Amigos

We now come to the end of a whirlwind first year. In this issue you'll find my last offering, a song of friendship called "Amigos." I wrote "Amigos" when I was studying West African music at Wesleyan University (CT) with Abraham Kobena Adzinyah and Freeman Kwadzo Donkor. The first part of the melody is based on the Ghanaian Highlife tune, "Saman fo begye sa nom." This song is now being sung throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the Soviet Union, England and Australia, and has been translated into 20 languages that I am aware of, including Gaelic, Danish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Shona, Japanese, Russian and Dutch. It is wonderful to include a verse of sign language, with or without piano accompaniment. Many schools find it a perfect song for a final concert or farewell assembly, and it has become the school song for several multicultural magnet schools.

Encourage your students to make it their own by giving each a slip of paper with the words "I am with my friends, you are all my good friends" on it, and ask them to have it translated by grandparents, relatives or neighbors who might speak a language other than English. Your verses will then reflect the ethnic makeup of your classroom and community. If these community members are willing to come in to teach the group correct pronunciation, welcome them into your school. If the class has a native speaker, you might ask them to sing solo the first couple of times. Write the newly translated verses on a huge sheet of paper taped to the wall, and choose four different ones each time you sing the song in class. The rhythm and possibly even the melody will have to be altered a bit to fit the syllables and tonality of different languages.

Don't be surprised if the students put their arms around each others' shoulders and sway as they sing. And finally, invite the "audience" to join in, at least on the English and the "la, las" of the chorus. This song, which began as a gesture of friendship for my wonderful mentors from Ghana, has blossomed and taken on a life of its own as it travels from school to school. I frequently get letters that describe how students have been so proud to teach the class how to sing in their "home language," and how much the parents appreciate the bridge-building that happens when they and their children are involved in sharing even this tiny bit of their heritage.

Judith Cook Tucker