out!! 6/12/2012

****
OTHER RELATED LINKS
Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qtgno5szcH8 for an example of the children's singing game "Walking On The Green Grass".

Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHpXS01tz4A for a choral version of the song "Walking On The Green Grass".

Click this page of my Cocojams website http://cocojams.com/content/choosing-it-rhymes for additional text versions of the counting out rhyme "Acka Backa Soda Cracka" and other counting out rhymes.

****
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the composers of this song. Thanks also to those whose comments I quoted. Also, thanks to those featured in these videos, to the producers of these videos, and to the video's publishers on YouTube.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Read More

African American Ring Shouts (Origins & Examples)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents information about and examples of African American ring shouts.

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, educational, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT RING SHOUTS
A ring shout is a religious song & movement form. Ring shouts are performed by persons who shuffle counterclockwise in a single file in a circle (ring). The ring shout participants may also perform imitative movements to the words that are sung (for instance, acting out picking up leaves to the song "Adam In The Garden"). The accompaniment is provided by persons who stand to the side of the ring, and sing while they clap their hands. Traditionally, the only instrumental accompaniment for ring shouts was one man rhythmically beating a long stick on the ground. Later, a tambourine might also be used as accompaniment for ring shouts.

Here's an excerpt from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_shout [hereafter given as Wikipedia: Ring Shout]
"...shout or ring shout is an ecstatic, transcendent religious ritual, first practiced by African slaves in the West Indies and the United States, in which worshipers move in a circle while shuffling and stomping their feet and clapping their hands. Despite the name, shouting aloud is not an essential part of the ritual.

The ring shout was practiced in some African American churches into the 20th century, and it continues to the present among the Gullah people of the Sea Islands."
-snip-
Some scholars such as Robert Farris Thompson indicate that the ring shout comes from the Bakongo peoples of Central Africa. Some information about the Kongo Cosmogram is found below after Video #1 of this post.

Another theory is that "The [ring shout] ritual may have originated among enslaved Muslims from West Africa as an imitation of tawaf, the mass procession around the Kaaba that is an essential part of the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca. If so, the word "shout" may come from Arabic shawṭ, meaning "a single run", such as a single circumambulation of the Kaaba, or an open space of ground for running...

"According to musicologist Robert Palmer, the first written accounts of the ring shout date from the 1840s. The stamping and clapping in a circle was described as a kind of "drumming," and 19th-century observers associated it with the conversion of slaves to Christianity.[5] [Wikipedia: Ring Shout]
-snip-
In my opinion, given the way that various African traditions were combined during slavery in the West Indies and the Americas, both the Bakongo and the West African Muslim theories about the origin and meanings of the ring shout could be true.

While the ring shout continued in among some Christians in the United States well into the the 20th century, that tradition was vehemently frowned upon by Black ministers because of their opposition to dancing and because the ring shout was considered a form of dancing. [Source: Joseph E. Halloway's book Africanisms In American Culture, p. 238 for a description of ring shout and an example of minister's opposition to ring shouts]. Furthermore, the fixed pews of contemporary churches spelled the demise of the ring shout, which needs an open space for its performance. However, the custom in some Black churches in which a church member who "feel the spirit" would circle around the church sanctuary, running from the front of that space to the back, can be attributed to the ring shout tradition. It should also be mentioned that the phrase "to sing and shout" that is found in numerous African American Spirituals and Gospel songs probably referred to the ring shout rather than the usual meaning given to it of “exclaiming loudly”.

****
FEATURED VIDEOS
(These videos are presented in chronological order based on the date of their YouTube posting, with the oldest dated videos posted first.)

Video #1 RIng Shout



AlovePhotog Uploaded on May 9, 2010
New Project
-snip-
The first slide for this video reads “Bakongo Cosmograph And The Ring Shout. The Continuance Of Culture Through Sacred Dance."

Here's some information about Kongo Cosmogram from http://www.webarchaeology.com/html/kongocos.htm for information about the Kongo cosmogram:
"The cosmogram is a symbol which is one of many manifestations of Kongo, or Bakongo, culture in the Americas. It is described and illustrated in detail in Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy by Robert Farris Thompson...

The Kongo yowa cross does not signify the crucifixion of Jesus for the salvation of mankind; it signifies the equally compelling vision of the circular motion of human souls about the circumference of its intersecting lines. The Kongo cross refers therefore to the everlasting community of all righteous men and women:
Nzungi! n'zungi-nzila.........Man turns in the path,
N'zungi! n'zungi-nzila........He merely turns in the path;
Banganga ban'e E ee!.......The priests, the same (49)

A fork in the road (or even a forked branch) can allude to this crucially important symbol of passage and communication between worlds. The "turn in the path", i.e., the crossroads, remains an indelible concept in the Kongo-Atlantic world, as the point of intersection between the ancestors and the living”...

Members of the [Bakongo] Lemba society of healers had initiates stand on a cross chalked on the ground, a variant of the cosmogram. "To stand upon this sign,: Fu-Kiau Bunseki tells us, "meant that a person was fully capable of governing people, that he knew the nature of the world, that he had mastered the meaning of life and death." He thenceforth could move about with the confidence of a seer, empowered with insights from both worlds, both halves of the cosmogram.(50)

Drawing a "point", invoking God and the ancestors, formed only a part of this most important Kongo ritual of mediation. The ritual also included "singing the point". In fact, the Bakongo summarize the full context of mediation with the phrase "singing and drawing [a point]: yimbila y sona. (51) They believe that the combined force of singing Ki-Kongo words and tracing in appropriate media the ritually designated "point" or "mark" of contact between the worlds will result in the descent of God's power upon that very point....

****
Video #2: The Ringshout & the Birth of African-American Religion



Uploaded by newtimbuk2 on Jul 17, 2009

****
Video #3: McIntosh County Shouters ORIGINAL GROUP.AVI



Uploaded by McIntoshCtyShouters on Feb 23, 2010
www.mcintoshcountyshouters.com Renowned Master Artists of the Ring Shout, THIS group is the real deal. Be educated and entertained by learning about Georgia Coastal History. The ORIGINAL McIntosh County Shouters was featured on 2009 Grammy winning "Best Historical Album" by Art Rosenbaum.
-snip-
Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxPU5517u8c&feature=related for a 57 minute YouTube video of a presentation by the McIntosh County Shouters.

****
Video #4
Gullah Ringshout July 2011 Anacostia Museum

SterlingFlowMedia, Uploaded on Jul 25, 2011

Nearly 400 Participants break record for the largest Ring Shout ever recorded.
-snip-
This video begins with the song “Here Come The Line”. The group refrain is "here comes the line". The lyrics sung by the lead singer are:
Here come the line...
Oh you preachers...
Oh you children...
You better follow...
Cause here come the line...
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/adam-in-garden-picking-up-leaves.html for a pancocojams post that includes the lyrics to the second song "Adam In The Garden" which is performed in this video.

****
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks also to those who have studied & disseminated information about ring shouts. Thanks to the unknown composers of these songs and thanks to those who are featured in these videos, the producers of these videos, and the video's publishers on YouTube.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome

Read More

Adam In The Garden (Picking Up Leaves) Examples & Lyrics

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post features examples of the African American ring shout "Adam In The Garden" (Picking Up Leaves). Comments about and several versions of the lyrics to this religious song are also provided in this post.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, cultural, religious, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

****
COMMENTS ABOUT & LYRICS FOR THE SONG "ADAM IN THE GARDEN"
"Adam In The Garden" is an African American ring shout from the Georgia Sea Isles. "Adam In The Garden" recounts the story of Adam in the Garden Of Eden as found in the Old Testament Book Of Genesis. God creates Adam & Eve & places them in the Garden of Eden. He warns them not to eat from the Tree Of Knowledge of Good & Evil. A serpent tempts them. They disobeyed God, bit an apple from the Tree of Knowledge. Adam & Eve then realized that they were naked, and began to pick leaves to make some type of covering for themselves.

The second line for "Adam In The Garden" is usually given as "picking up leaves". However, other versions of "Adame In The Garden" give the second line as "pinning leaves" or "pinning up leaves." Those lines may be the earliest forms of that song.

Like other religious and non-religious folk songs, there are multiple versions of the lyrics for "Adam In The Garden". Here's one text example of that song:

chorus: Oh Eve, where's Adam? (3x)
Adam in the garden pinning leaves.
Well, I know my God is a man of war,
Adam in the garden pinning leaves.
He fought the battle at the Jericho wall,
Adam in the garden pinning leaves.
Well, the first time God called, Adam refused to answer,
Adam in the garden pinning leaves,
Well, the first time God called, Adam refused to answer,
Adam in the garden pinning leaves,
The next time God called, God hollered louder,
Adam in the garden pinning leaves,
The next time God called, God hollered louder,
Adam in the garden pinning leaves.

Source: http://www.metrolyrics.com/adam-in-the-garden-pinning-leaves-lyrics-unknown-artist.html.
-snip-
Click http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/article/240968 for a literary essay that includes comments about and another version of the lyrics for "Adam In The Garden".

Other lyrics for this song are found below selected videos.

****
FEATURED EXAMPLES
Example #1: Adam in the Garden



John Melville Bishop, Uploaded on May 28, 2009

Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island Singers from the DVD--The Films of Bess Lomax Hawes -- available from www.media-generation.com this was shot in the mid 1960s by Bess Hawes and Edmund Carpenter.
-snip-
Here’s a comment written in response to the question “What are they saying?”

“The refrain that is being sung here is "picking up leaves". In the opening verse, god asks-"Oh Eve, where is Adam?" and she responds, "Adam in the garden picking up leaves." “
- John Melville Bishop, 2012

****
Example #2: Gullah Ringshout July 2011 Anacostia Museum



SterlingFlowMedia, Uploaded on Jul 25, 2011

Nearly 400 Participants break record for the largest Ring Shout ever recorded.
-snip-
This video clip begins with the song “Here Come The Line”. The lyrics to that song will be featured in an upcoming blog post on Ring Shouts.

The song “Adam in the Garden” begins at .35

The refrain for this song is "pickin up leaves". Here's the lead singer's lines:

Adam in the gaden*...
Eve and Adam...
They were pickin...
Pick and pickin...
Oh, Adam...
Adam shamed...
Worked in the gaden*...

[continue this pattern repeating whichever lines you want to]

*gaden=garden

****
Example #3: Adam in the Garden, a Slave Song



Published on May 22, 2012 by TTGBlimp

"Adam in the Garden, a slave song by The McIntosh Country Shouters; Performers of slave era 'shout' songs"
-snip-
ADAM IN THE GARDEN
[unknown composer]

Soloist: Oh-o Eve, where is Adam?
Soloist: Oh-o Eve
Soloist and Group: Adam in the garden pinnin up leaves.
Soloist: God called Adam
Group: Pinnin up leaves
Soloist: Eve and Adam
Group: Pinning up leaves
Soloist: My God call him
Group: Pinnin up leaves
Soloist: Adam won't answer
Group: Pinnin up leaves
Soloist: Oh, Adam
Group: Pinnin up leaves
Soloist: Oh, Adam
Group: Pinnin up leaves
Soloist: Adam ashamed
Group: Pinnin up leaves
Soloist: Adam won't answer
Group: Pinnin up leaves
Soloist: Oh, Adam
Group: Pinnin up leaves
Soloist: Oh, Adam
Group: Pinnin up leaves
Soloist: Why don't you answer
Group: Pinnin up leaves
Soloist: Who told you, Adam
Group: Pinnin up leaves
Soloist: that you was naked
Group: Pinnin up leaves
Soloist: My God call you
Group: Pinnin up leaves
Soloist: Why don't you answer
Group: Pinnin up leaves
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell from the video. Additions and corrections are welcome.

Notice that these videos includes a demonstration of the "ring shout" religious dance.

****
RELATED LINKS
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/african-american-ring-shouts-origins.html

**
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/06/biblical-references-in-african-american.html. This post includes a video performance of the ring shout "Adam In The Garden" that was performed by the McIntosh County Shouters.

****
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to the unknown composers of this song. Thanks also to those who are featured in these videos, to the producers of these videos, and to the video's publishers on YouTube.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Read More

Two Examples of "Shine Eye Gal" ("Shine Eye Girl") with lyrics

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases two Reggae versions of the Jamaican folk song "Shine Eye Gal" ("Shine Eye Girl"). The lyrics to the versions by Barrington Levy & by Black Uhuru are also included in this post. In addition, I've included my American English "translation" of the Jamaican patois lyrics that are found in the Black Uhuru version of this song.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "SHINE EYE GAL" ("SHINE EYE GIRL")
"Shine Eye Gal" ("Shine Eye Girl" is a Jamaican folk song. Another way of saying "shine eye gal (girl) is a girl with shiny eyes. In this song, the man laments that his shiny eyed woman is demanding and hard to please.

Click http://www.timeinjamaica.com/jamaican_folk_songs_lyrics for a folk song version of "Shine Eye Gal" which is sung in Jamaican patois. That website provides general information about Jamaican folk songs and includes lyrics to other examples of those songs.

****
FEATURED VIDEOS & LYRICS
(These videos are presented in chronological order based on the date of their YouTube posting, with the oldest dated videos posted first.)

Example #1 Barrington Levy - Shine eye girl


BonJamTelevisionUploaded on May 25, 2008
-snip-

LYRICS - SHINE EYE GAL
(As sung by Barrington Levy)

a shine eye girl,a shine eye girl
a shine eye girl,a shine eye girl
a shine eye girl,a shine eye girl
a shine eye girl,a shine eye girl

Shine eye girl is a trouble to a man
she want uptown, she want downtown
she want fancy car, she want superstar
an'a tell me whey you really want
I say to tell me, I say to tell me,
tell me whey you want

you want uptown, you want downtown
you want fancy car, you want super star
you want black silk, you want wedding gown
now whey you really want?
a for me real whey you want, you still want more
you want husband, you want boyfriend
you want security guard, you want whole yard
you want soldier man, you want badman
now whey you really want?
tell me whey you really want, now
tell me whey you really want, oh yeah

I say to tell me, I say to tell me,
tell me whey you want
a for you want Jah Thomas, you want ???
you want Dominic, you want Barrington
now whey you really want?
tell me whey you really want, gal
tell me whey you really want, oh yeah

Source: http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858756665/

****
Example #2: Black Uhuru - Shine Eye Gal Live Essen 1981



gmizafac, Published on Oct 26, 2009
-snip-

LYRICS - SHINE EYE GIRL
(As sung by Black Uhuru)

Shine eye gal is a trouble to a man
Shine eye gal is a trouble to a man

I arise early looking some tea, rise early
Looking for the daughter but she noh on ya
I take a walk down the street
De gal deh pan corner weh push mouth lorna??
And her bed no spread

Shine eye gal is a trouble to a man
Shine eye gal is a trouble to a man

The next day she want I to take a route
Take her to the beach party
Feeling everything would be irie
Wrinkles on her face
Like the things Ive done she dont appreciate

Shine eye gal is a trouble to a man
Shine eye gal is a trouble to a man

She wants wants have noh when she really really getty
Rastafari Know she cant take it
She said natty turn off your light
Give me dreadlock whe you give me first night
So I say

Shine eye gal is a trouble to a man
Shine eye gal is a trouble to a man

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdcR0tdAnDE
Shine Eye Gal 12" Mix - Black Uhuru [posted by VanillaFresh76]
-snip-
Here's my interpretation of the verses of Black Uhuru's version of "Shine Eye Gal" into Standard American English:
Verse #1:
I arise early looking some tea, rise early
[I get up early and looked for some tea]
Looking for the daughter but she noh on ya
[I looked for that woman but she wasn't here]
I take a walk down the street
De gal deh pan corner weh push mouth lorna??
[I asked a woman on the corner where is pouty mouth Lorna]
And her bed no spread
[And her bed isn't even made]

Verse #2:
The next day she want I to take a route
[The next day she wants me to take her on a trip]
Take her to the beach party
Feeling everything would be irie
[I thought that everything would be really great]
Wrinkles on her face
[But she spent the time frowning]
Like the things Ive done she dont appreciate
[Like she doesn't appreciate all the things I've done for her]

Verse #3:
She wants wants have noh when she really really getty
[She's never satisfied with what I give her; She continually wants more even though she gets alot (from me)]
Rastafari Know she cant take it
[God knows she can't take it with her (when she dies)]
She said natty turn off your light
[She said "You fine looking (handsome) man", turn off the light (in the room)]
Give me dreadlock whe you give me first night
["Dreadlock, give me what you gave me the first night we first met]
-snip-
"Interpretation" by Azizi Powell. Additions & corrections are welcome.

****
RELATED LINKS
Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Beu1kbo2oK8for an example of "Shine Eye Girl" by Shabba Ranks with Mykal Rose.

Click http://www.timeinjamaica.com/jamaican_folk_songs_lyrics for lyrics to a folk song version of "Shine Eye Gal" and for lyrics of other Jamaican folk songs.

Click this page of my cultural website for examples of other Caribbean folk songs: http://cocojams.com/content/caribbean-folk-songs

****
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to Barrington Levy & thanks to Black Uhuru for their musical legacies. Thanks to the publishers of this sound file and video and thanks also to the transcribers of these songs.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Read More