# ID folk song

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-folk-song/990275>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** music\
**Created:** [September 17, 2023, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-folk-song/990275 "2023-09-17T19:43:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2023, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-folk-song/990275/1 "2023-09-17T19:43:48Z")

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Is anyone familiar with this song? Name? Lyrics?

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/m2cnVTuD5R4/maxresdefault.jpg "Traditional Congo Tribal Song (Live)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2cnVTuD5R4)

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**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2023, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-folk-song/990275/2 "2023-09-17T20:37:42Z")

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You sure you linked to the YT video you intended to link to?

That’s a traditional tune from the Congo; it’s lyrics are not in a language I can reproduce. I would not expect many people in western culture to be familiar with it, be able to conjure up a name for it, or do any better than I would at lyrics. Can you clarify a bit?

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**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-folk-song/990275/3 "2023-09-18T02:57:21Z")

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It’s a track that shows up in the Fania _Live in Africa_ album as “Traditional Congo Tribal Song”, but does not seem to appear here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SJfoBFjdnQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SJfoBFjdnQ)

The _Live in Africa_ performance was in Kinshasa in 1974, if that helps to narrow anything down. I do not know which tribe that is supposed to be but there are a lot of ethnic groups in that country, many speaking a Bantu language as a native language but not all. (Most people speak French, of course.)

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**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-folk-song/990275/4 "2023-09-18T03:14:18Z")

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Here’s film:

[![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7gOTfjqdsmE/hqdefault.jpg "Fania All Stars "Live In Africa" - Traditional Tribal Songs (Opening)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gOTfjqdsmE)