Performed by Esmeralda Pelembe-Marsh
Song name: Xifutswana
Composer: Community Rhyme
Lyrics:
Julia (Juliya)
juliya
juliya vako (vaku) vitana
juliya
juliya
juliya vako vitana
Nitlhangani nixifutswana
xini vutisa swako niya kwine
niko niya a'Boana
niya tsavula a'xipandza nyoka
Nitlhangani nixifutswana
xini vutisa swako niya kwine
niko niya a'Boana
niya tsavula a'xpandza nyoka
sa, sa bambatela sab...
sa,sa, bambatela sabado
sa,sa, bambatela sab...
sa,sa, bambatela sabado

REPEAT THE LYRICS
the above
heyiii, bambatela saba wena,
bambatela sabado
hey...bambatela saba wena
bambatela sabado
heyiii... bambatela saba wena
bambatela sabado
tsa,tsa,tsa tsa bambatela sabado
tsa,tsa, tsa bambatela sabado
bambatela sab,
bambatela sabado
Language/Dialect: Xitsonga
Reason for choice of song: Revival of my childhood (teenage years) as we used the song for our
street dance competition as a way of underestimating our opponent by telling them were not good
children to their parents as they would rather be on the street than at home being helpful.

Esmeralda Pelembe-Marsh - Xifutswana

Performed by Secilia Ausiku
Name of the song – Kala omukwafi
Composer: not known
Lyrics as below:
Kala omukwafi
Kala omukwafi, kala omukwafi
Kwafela aveshe
Kwafela oingundu, nee hepele no va fiona
Kwafela oingundu, nee hepele no va fiona!
Be a helper!
Be a helper, be a helper
Help all
Help the disabled, poor and less fortunate
Help the disabled, poor and less fortunate!
Language: Oshiwambo, Kwanyama, Namibia.
The reason for chosing the song:
It reminds me of when I was a young girlguide and making a promise to do good and help all.
I sent a photo to Moi in the past, should I resend it?

Secilia Ausiku - Kala omukwafi

Performed by Anni Meehan 
Song name: Ride On 
Composer: Jimmy MacCarthy 
Lyrics: Attached 
Language/Dialect: English 
Reason for choice of song: Having left Ireland the country of my birth in 1985, I was always asked to sing an Irish song. I did not know any, and did not really want to be associated at that time with things Irish, largely because of the association with the politics of the time (I was London-based from 1986). I did not appreciate nor fully understand Irish history. Consequently, I felt a little jaded of the laments in Irish music about 'poor Ireland', feeling that I wanted the people to embrace a new era without war, 
without looking back and to move forward - not to forget, but to forge new ways of cooperating and living together. I guess I was naive. 
Over time, and being away from home meant I made time to listen to Irish music. A few of my favourite songs were written by Jimmy MacCarthy. Something about 'Ride On' - it's simplicity, haunting melody and lyrics made me fall in love with it. 
The message in it for me personally is: having the strength to say 'No', despite my love for you, I have to be true to myself and stay where I am safe. I can appreciate you, even admire you, but I love you enough to let you go.


Ride On
(Music and lyrics by Jimmy MacCarthy) from the album ‘The Song of the Singing Horseman’) – 1991

True, you ride the finest horse I have ever seen
Standing sixteen one or two with eyes wild and green
And you ride the horse so well, hands light to the touch
I could never go with you no matter how I wanted to.

Ride on, see you
I could never go with you no matter how I wanted to
Ride on, see you,
I could never go with you no matter how I wanted to

When you ride into the night without a trace behind
Run your claw along my gut one last time
I turn to face an empty space where you used to lie
And look for a spark to light the night through a teardrop in my eye

Ride on, see you
I could never go with you no matter how I wanted to
Ride on, see you
I could never go with you no matter how I wanted to
No matter how I wanted to.


With two singles behind him, including Miles Of Eyes, Jimm MacCarthy’s first big break came in 1984 when Christy Moore recorded Ride On, a raw song of partings. 
Much has been made of the drama of the lyrics, particularly the line "Run the claw along my gut", but MacCarthy feels the true meaning of the song, the rejection of violence, has been missed. "It's about two people choosing separate paths because one has a gun and the other can't go along because he doesn't believe in bloodshed. `I could never go with you/ No matter how I wanted to'." An extra layer of loss is expressed because there is also a sense of lovers parting.

Source: The Irish Times, 5th February, 1998
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/the-singing-horseman-1.132236

Anni Meehan - Ride On

Performed by Ervenotte Lassus-Harbord 

Song name: Liberté

Composer: Ervenotte Lassus-Harbord 

Language/Dialect: French/Haitian Creole 

Reason for choice of song: The song speaks about freedom in every form and it describes what is freedom for me.

Liberté

Liberté, Ô douce liberté, Viens me retrouver dans ma pensée.
Liberté, Ô douce liberté, Fais-moi agir de façon sensée.
Tu me conquiers par ton air charmant.
Comme le murmur des mots d'un amant.
Tout comme un aimant, tu m'attires dans tes fillets.
Et tu casses les chaines, qui serraient mes poignets.

Libète, Ô Ayibobo pou libète (x4 )

Liberté, Ô douce liberté, emmène-moi vers ma contrée.
Liberté, Ô douce liberté,rejoins-moi où tu m'as rencontrée.
De par ton pouvoir, laisse-moi aimer.
J'ai des ailes, j, me sens prête à charmer.
Tu me tiens la main, me conduis sur un chemin,
Où la loi du moment côtoie mon destin.

Libète, Ô Ayibobo pou libète (x4 )

Liberté, Ô douce liberté, efface délicatement ma souffrance.
Liberté, Ô douce liberté, Mène-moi sur l' île de mon enfance.
Je veux invoquer, très haut ton nom,
Pourque ta puissance me donne des frissons.
Tu deviens pour moi une réalité.
Quand tu influences toute ma vérité.

Libète, Ô Ayibobo pou libète (x8 )

Liberté, Ô douce liberté, même si tu ne restes qu'une illusion,
Liberté, Ô douce liberté, Viens quand même embrasser ma vision.


Ervenotte Lassus-Harbord
(August 2017)

Freedom

Freedom O sweet freedom, come into my thoughts.
Freedom O sweet freedom, make me act in a sensible way.
You conquer me with your charm,
Like the sounds of whispered sweet words of a lover.
Like a magnet you attract me in your net,
And you break the chains that held my wrists.

Chorus: Freedom O, amen for Freedom (repeat x4)

Freedom O sweet freedom, take me to my land.
Freedom O sweet freedom, join me where you met me.
By your power, let me love.
I have wings so I feel ready to charm.
You hold my hand and lead me to a path,
Where the laws of the moment mix with my destiny.

Chorus (x4)

Freedom O sweet Freedom,take away all my pain gently,
Freedom O sweet Freedom,take me back to my home island.
For your power to make me goosebumps.
You become for me a reality,
When you influence my truth.

Chorus: (x8)

Freedom O sweet Freedom, eventhough you remain an illusion,
Freedom O sweet Freedom, come and embrace my vision.

Written by Ervenotte Lassus-Harbord
(August 2017)

Ervenotte Lassus-Harbord  - Liberté

Performed by Danna Liu MacRae
Song name: 独上西楼 (du Shang Xi Lou)
Composer: Lyrics are from an ancient Chinese poem called 'Grief' (哀思 ai si) by Li Yu (李煜).
Music by Liu Chia-chang (劉家昌), arranged by Lu Dongni (盧東尼).
Original Singer: 邓丽君 (Deng Li Jun) /Teresa Teng
Background and history: Li Yu was the third ruler of the Southern Tang state (reigned from 961 until
976) during imperial China's Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Although known as an
incompetent ruler, he was a master of poetry.
Lyrics: '独上西楼' (du shang xi lou) translates as 'Alone Up The West Chamber' 1983
无言独上西楼
月如钩
寂寞梧桐
深院锁清秋
剪不断, 理还乱
是离愁,
别有一番滋味
在心头
Silently, solitary I ascend the western tower,
The moon appears like a hook,
The lone parasol tree locks the clear autumn in the deep courtyard.
What cannot be cut,
Nor raveled,
Is the sorrow of separation:
Nothing tastes like that to the heart.
Alternative translation of the poem:
Alone to silence, up the western tower, I myself bestow.
Like silver curtain hook, so does the moon glow.
The fallen leaves of one forsaken parasol
Make deeper still the limpid autumn locked up in the court below.
Try cutting it, it is still profuse –
More minding will but more confuse –
Ah, parting's such enduring sorrow!
It leaves behind a very special taste the heart alone could know.

Language/Dialect: Chinese
Reason for choice of song: My granddad was a composer and conductor and worked for the railway
cultural troupe- travelling around China from the 1950's through to the 1990's performing for railway
workers as well party members and government officials. Deng Li Jun was a Taiwanese singer and
became a huge star in Mainland China in the early 1980's. Her songs were often about love and
spoke of everyday relationships and emotions. Before this and especially through the cultural
revolution, these topics were never addressed in popular music. Her ballads were something new and
never before heard in China that touched people and garnered her many fans. My grandad was one

of these fans and instilled a love of her and her music in my dad and in me. Even now when I visit my
granddad in Beijing, the only thing he will ever listen to, and on repeat, is her albums.

Danna Liu MacRae - Shang Xi Lou

Performed by Karen Webb
Craigieburn Wood by Robert Burns

Language: Traditional Lowland Scots

Why I chose this song:
I am from the lowland highlands in Scotland, and Robert Burns has been a big part of my
history. In my home town, Dunoon in Argyllshire, there is a story of a girl named Mary who
was in love with Robert, but he left her for another woman. She waited for him for years,
looking out to sea, hoping he would return; he never did. There is a statue of her at the top of
a hill near the seaside in my home down, called ‘The Highland Mary’ in her memory.
I was further inspired to sing a Burns song because of Eddie Reader’s The Songs of
Robert Burns album, she is one of my favourite singers, has a beautiful folk voice, and
sings in her own accent – which I have always admired.

Lyrics:
Sweet closes the evening on Craigieburn wood
And blithely awakens the morrow
But the pride o the spring in the Craigieburn wood
Can yield me nought but sorrow
Chorus:
Beyond thee, dearie, beyond thee dearie
Oh to be lying beyond thee
Oh sweetly, soundly, weel may he sleep
That’s laid in the bed beyond thee
I see the spreading leaves and flooers
I hear the wild birds singing
But pleesure they hae nane for me
While care my hairt is wringing
I can na tell, I maun na tell
I dare na for your anger
But secret love will break my hairt

If I conceal it langer
I see thee gracefu’, straight and tall
I see thee sweet and bonnie
But oh what will my torments be
If thou refuse thy Johnie
But Jeanie say thou wilt be mine
Say though loes nane before me
And all o’ my days o’ life to come
I’ll gratefully adore thee

Karen Webb - Craigieburn Wood

Why I have chosen this song.

By 1971 my mother had been in the UK  8 years and now had 3 children.
 I was the last one. 
“I planned you,” She would always tell me. 
Iran was a presence, vague, phantom like
sounds and scents and sacks of pistachios as big as me 
Tissue paper thin fluttering in the air
Sometimes shouting so urgently
Into the crackling distance beside the front door.
 I would sit at the top of stairs enchanted, straining to drink in a language I did not understand and which  felt like  yet another secret.
“Don’t say anything”
 Today I can catch a rhythm, a word in the street from a stranger. 
I feel for a moment exhilarated.
 I know where you are from. 
This song of melting away 
into the outside 
looking in 
repeating again and again and again:
“Where’s your Mamma Gone? 
Where’s  your Mamma Gone?”

She would sing, I would dance. She would sing, I would dance. She would sing, I would dance. 

That’s what I was told. I don’t remember.
I know this is a true story

SONG NOTE
‘This sounds like I’m actually phoning this into Tehran from next to the front in Ashford in 1971’

Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep
PERFORMED BY Middle of the Road
 
YEAR 1970
Songwriters: Stott Harold, Cassia Giuseppe
Where's your mama gone
(Where's your mama gone)
Little baby, Don?
(Little baby, Don?)
Where's your mama gone?
(Where's your mama gone?)
Far, far away
Where's your papa gone
(Where's your papa gone)
Little baby, Don?
(Little baby, Don?)
Where's your papa gone?
(Where's your papa gone?)
Far, far away
Far, far away-ay-ay-ay-ay
Last night I heard my mama singing a song
Ooh we, chirpy chirpy cheep cheep
Woke up this morning and my mama was gone
Ooh we, chirpy chirpy cheep cheep
Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep chirp
Where's your mama gone
(Where's your mama gone)
Little baby, Don?
(Little baby, Don?)
Where's your mama gone?
(Where's your mama gone?)
Far, far away

Jackie Montague - Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep

Lion Rock spirit 獅子山精神
The Spirit of Hong Kong , refers to the spirit of hard work, diligence, self-improvement,  Togetherness and the indomitable spirit of Hong Kong people. The TV series "Below the Lion Rock" and its theme song, which originated in Hong Kong in the 1970s, made Hong Kong a legend, transforming Hong Kong from a small fishing port into an international metropolis.

人生中有歡喜 難免亦常有淚
我哋大家 在獅子山下相遇上
總算是歡笑多於唏噓

人生不免崎嶇 難以絕無掛慮
既是同舟 在獅子山下且共濟
拋棄區分求共對

放開彼此心中矛盾 理想一起去追
同舟人 誓相隨 無畏更無懼

同處海角天邊 攜手踏平崎嶇
我哋大家 用艱辛努力寫下那
不朽香江名句
朋友 谭咏麟
繁星流動 和你同路
從不相識 開始心接近
默默以真摯待人

人生如夢 朋友如霧
難得知心 幾經風暴
為著我不退半步 正是你

遙遙晚空 點點星光 息息相關
你我那怕荊棘鋪滿路
替我解開心中的孤單 是誰明白我

情同兩手 一起開心 一起悲傷
彼此分擔總不分我或你
你為了我 我為了你
共赴患難絕望裡 緊握你手 朋友              

“Below the Lion’s Rock”
Lyrics by James Wong Jum Sum   Music by Joseph Koo Kar Fai 

There are joys in life, but tears are inevitable
We all met under the Lion Rock
Finally laughed more than sighed

Life is inevitably rugged and hard to be careless
We are in the same boat and help each other under the Lion Rock
Abandon the distinction and seek common right

Let go of the contradictions in each other's hearts and pursue the ideals together
People in the same boat, vows to follow, fearless and more fearless

At the same corner of the horizon, hand in hand to smooth the ruggedness
We all worked hard to write that
Immortal Xiangjiang Famous Sentences


譚詠麟 -朋友
Alan Tam – Friends
繁星流動    和你同路
All the stars floating here and there, I walk this road with you
從不相識開始心接近
We never met each other in the past, but now our hearts begin to move closer
默默以真摯待人
Quietly, we treat each other with true sincerity

人生如夢    朋友如霧
Life is like a dream, friends are like a mist
難得知心几經風暴
It is rare to find friends who intimate understand you, and will weather the storms and rain with you
為著我不退半步正是你
It is because of you then I will not take a step backward

遙遙晚空點點星光息息相關
In this faraway night sky, the scatter of stars appear so closely connected
你我那怕荊棘鋪滿路
You & I, even if this road is lined with thistles and thorns
替我解開心中的孤單
You will help me (literally translation is ‘on my behalf’) undo the loneliness in my heart
是誰明白我
It is you whom understands me best
情同兩手一起開心一起悲傷
Our friendship like two hands, passing through the good times and the times of pain
彼此分擔不分我或你
Share each other’s worries and responsibilities, with no differentiation between you and I
你為了我     我為了你
You for me, and I for me
共赴患難絕望里緊握你手
Together, we will pass through trials and troubles and overcome all hopelessness, as I tightly grip your hand
朋友
As friends

Lydia Tse & Wong Kkeung - Below the Lion’s Rock / Friends

Fai Tan

Song name: Cages of My Mind
Composer: Unknown - Persian Melody
Lyrics: Derek Cockshut

In the cages of my mind, softly came God's call
Seeking out the pure soul so I sang this song

Ya Baha'u'lAbha x 4 (O Thou Glory of the Most Glorious - Greatest Name of God)

So my heart sang with joy
As I answered the call
Gave my heart to the Lord
Found the brotherhood of man

So we break our bonds and fly
For within our souls
Nightingales of paradise will always sing this song

Ya Baha'u'l Abha x 4

Language/Dialect: English/Arabic

Reason for choice of song: The verses are about the soul searching for answers. The Arabic chorus is the Greatest Name of God from my religion - the Baha'i Faith. Ya Baha'ul' Abha means 'O Thou
Glory of the Most Glorious'. This was a song which I sang when I was part of an international youth group which toured the UK, so it has memories of special friends with whom I shared some wonderful
times. We even sang this son at an Ivor Novello international event at Drury Lane Theatre.

Jean Powis and Annabel Frances - Cages of My Mind

SHY GOD A CHORUS

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