(Kenyan music group) Sauti Sol - "Sura Yako" : A love song that highlights the Kikuyu Ruracio (Pre-Wedding) Ceremony

Sauti Sol, Sept 12, 2014

SURA YAKO (YOUR FACE) - the fourth single and track no.1 off Sauti Sol third album: LIVE AND DIE IN AFRIKA. The video plays out a typical Kenyan pre-wedding ceremony (ruracio). SURA YAKO has been produced by Sauti Sol/ co-produced by Cedric "Cedo" Kadenyi. The video has been shot and directed by Kenyan director Enos Olik of Bokeh Family.

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases the 2014 song/video "Sura Yako" by the Kenyan music group Sauti Sol. The lyrics for this song are included in this post along with several comments that explain this song's meaning. 

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Sauti Sol for their musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are associated with this video and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

This post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series on African dowry ceremonies such as the Kikuyu's Ruracio pre-wedding ceremony that is highlighted in this video. Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/08/that-fire-las-reaction-video-selected.html for a pancocojams post that showcases an African American reaction video to this Sauti Sol song/video. Also, click the "Ruracio pre-wedding ceremony"tag below for additional posts on this subject.

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LYRICS- SURA YAKO
(Sauti Sol)

[Verse 1]
I chose you, to love you
Baby, I don’t want anyone else
Don’t leave me, don’t let me go,
Baby, don’t love anyone else

[Pre-Chorus]
My heart is light,
You got me like a chapati (makes sense in Swahili),
I’m acting out like a madman,
I won’t stop loving you
My heart is light,
You got me like a chapati,
I’m acting out like a madman,
I won’t stop loving you

[Chorus]
Your face is nice baby,
(Nice baby, nice baby, nice baby)
And your smile is a flower,
(Nice baby, nice baby, nice baby)
Your face is nice baby,
(Nice baby, nice baby, nice baby)
And your smile is a flower,
(Nice baby, nice baby, nice baby)

[Verse 2]
I will have to take care of you, to keep you,
Baby, so you don’t lose anything,
I have a ring to give you, to marry you,
Baby don’t go anywhere

[Pre-Chorus]
My heart has accepted you,
You got me like a chapati,
I’ll take care of you like a policeman, Eh!
I will have to marry you
My heart has accepted you,
You got me like a chapati,
I’ll take care of you like a policeman, Eh!
I will have to marry you

[Chorus]
Your face is nice baby,
(Nice baby, nice baby, nice baby)
And your smile is a flower,
(Nice baby, nice baby, nice baby)
Your face is nice baby,
(Nice baby, nice baby, nice baby)
And your smile is a flower,
(Nice baby, nice baby, nice baby)

[Bridge]
Dance a little, Dance a little,
Dance a little, Dance a little,
Dance a little, Dance a little,
Dance a little,
Your face is nice baby,
(Nice baby, nice baby, nice baby)
And your smile is a flower,
(Nice baby, nice baby, nice baby)
You’re so so beautiful
You’re so so yeah

[Outro]
(Baby, yeah)
Dance a little (Nice, baby),
Baby dance a little (Nice, baby),
Baby dance a little (Nice, baby),
And you’re figure is like a bottle’s
(Baby, yeah)
Dance a little (Nice, baby),
Baby dance a little (Nice, baby),
Baby dance a little (Nice, baby),
And you’re smile is a flower
(Nice, baby)

It’s you, it’s you, it’s you, it’s you.

-translation by kingorin, https://genius.com/14670290

The KiSwahili lyrics are found on that site.
-snip-
A number of commenters in the discussion thread for that YouTube video shared lyrics in Swahili and their English translations for this song. All of those commenters used the word "mama" instead of "baby". "Mama" is a referent for the woman who is going to be married/ who is being sung to. This colloquial use of "mama" for a female who is a person's love interest probably comes from African American Vernacular English (AAVE). In AAVE, the referent "little mama" is also sometimes used for girl baby/young girl.

Here are comments from that discussion thread that explain the song's line "You got me like a chapati",  

Here are some additional comments from that discussion thread about the traditional African custom of giving a dowry and-more specifically-comments about the Kikuyu Ruracio ceremony. 

(Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.)

1. MsIronandwine, 2015
"Addicted to this song, No idea what they are saying except for chapati :D love from Ethiopia"

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REPLY
2. Titus Temwo, 2015
"@MsIronandwine Guys have already discussed on this exhaustively but for u, I wish to just say that the song is directed to a very beautiful lady, in praise, whose appearance is killer-some, sooo hot! Haha

And that part that comes before chapati in Swahili: ". . .umenikalia chapati!" translated as YOU FED ME WITH CHAPATI THAT U HAD SAT ON (Here in Kenya it's believed that some ladies do that with their naked butts btw as a form of LOVE PORTION, to make their men henpecked/submissive to only them)"

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3. Hildah Essendi, 2015
"@shazz286  Umenikalia chapati actually means that the guy is lovestruck by the lady, akin to being given love portion. In Kenya, it is whispered that some women cast a love spell on their men by sitting on a chapati that is then served the man"

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4. cumensu, 2016
..."BTW, in my country, the DRC, is very similar to what I see in this video :-). The groom has to identify which lady is his bride.

-"DRC"= Democratic Republic Of The Congo

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5. Nnei O., 2017
"God is awesome and africa is indeed one. This ceremony is also done where i'm from in the south of Nigeria. Many ladies from the family are brought covered and the groom must pick out his fiancee :)"

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REPLY
6. Ronald Mugo, 2020
"Haha and all have the same size and frame. You miss you loose"

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7. ZONE_254 GIFT SHOP, 2018
"In African tradition (according to ours) it means that the groom (husband) is passing on appreciation to the parents for raising the daughter up in the right way for him as ghe husband  (groom) so now the animals represent gratitude and sorta like a thank you to the parents. Some parents misuse it but when its down to the real purpose of the dowry giving its supposed to be a thank you symbol to the mom and dad for raising the wife for him. In addition it sometimes symbolises repayment of how much they have spent on the soon to be wife"

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8.  ancilla maina. 2018
"1:55 when he picks out the wrong girl from the line-up kills me to this day,the reactions in the crowd are so typical of this type of ceremony . Proud of our African traditions:). "

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9. Rehema Mote, 2019
"Ruracio is the ceremony of dowry payment. Of course this is not paid all at once. Its done in installments to ensure that you still get to visit your wife's parents. On this day, the man, his close friends and family visit the lady's home. There is the whole ritual of denying entry to the groom and his family by locking the gate until some demands are met. This negotiation at the gate is done in form of songs.

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10. Benson Njonjo Ndehi, 2019
"I also had to guess who my wife was at the ruracio. Her toenails were the hint. He he."

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11. nzigou lylian, 2020
"In reality África is just a big country,here in Gabon 🇬🇦 is actually Almost the same according traditional wedding

🕺🏾🕺🏾✌🏽✌🏽"

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