On Monday, November 2 the fourth grade celebrated Africa Day at Holton; a day where students spend the day dancing, listening to speakers, telling stories, and making crafts. All of these activities culminated the fourth graders study of Africa. Africa Day started in a spirited fun way with the girls singing and dancing to songs from Liberia and Ghana.
Here is a description of those songs from Lower School Music Teacher Carol Baker:
The song they used was called “Banuwa” and is a song from
Liberia, West Africa. The words mean, “Don’t cry, little girl, don’t cry.” So,
this is a song of comfort. The girls sang in harmony, danced, and played 7
different rhythmic and melodic parts simultaneously, using xylophones, drums,
sticks and shakers. In class, every student learned every part, and then they
chose their favorite part to play on Africa Day.
They also sang an echo song called “Kye Kye Kule”
(Pronounced Jay Jay Kooleh), from the Akan people of Ghana, which is similar to
“Head and Shoulders”. We ended with “Sansa Kroma,” a rock passing song that is
also from Ghana. Inspired by a video taken in Ghana where children passed their
flip flops around in a circle, we passed shoes instead of rocks. We ended with
“Sorida,” a song of greeting from Zimbabwe that is also a hand-clapping game.
You can see a clip of the girls' spirited performance below with Ms. Baker:
