My son is a high maintenance baby. He can be really fussy and he demands attention. If he wakes up and does not see me or his dad, he will start crying and the pitch increases the longer the time noone picks him up. The best way to calm him down is to sing to him. His favourite song is “Jesus loves me” among others. I do mix it up with Shona songs.
I helped take care of my brother, we have a eleven year age difference and my mother taught me “Ehuhwe Nyarara Mwana”. I can sing the words but I do not completely understand the meaning. I guess it is not supposed to have a meaning but since it rhymes it calms down the baby. My husband sing the same song but the words are different because of the part of the country he comes from.
I made a poster for the poem/song:
I recorded myself singing the lullaby and you can play or download it on Soundcloud
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/159169372″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
Let me know which children’s songs were your favourite growing up. You can leave a comment below.
4 comments
Good stuff! Been looking for lyrics to this lullaby for a long time. But I guess the words differ between regions. In our parts of the world we go:
Erurure
Nyarara mwana (or nhanha)
Mwana wochema
Chemera mai vake
Mai vake vakenda
Vakaenda mhiri kwaMungezi
KwaMungezi kune banga jena
Banga jena rekucheka nyama
Nyama-nyama ndeye paruware
Yepasi inozara ivhu
…then I get lost from there…so I will now use your lyrics from there onwards 🙂
Thanks. My husband’s version is completely different too.
I’m not Shona, but have Shona kids. I heard a song that goes like this ……….. anonsi [child’s name]……….. tamba [child’s name]…….tamba tamba. And there’s a little dance that goes with it – with hands on hips and moving side to side. I’d love to learn this song and sing it to my kids. Can you find the words for me? I would be much appreciative Princess Tafadzwa
Hi Christi it goes,
Kumba kwedu kwakazvarwa mwana (mwana)
Mwana wacho ndiye anonzi *Insert child’s name* (*Insert child’s name*)
*Insert child’s name* wacho ndinomudira kutamba robot(or any dance, this was our favourite when I was a child)
Tamba *Insert child’s name* (repeat)
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