DANCE OF UNITY

Hark!

Is that the gangan I hear?

Or an another worldly sound in my ear?

Indeed it is the gangan I hear.

Oh! Joy, joy, joy to my ear.

I want to break into dance,

Kneel and sieve sand through my fingers.

Feel the pulse of the land,

Swell and thump

In time with minstrelsy fresh yet so old.

Oh! It is, the gangan I hear.

A bit of leather here,

A bit of leather there,

And a bit of shaped wood to prompt

As I answer the ancient call,

Ijo ijo ijo.

My heart pleads

Lulu lulu lulu

Gangan!

Thou hypnotist of old

Do you still do this?

Blending heart beats

And pulse rates

And feet stomps

Into one heady gig that echo’s

In the soul?

Kakaki, Kakaki,

Honoured to have you here.

Thou majestic of instruments.

Emir after emir,

Is turbaned to the sound of your voice.

Queen Amina must have heard you

As she rode away to war.

Your melody must have

Echoed in her head,

Quickening her pulse.

Kakaki

A royal voice,

Powerful, rich, proud of you ancestry

Dignity is the dance, at the sound of your voice.

Ewo!

Oja is that you?

Welcome.

Accompaniment of songs long forgotten.

Still strong, your voice rings out.

Follower of our fathers.

A dirge in time of death.

A sweet intro at naming,

And in war, in war

A piece of bamboo with holes,

Sends off our dikes.

With resolve permeates the soul with

The bravery of your spell.

The spell which won us the wars.

Oja, you still move legs and hands, hearts and souls.

You move us into frenetic oneness with our land.

Who can ignore the mesmerism of your call?

Well spoken child.

Eloquence is a gift,

And you have honoured us with it.

But listen with your heart.

Heed your elders,

And your voice will find audience

When the heat of too many suns

Bleach your hair.

Listen child,

Each alone stands in splendour,

But together in candor

We strip away the hitherto malignant disease

Of individualism.

Listen, to the science of harmonical

Sounds, rendered in ancient tongues.

Listen and you will understand.

Listen, as together we sing one song.

Listen and let the rhythm of the

Truth excite you, incite you and invite you.

As we sing our song of rhapsodic profundity

Over rivers, hills and valleys.

Listen.

Now your pulse races,

Your heart lurches,

Your feet are possessed with a mind of their own,

Every part of you pulsates

Listen, listen, and listen to the symphony of

Divided we sound

United we thunder!

                                              Rio