Lyrics for Baba Yetu (For those who want to sing/read along)

[Colonel Kraken]

Originally Posted by GeneralZed

interesting choice for a soundtrack. reminds me of "the lion king", where in the beginning an african song is played. this one isnt as great as the:

Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba [Here comes a lion, Father]
Sithi uhm ingonyama [Oh yes, it's a lion]

Nants ingonyama bagithi baba
Sithi uhhmm ingonyama
Ingonyama

Siyo Nqoba [We're going to conquer]
Ingonyama
Ingonyama nengw' enamabala [A lion and a leopard come to this open place]

I love that opening song of Lion King too. Does anyone know an album or someplace I can get more music like that and the opening song on Civ IV? I did a search on Amazon, but there are SO many different types of African music, it would take me days upon days to wade through it all.

Thanks.

[aahz_capone]

Originally Posted by garric

We have to make a fricking voice recording of us singing it. WHOSE WITH ME?

YEAH!! Let's Rock!!




We've gotta make a Metal version! Sing it to the tune of Smoke On The Water!

Dun dun dun, dun dun dudunn! Dun dun dun, DUN DUN!

[jeffyen]

I emailed Christopher Tin earlier today to ask for the lyrics to this song (and moments before I found this thread!), and Chris just replied me!

Hi Jeffrey,

Thanks for your email. It's a pretty standard Swahili translation of
the Lord's prayer, except that there are some mistakes. For example,
the Swahili words for Jesus ('Yesu') and 'our' ('yetu') are very
similar....and the text SHOULD be reading:

Baba yetu, Yesu uliye
mbinguni Yesu, Yesu, amina.
Baba yetu, Yesu uliye
Jina lako litukuzwe.

The extra 'Yesu's', which mistakenly became 'Yetu's' in the final
version, were inserted to make it work rhythmically. There were a few
other syllables here and there that were altered, with a liberal dash
of artistic license, to make it work musically.

By the way....if you feel so inclined, I would love it if you would
email the people at 2K games and tell them what you thought about the
music, and what you thought about the song. I'm trying to get more
video game work, and every kind word helps.

Best,

Chris

So let's help Chris out by emailing 2kgames!

[TheDervish]

I'll send him and Firaxis a letter. What is a good Firaxis or 2kgames e-mail address to write to?

[aahz_capone]

Or we could start a "We love Chris Tin 's music" petition thingy from CFC. Like everyone who wants to signs it and then send the whole lot to 2kgames and firaxis? Can we do something like that on the forum?

[AsnoT]

people who like this should also check george fenton's soundtrack for "cry freedom" which contains similar music.

[sweKangaroo]

Thanks for posting the lyrics to this song, Baba Yetu.

I think its a really catching song, even if its in a foreign language. You dont really need to know the words to be able to sing along. Smooth & Powerful!

[Namelessones]

Thank you I was wondering what they were.

[Mythosaeon]

Kudos to the OP, jeffyen, and especially Talisman a Cappella and Christopher Tin

My first few momement of experiencing Civ 4, clicking on each of the Leaders one by one, watching their floursishes, nods and smiles while listening to that fantistic song really set the tone for the entire Civ 4 experience!

[sweKangaroo]

By the way, (maybe this is something for another thread) ,
in the intromovie-music wich is played right before Baba Yetu, there is a few lines of singing as well.

Does anyone know what they are singing?

This is when the camera zooms toward earth and through the clouds.

[Padmewan]

I second skeKangaroo's question!

The Lord's Prayer is Christian, but the words are pretty universal. When you read them, you can't help but also think if it was chosen almost as an inside joke to reflect some of the game mechanics of Civ4 -- for example, with the new diplomacy system you can no longer "trespass" on your neighbors. And tiles with 5 food now show "bread" icons.

[CorSaiR]

Originally Posted by jeffyen

So let's help Chris out by emailing 2kgames!

for such a great job he deserves it, my email is sent :-)

...oh yeah, thanks MSTK.

[Outlaw_Rudy]

All I know is that the intro-music song is called coronation (it's number 18 on the soundtrack, and you can download is from chris's site if you don't have the soundtrack.

[grzelakc]

Baba Yetu reminds me of stuff written by Karl Jenkins. Somewhat close to "Rain Dance" in my opinion. Anyone else feel the same way?

[jeffyen]

Originally Posted by TheDervish

I'll send him and Firaxis a letter. What is a good Firaxis or 2kgames e-mail address to write to?

Chris' email is found at http://christophertin.com/contact.html . I think it's probably more 'authentic' if folks email the companies individually with our personal feelings on the music, though a 'group petition' thing won't hurt either. ;P

[sweKangaroo]

Ah, thanks outlaw.

Ok, the name coronation makes sense i think. With that "king" scene in the intro.

[Heroes]

Originally Posted by josephstalin

Baba Yetu is one of the best examples of polytheistic music ever. That's why it sounds so "epic".
Nice job, by the way!

Why do you say "polytheisitc"? Isn't it christian?

[Bast]

This is such a fun song. LOL!

[Monk Carver]

Originally Posted by Colonel Kraken

I love that opening song of Lion King too. Does anyone know an album or someplace I can get more music like that and the opening song on Civ IV? I did a search on Amazon, but there are SO many different types of African music, it would take me days upon days to wade through it all.

Thanks.

Hello. I was browsing GameFAQS.com a moment ago and came across a thread on the Civ4 board about the title song. I too enjoy the song immensely. Someone in that thread provided a link to THIS thread so I thought I'd stop by.

To Colonel Kraken: You might want to check out an album called Rythym of the Pride Lands. It's somewhat of a side album to the original Lion King soundtrack. A "music inspired by..." sort of thing. It's very good, and I have no doubt that you will enjoy it if you like music of that nature. There are some tracks in English, but there is also some authentic foreign dialect in there. Many catchy songs. Tribal beats and sounds.

On a weird side-note, I grew up and lived in Grand Rapids for 23 years, and I only recently moved here to Louisville. Is there still eternal road construction up there? I REALLY don't miss that...

[Indras]

Originally Posted by Monk Carver

Hello. I was browsing GameFAQS.com a moment ago and came across a thread on the Civ4 board about the title song. I too enjoy the song immensely. Someone in that thread provided a link to THIS thread so I thought I'd stop by.

To Colonel Kraken: You might want to check out an album called Rythym of the Pride Lands. It's somewhat of a side album to the original Lion King soundtrack. A "music inspired by..." sort of thing. It's very good, and I have no doubt that you will enjoy it if you like music of that nature. There are some tracks in English, but there is also some authentic foreign dialect in there. Many catchy songs. Tribal beats and sounds.

On a weird side-note, I grew up and lived in Grand Rapids for 23 years, and I only recently moved here to Louisville. Is there still eternal road construction up there? I REALLY don't miss that...

Totally weird, Monk, I ended up here the same way, just 40 minutes later.

I work third shift at a factory, and had this song rolling around in my head all night, I just can't seem to get it out. At one point one of the other techs looks at me and says, "What the heck are you singing?" Kinda embarassing, I didn't even realize I was singing it out loud. Even harder trying to explain where it was from.

I've always found the number one reason a song gets stuck in my head is because I don't know all the words, and keep getting stuck on the chorus. I just can't seem to *end* the song in my head if I don't know how it ends. Took me about an hour to track down the lyrics, too.

THANK YOU MSTK!!

Oh, and as a side note, I live in Kalamazoo, just moved out of Grand Rapids a couple years ago. I still visit from time to time, and yes, it's eternal construction. Then again, that's all of Michigan. Not so bad now that M-6 is done though.