Mototoi Hanarete

from Mengemedaol er a Irechar by Ngirchoureng

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The credit for composition for this 6/8 time song is given (by different people) to either Bobai Weloi, Uchelngel, or Kebekol Alfonso. One of my sources indicated that it was composed in 1940. Mototoi is a channel in the Rock Islands. The singer is living in exile, far from his home, near Mototoi. It isn't clear whether this exile is self-imposed -- possibly because this was at the peak of the Japanese colonial period -- or whether he was banished from his village. More info: wp.me/p6WC5Y-mI

lyrics

Mototoi hanarete
hurusato wo omoeba
natsukasi abai
maki meral choita bedengam

Di longelu ochaeio el mei e a
mochu mello' e ochedengei
kmo lotkii a beluak me a blik
el cheroid e mengemengemed

Dibe lobuu a daob er a
suma hama e minasang
kmo lotkii a beluak ma bai
el cheroid e mengemengemed

Mire ba todai yama no
akari mo bika bika
Beririu no sima mo
tsisaku mieru

Sechelei maki meral choita bedengam

-----
Far from my home at Mototoi
I remember and become nostalgic
for the abai (meeting house)
we are truly weak and tired

The ochaeio bird (shearwater) comes and is about to cry
as the morning approaches, brother
I recall my home village and my house
far away and so distant as to be indistinct

When the waves crash on the
sandy beach far away
I recall my home village and its meeting house
far away and so distant as to be indistinct

When I look, I see the light atop the lighthouse
mountain flickering
and Peleliu island looks so small in the distance

Friend, we are truly weak and tired

credits

from Mengemedaol er a Irechar, released June 20, 2018

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Ngirchoureng Oakland, California

Ngirchoureng — Jim Geselbracht and Tony Phillips — perform songs from the Republic of Palau, written in the 1930s thru the 1960s, accompanied by acoustic guitar, mandolin and fiddle in the "old-skuul" style captured on the 1960s Ngerel Belau (local radio station) recordings. Ngirchoureng (ŋirʔouréŋ) translates to “Mr. Hopeful,” and is taken from Kodep Kloulechad’s song “Bai Derengul a Eolt.” ... more