SAA 10: Arts Encounters: Exploring Arts Literacy in the Twenty-First Century
"Somebody, oh mouchay"
from West Indies: An Island Carnival (Nonesuch Explorer Series H-72091)
This is a game song in which young West Indian people are recorded in the field. They stand in a ring and one child walks and presents a gift in front of another. They then kneel, pat each other on the shoulder, and kiss. The person receiving the gift then assumes the position in the ring. They sing:
"Somebody, ah mouchay, somebody mentioned marry-o,
"Somebody, ah mouchay, somebody said that she can go.
"Somebody, ah mouchay, somebody mentioned marry-o,
"Somebody, ah mouchay, somebody kneel down to the ground.
"Somebody, ah mouchay, somebody mentioned marry-o,
"Somebody, ah mouchay, some kiss she [he] in she [he] mouth.
This field recording of children singing a ritualistic game song is as un-commercial a setting as we might imagine today.