A few years ago, my boyfriend discovered this lovely song called “Ba Rang Ba Ri” on a compilation of Vietnamese music. I really liked the song and always wondered what it meant, but on a recent trip to Vietnam, when I asked the tour guide about it (just the title/chorus), he kind of blanched and said “Oh, that has a bad meaning. I can’t say it in English.” When I looked it up, the English title seems to be “Reproach against a Procuress.”
The song is here. The lyrics are (from this site,):
Bà Rằng bà Rí
hỡi Rằng bà đi
hỡi đi là đâu
bà di khắp chốn
nối dây tơ hồng
cái duyên ông chồng
làm khổ cái đời tôi
hỡi bà Rí ơi…
bà Rằng…bà Rí ơi!!!
Chồng gì mà chồng bé
bé tẹo tèo teo
chân đi cà kheo
lúc đi phải cõng
lúc khóc phải bồng
cái duyên ông chồng
làm khổ cái đời tôi
hỡi bà Rí ơi
bà Rằng bà Rí ơi…
Chồng gì ma chồng ngáy
ngáy ò ọ o
đêm rồi thì nằm co
làm ăn lười biếng
chẳng lo học hành
cái duyên ông chồng
làm khổ cái đời tôi
hỡi bà Rí ơi
bà Rằng bà Rí ơi !!!
Running them through Google Translate produces somewhat nonsensical results:
She that she Ri
hỡi that she go
attend the first
her mobile throughout chốn
connected noose
the husband and his grace
as part of the life I
hỡi she ơi Ri …
Rang her … she Ri ơi!
Pile that husbands baby
teo baby shrink shrink
legs to show off coffee
time to go cong
time to weep Bong
the husband and his grace
as part of the life I
Ms. Ri hỡi ơi
her that she ơi Ri …
Husband that her husband ngay
at o o
night and the year
work lười biếng
no lo study
the husband and his grace
as part of the life I
Ms. Ri hỡi ơi
her that she Ri ơi!
Can anyone help satisfy my curiosity with a proper translation of this song?
I’ve never been able to figure out who Ba Rang and Ba Ri are. (Ba being the word for an older woman.) Women villagers I guess. Anyway, the song is about the practice of rich families in “the old days” finding an adult or at least adolescent wife for their infant son, who became like a wet nurse / babysitter / slave. Of course, when the boy grew up, he married a new younger wife. It’s a humorous look at a barbaric practice.
Bà Rằng bà Rí
hỡi Rằng bà đi
hỡi đi là đâu
bà di khắp chốn
nối dây tơ hồng
cái duyên ông chồng
làm khổ cái đời tôi
hỡi bà Rí ơi…
bà Rằng…bà Rí ơi!!!
All I get from this, is something about being bound to a horrible fate. My darling husband (irony) makes my life miserable, o Mrs. Rang and Mrs. Ri. Possibly Ba Rang and Ba Ri were the matchmakers?
Chồng gì mà chồng bé
bé tẹo tèo teo
chân đi cà kheo
lúc đi phải cõng
lúc khóc phải bồng
cái duyên ông chồng
làm khổ cái đời tôi
hỡi bà Rí ơi
bà Rằng bà Rí ơi…
What kind of husband is this small?
Teeny, teensy, tiny.
He toddles when he walks.
I have to carry him pick-a-back.
I have to cradle him when he cries.
Oh, my darling husband makes my life miserable.
Oh, Mrs. Rang, Mrs. Ri!
Chồng gì ma chồng ngáy
ngáy ò ọ o
đêm rồi thì nằm co
làm ăn lười biếng
chẳng lo học hành
cái duyên ông chồng
làm khổ cái đời tôi
hỡi bà Rí ơi
bà Rằng bà Rí ơi !!!
What kind of husband snores like this?
Always snoring o-o-o (not sure how to translate snoring sounds)
He just lies curled up.
He’s too lazy to work.
He’s doesn’t worry about studying.
(Again with the complaint about the lazy husband.)
Thank you, Greg Charles! Very interesting, the video totally makes sense now… but wow, this song definitely doesn’t mean anything like what I thought it would.
I wonder why our guide seemed so shocked and refused to translate “Ba Rang Ba Ri,” if it just means “Mrs. Rang, Mrs. Ri.” Or maybe he was thinking of the song as a whole.
Yeah, I don’t get why your guide wouldn’t translate it. Maybe I’ll ask around again. “Rang” means “that”, but also has a second sense as “to say”. “Ri” is apparently an obsolete word meaning “conjurer of dead souls”, like a medium maybe. Maybe it’s some kind of mild oath thrown against the “procuress” that put the girl into this situation, rather than the names of two different women as I thought. I’m missing the insult though. Even today I find Vietnamese curses baffling, so it’s probably just too obscure for me.
Have you tried “Qua cầu gió bay”? Or “Lý Ngựa Ô”? Or “Người Ở Đừng Về”?