Eritrean Gualya Song That Is Sung In English (with lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases a sound file of an Eritrean Gualya song which has mostly English lyrics. "Gualya" is a genre of music from Eritrea, East Africa.

This post also includes my transcription of this song. I've attempted to transcribe this song with the hope that others might add any lyrics that I inadvertently omitted and correct any lyrics that I incorrectly transcribed.

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UPDATE June 5, 2014: Biniam Tsehaie, the composer of this song, shared its REAL lyrics in the comment section of this post and also informed me that this song is entitled "Tigri-Jam". Thanks!!

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The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

DISCLAIMER: I know VERY little about Guayla music, but I'm interested in learning more. I searched online, but couldn't find any information about the history & description of this music genre. If any readers can provide a credible link to such an online source, I'll add it to this post.

I'm African American and, unfortunately, don't speak or read any language but English. Therefore, I don't know what is being sung in the language that isn't English (and I don't know what that language is. Again, I apologize for my ignorance and I ask for help from those reading this post.)

WARNING: Site visitors to those comment threads should be aware that, unfortunately, many of the YouTube viewer comment threads of Eritrea and Ethiopian music are NSFWOC (Not suitable for work or children).

I've added this warning because all too often the intense national conflict between bloggers who identify themselves as being from one of those two nations results in argumentative exchanges & insults, many of which include profanity.

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FEATURED SOUND FILE

eritrean guayla song in ENGLISH



kokobsemai, Uploaded on Oct 16, 2011
.....guayla sang in english.......i don't know the names of the singers but i love it anyway

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WHY I TRANSCRIBED THIS SONG
I made this transcription because in part because I enjoy transcribing songs, and also because there doesn't appear to be any other transcriptions of this entire song that I could find online (a task made much more difficult since I don't know who composed the song or what its title is).

Hat tip to Hirut Sebat who posted the following partial transcription of that song along with a comment in 2012 on this sound file's viewer comment thread http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbZF0Wf6bVA
"It'll be alright if we just dance all night to the early light

Get your butt off your seat ..something something..

We can rock and roll ..something something.. everybody young and old

that's probably the only thing i can understand, but i really like the beat and the song overall"
-snip-
That comment challenged me to TRY to trancribe that song. I believe that in order to accurately transcribe a particular song or rhyme a person has to really know the culture from which that song or rhyme comes. Although I know next to nothing about Eritrean culture, I'm much more familiar with American Hip-Hop culture. In my opinion, the type of end line rhyming lyrics that are found in this song - which I'm henceforth referring to as "Gualya - You Ain't Goin Home Tonight"- can also be readily found in many (other) American dance songs. (I wrote "other American" because it's possible that the person or persons who composed "Gualya - You Ain't Goin Home Tonight" are of Eritrean-American ancestry). It's even possible that this song was "inspired" by an actual American Hip-Hop record because there's a 2010 Hip-Hop record by Bow Wow entitled "Boyfriend For A Night" that includes the line "you ain't goin home tonight". (I chose not to add a link to that song because I consider its lyrics to be very inappropriate for this blog.)

As I mentioned earlier in this post, with regard to this featured song, I don't know who composed it, or who sung it, or when it was released, assuming tht it was indeed released as a record. It's likely that this song was released as a record because of this comment that was also posted to that same YouTube comment thread:

"Lmao. I remember this song some Eritrean Youth were dancing to it at a cultural event in college somewhere in US."
-21mamaafrica, 2012
-snip-
Notice how that commenter wrote that "some Eritrean youth" were dancing to this song. I think that African Americans and other Americans' unfamiliarity with Gualya music's beat and how that beat changes, would suggest that this song wouldn't be part of the music play list at a party or a cultural event that was largely attended by people who weren't of Eritrean or other Eat African ancestry.

I'm not a musician & I'm having difficulty referring to what I mean by "the beat changing". I don't mean how fast the song is or isn't, but how the song sounds. What I'm trying to say is that the pattern that is used for the song's lyrics change a lot, much more that the lyric pattern/s that are used for African American or other American songs. For instance, there are no consistent pattern for the verses and there's no chorus. The song does have lines (lyrics) that are repeated. However, just when I thought that I had "gotten" the way that the song was going to continue to flow, that lyric pattern changed up on me.

This doesn't mean that I don't like the tune. I do. However, the tune is different, from an American's point of view. And I don't think that it would be a part of an Americans' party's or cultural event's music playlist unless those Americans were of Eritrean or other East African ancestry. Of course, I might be wrong about this, and I'm open to being corrected.)

INFORMATION ABOUT THIS TRANSCRIPTION
In this transcription, I assigned numbers to what I consider to be the lyric patterns that are found in this song (after pattern #1, this is when the way the words to the song are sung "change up".

Italic font means that I'm uncertain of my transcription of those particular word or words.

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LYRICS - GUALYA SONG IN ENGLISH "YOU AIN'T GONE HOME TONIGHT"*
(*possible title; composer/s unknown to me)

FIRST PATTERN: Would it be alright if we just dance all night until the early light (2x)

SECOND PATTERN:
Get your butt off your seat. Make you move your feet.
This is the jam that you’ll beat.
We can rock and roll. All get down your soul Everybody young and old.

Get your butt off your seat. Make you move your feet.
This is the jam that you’ll beat.
We can rock and roll. All that get down your soul Everybody young and old.

My mama may yell, and my daddy may yell “Don’t you be a playa”.
But a pretty little girl’s like diamonds and pearls. She’s come and rock my world.

My mama may yell, and my daddy may yell “Don’t you be a playa”.
But a pretty little girl’s like diamonds and pearls. She’s come and rock my world.

Will you come and say hi. Will you leave and say bye
or will you baby be shy.
We can scream and shout and we can yell out loud.
Will you let it all out.

Will you come and say hi. Will you leave and say bye
or will you baby be shy.
We can scream and shout and we can yell out loud.
Will you let it all out.

THIRD PATTERN
[beginning at 3:35 of the sound file after the ululation]

We gonna party all night long, baby. We gonna party through the night.
We gonna party all night long, baby. We gonna party through the night.

FOURTH PATTERN:
Hey pretty lady, would you be my baby?
I offer you the phone. Let me take you home
For tonight’s the night. I want to do so right.

Hey pretty lady, would you be my baby?
I offer you the phone. Let me take you home
For tonight’s the night. I want to do so right.

RETURN TO THIRD PATTERN:
We gonna party all night long, baby. We gonna party through the night.
We gonna party all night long, baby. We gonna party through the night.

RETURN TO FOURTH PATTERN:
Hey pretty lady, would you be my baby?
I offer you the phone. Let me take you home
For tonight’s the night. I want to do so right.

Hey pretty lady, would you be my baby?
I offer you the phone. Let me take you home
For tonight’s the night. I want to do so right.

FIFTH PATTERN:
My favorite baby. She feels my way.
Love flickers in her eyes.
She’s gonna be all mine.
Tell all your friends it’s all right.
Tell’em you got a ride.
Cause you ain’t goin home tonight.

SIXTH PATTERN
My favorite baby. She feels my way.
Love flickers in her eyes.
She’s gonna be all mine.
Tell all your friends it’s all right.
Tell ‘em you gotta ride.
Cause you ain’t goin home tonight.
You ain’t goin home tonight.
Ain’t goin home tonight.
Ain’t goin home tonight
Ain’t goin home tonight.
Ain’t goin home tonight.
Ain’t goin home tonight.
Oh, you ain’t goin home tonight.
Oh, this girl is out of sight

RETURN TO FIFTH PATTERN (with repeat of the last line)
My favorite baby. She feels my way.
Love flickers in her eyes.
She’s gonna be all mine.
Tell all your friends it’s all right.
Tell’em you got a ride.
Cause you ain’t goin home tonight.
You ain’t goin home tonight.
You ain’t goin home tonight.
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell from the sound file. Additions and corrections are welcome. I challenge others to improve on this transcription. Thanks in advance!

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RELATED LINK
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/03/traditional-contemporary-eritrean.html Traditional & Contemporary Eritrean Guayla Music

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to the composer/s of this song, and thanks to the vocalists and musicians who performed it. My thanks also to the uploader of this sound file & the commenters who I quoted.

Also, thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.