songs

2007 Changsha, China - Sao Zi sung by Ivy Huang

In October 2007 I visited Changsha, the capital of the Hunan region. My Chinese colleague, Professor Chen Xiaoxiang (Sophy) invited her students and me for a Karaoke evening.









We were joined by my colleague's friend Ivy Huang who sang a song called Sao zi - (Ode to my sister-in-law) a traditional song from the North East of China.









Here are the words in pinyin...

saozi...

saozi jie ni yishuang xiaoshou peng yiba heitu,
xian ba guizi mai diao,

sao zi...
sao zi jie ni yidui dajiao cai yiliu shandao ,
zai ba women song hao,

sao zi...
sao zi jie ni yifu shengban dang yi dang taiyang,
women hao da shengzhang,

ai...hang hang di saozi, qin qin di saozi,
women yong xianxue gongfeng ni,
hang hang di saozi, qin qin di saozi,
women yong xianxue gongfeng ni,

ao...hei hei di saozi,
ao...hei hei di saozi,
ao...hei hei di saozi,
ao...hei hei di saozi,
hei hei di ni...

2003 China - Tian Mi Mi - Deng Li Jun

In October 2003 I spent a couple of weeks in Beijing and I was taken to a famous tea house accompanied by Professor Lin Maocan and one of his students.







In the tea house, acrobats musicians and comedians performed while we drank tea.











One of the last performances was particularly impressive - a group of four musicians played five musical instruments - each one played a different instrument with his left hand and his right.



Then the impresario announced - having performed this incredibly difficult task they will now do the impossible and sing at the same time.









They started singing a song in Chinese and everyone in the audience joined in singing the song.

It was obviously a very popular song.

I later asked Yu Ju, the student who accompanied us, if she could find the words for me. She did - the song was called "Tian Mi Mi" - I looked it up on internet and discovered Deng Li Jun - also known as Teresa Teng.

I decided I would like to learn to sing this song.