LisaMarie wrote to me asking about the Ghanaian song Obwisana. I posted her email below, followed by the lyrics, an English translation, two YouTube videos of the song and finally a link to the score.
I was hoping you could help. I'm training to be a teacher and for my music assessment I have to discuss a piece of music and have chosen to look at Obwisana but was wondering if you could tell me where I could obtain a free version of the traditional song.
The rock has crushed my hand.
Obwisana is a circle game. Kids sit in a circle while singing ob-wi-sa-na and they pass around a rock. Each kid taps the rock on the ground and passes it to the next kid. The taps make a beat at each syllable of the song.
Here is an Obwisana Score.
You can visit our Obwisana song page for a midi tune and for Spanish and French translations!
I hope this all helps you LisaMarie!
PS If anyone knows more about the extended lyrics to this song, please let us know about it in the comments below. Thanks in advance!
This article was posted on Wednesday, February 4th, 2009 at 8:13 pm	and is filed under Akan, Children's Songs, Circle Games, Countries & Cultures, Games Around the World, Ghana, Ghanaian Children's Songs, Languages, Mama Lisa, Obwisana, Questions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Which word translates to Grandma? Our Music class is playing this game. Thanks.