I’ve seen several online videos recently of choirs using simple, fun songs as warm-ups.
It looks harmless enough. But some of these songs have dubious content, which I’m sure the choirs weren’t aware of. Even so, it’s our responsibility to check sources thoroughly.
There are loads of songs in foreign languages available through music publishers or picked up in workshops.
Many published songs come with very limited information about their sources or meaning — if any at all. Some are simply credited to “Africa”, for example. Others have long, poetic translations that bear little relation to the actual lyrics and say nothing about cultural context.
Some songs have been in general circulation for years via organisations like Girl Scouts or summer camps — often the result of misheard, misunderstood or completely invented information.
One such song is Epo I tai tai, a song of New Zealand Māori origin (see the New Zealand Folk Song website).
I saw a version online recently being used as a clapping warm-up. The song is also popular among Girl Scouts in the USA, where it’s often described as a Native American song meaning “I will be happy”.
In fact, it’s a bawdy version of the chorus of He puru taitama e, a young man’s lusty courtship song. During World War II, New Zealand soldiers sang a lewd version of the chorus, which eventually got passed down as Epo it tai tai.
There’s a concept in law: Ignorantia juris non excusat — ignorance of the law is no excuse. The same should apply to us as choir leaders and song teachers.
Just because a song comes from a reputable publisher doesn’t mean the information is accurate. Just because you learned it at a workshop doesn’t mean it was passed on correctly.
If we want to respect the cultures songs come from, avoid being exploitative, ensure we’re not singing something offensive, and not end up as a laughing stock, we need to check our sources — and then check them again. Aim for at least two, preferably three, independent sources.
Because “I didn’t know” isn’t good enough.
further reading
Finding song information – Chinese whispers, wishful thinking and the oral tradition
How to honour the source of a song (and why it’s important)
Payback time: honouring the cultures that songs have been taken from
When is a song ‘inappropriate’ to sing?
Chris Rowbury
Get more posts like this delivered straight to your inbox!
Click to subscribe by email.
… found this helpful?
I provide this content free of charge, because I like to be helpful. If you have found it useful, you may like to ...
... to say thank you.