Lyrics - Kikuyu
(Folk song from Kenya)
1. Kanyoni kanja, kanyoni kanja,
Gakugwanja na mītheko
2. Ndakoria atīrī, ndakoria atīrī,
Wamīcore watinda ku?
3. Ndatinda kairi, Ndatinda kairi,
Ngiaragania mbīrīgītī.
4. Ī mbīrīgītī, ī mbīrīgītī,
Na ndinainū, kia kagoto.
5. Kagūa irianī? Kagūa irianī?
Gwa cū cū wa kamirūkio.
Translation - Little bird
1. Little bird, little bird,
Laughing and rolling around.
2. I asked him, I asked him,
“Little striped one where have you been?”
3. “At the quarry, at the quarry,
Spreading little stones.
4. “All the rocks I left, all the rocks I left
And I lost all my little stones.”
5. “You lost them where? You lost them where?”
“All the stones fell into the sea.”
(source)
See also
- Country: Kenya
- Subject: birds
- Harmony: chords I & V
- Meter: 4
- Rhythm:
- Scale: tetratonic
- Tones: t,drm
- Source: Wee Sing Around the World,Pamela Conn Beall and Susan Hagen Nipp, Price Stern Sloan, 1994
YouTube
- PDF of song with chords
- MIDI file
- Listen to the melody
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8 thoughts on “Kanyoni Kanja”
The English translation is wrong!!
Please tell me what the English translation is so I can update it!
MY MUMMY USED TO SING FOR ME THAT SONG
thanks dear, my teacher taught me this song
Is the translation right im just asking?
According to this https://lyricstranslate.com/en/kanyoni-kanja-little-bird.html, that is the translation.
Actually the kanyoni ka nja, Is the little bird, of the outdoors. It has spent its time away- koiri wandering.
Kwaragania mbīrīgīcī.. Is to level out the mounds of great clarity.. In reference to the atmospheric waters, above which, this little bird soars.
By now you should have figured, this little bird, of the outdoors, or of the victory of flowing rivers, refers to the sun.
The sun labours all day, to collect ‘magoto’ – the solidified water as stone water, yet does not actually manage, to bring this water home to itself, but the ‘magoto’ falls down back to the sea, or the earth, where there is abundance of life.
A simple song summarizing the global hydrological cycle.
Thank you!