Lyrics
Chiro Chacho - Traditional Shona wedding song from Zimbabwe
© Abraham Kobena Adzenyah, Dumisani Maraire, and Judith Cook Tucker
Chiro Chacho © 1977 Minanzi Marimba Ensemble
Notes from Betsy: This song is typically sung by the bride’s family, who pretend to mistake the groom for a strange-looking creature with four legs.
The score for this arrangement can be found in Let Your Voice Be Heard!, by Abraham Kobena Adzenyah, Dumisani Maraire, and Judith Cook Tucker © 1986/1996 World Music Press/© 2009 Assigned to Plank Road Publishing. All Rights Reserved.
Leader:
Mainini Woye Kani! Mainini Woye Kani! Mainini Woye!
Group:
Chiro Chacho Chine Makumbo Mana (repeats)
Basses:
Ba-dum ba ba ba-dum-bum . . . Ba-dum (repeats)
Women’s voices:
1. Chatora YaYa, Chatora YaYa, Chatora YaYa
2. Chatodze Rori, Chatodze Rori, Chichinge Bazi
3. Mukoma Woye! Mukoma Woye! Mukoma Woye!
Translation of call and response and women’s voices (as they appear above):
Leader:
Oh, Auntie! x3
Group:
The thing has four legs (repeats)
Basses:
Father, oh man! (repeats)
Women’s Voices:
1. That took our elder sister x3
2. It looks like a lorry, and yet it looks like a bus* x3
3. Oh, elder brother! x3
* "Lorry" is the British term for an open-sided truck.