Arrurru -- Colombian Lullaby

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In honor of Mother's Day, I give you a post about the most motherly of all songs, the Lullaby...


"Quieres Arrurru?" My sister-in-law asks her toddler, and moments later her child goes down for a nap. What is the magic of Arrurru? It is the typical sleepy time lullaby sung my mothers in Colombia.

Here is how it goes, though I must add that many people only sing the first four lines rather than all eight:

Arrurru mi nino (nina)
Lull to sleep my son (daughter)

Que tengo que hacer.
I have stuff to do.

Lavar los panales
Wash the diapers

Y hacer de comer.
And make something to eat

Matar la gallina
Kill the hen

Y echarla a coser.
And put it to cook.

Llamarle a su padre
Call your father

Que venga a comer.
To come and eat.

I know of at least one family whose referral documents stated that the child, and I quote, "Loves to go to bed with a song. His favorite is Arrurru."

VARIATIONS:

One other note, there are some variations on this song depending on the region of Colombia where your child is from. The word PANALES may be changed to COBIJAS, MANTILLAS, or CULEROS. Y HACER DE COMER can be substituted with Y PONERME A COSER, Y SENTARME A COSER, or PA'CER DE COMER. LLAMARLE A SU PADRE QUE VENGA A COMER can be changed to SACARLA EN UN PLATO Y SENTARME A COMER.

Clip art:

Comments

Angie - litchic2577@gmail.com said…
Hi. I stumbled across this posting because I'm looking for traditional Colombian, or central/south american lullabies. My brother moved to Panama, married a girl from Colombia, and they had a beautiful little girl last week. I'm not able to give them anything, but I would like to put together a song (sung by me if I don't suck too much, LOL) with pics of Isabella. Do you have links to any others besides Arrurru or can you help me find some? I've tried searching YouTube but I think mostly I don't know what I'm looking *for* and there are very few that have English translations. Anything you can offer would be great!
October 28, 2011 at 4:34 AM
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