One month in Dili. So much I have in mind about my marvelous welcoming introduction to this country, but mostly I am humming along to “show me your motion” in my head!
The kids of the neighborhood are singing Bony M’s song. Singing in Tetum or possibly Indonesian and they only seem to know/like the chorus.
There was that moment, where I thought of the Good News Week show on Australian tv, where they sing a song using funny texts and from the tune alone, team mates guess the song. This time I was bopping along to the tune and humming along, before consciously realized/remembered that it was Boney M.
Means Timor will likely be similar to mainland south east Asia, where many classics of western songs are redone in local languages. Let’s hope that there is not that ghastly Black Eyed Peas song MyHump, My Hump, which I had to listen to on repeat for hours, from a neighbor in Ratanakiri! It is horrid in English in my opinion and redone with sympathizers and Khmer language did it no favours, I reckon. (actually am a fan of B.E. Peas but not when singing about ‘Lady Lumps’ – ugh)
So Boney M is quite classy as a kids singalong outside my window. Don’t suppose the kids will ever realize that what they are singing has a long association with children, as apparently the original was a children’s game in the Caribbean region.
