1. We Are Happy

Country: Uganda On CD: Dominican Republic Language: originally English, Luganda and Hebrew Genre on CD: Merengue Instruments on CD: Piano, Trombone, Trumpet

“We Are Happy” on AllAroundThisWorld.com About the song:

Wait! Uganda isn't in Latin America! We sing this "hello" song at the beginning of every class, changing the salutation to match the featured country of the week. This is actually a mashup of two songs the Abayudaya of Uganda sing to greet important visitors to Nabugoye Hill, which is a small area a few miles outside of the Eastern Ugandan city of Mbale. The Abayudya of Uganda are a small community of about 500 Luganda-speaking Bagandans who have been practicing Judaism for about a hundred years. Abayudaya community leaders Rabbi Gershom Sizomu and his brother JJ Keki wrote the two greeting songs.

The Abayudaya have recorded four CDs of African-Jewish music, including Shalom Everybody Everywhere and Abayudaya: Music from the Jewish People of Uganda.

About the genre:

Merengue is a lively two-step dance set to a lively form of music that originated in the Dominican Republic. Merengue began in rural communities where the Spanish guitar met the Congolese marimbula and gave birth to a quick form of music that featured a lot of call and response. Eventually the German accordion replaced the guitar, the acoustic bass replaced the marimbula, and the West African tambora and a metal guiro joined the ensemble.

While "the Generalissimo," dictator Rafael Trujillo, ruled the D.R. (1930-1961) he recalled his youth during which the local merengue clubs excluded him and decreed that merengue would be the national music, so much so that he named merengue bands after himself and promoted the genre--harshly, as he did everything--as the heart of the D.R.'s people. Today merengue rules not to assuage a dictator's insecurity but, essentially, because it's fun.

About the instruments:

Congas: image video Tambora: image video

Non-English words in our version:

Hola (Spanish)/Bom dia (Portuguese)/

Buiti Binafi (Garifuna)/Imaynallam (Quechua) All Around This World: Latin America for CLASSROOMS

Lyrics and chords for teachers

1. We Are Happy/Hello Country: Uganda Language: Originally in English, Luganda Genre on CD: Merengue

C F G F C F G F Ooh, bop bop bop! Ooh, bop bop bop. Ooh, bop bop bop! Ooh, bop bop bop.

C F G C We are happy, we are happy on this day.

C F G C Hello (child’s name), hello hello Introduction WE ARE HAPPY

Arrangement by Jay Sand q = 100 C F G F ™ ™ &4 ™ Œ ™ ™ Œ ˙ Œ ™ ™ Œ 4 ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Ooh... BOP BOP BOP! Ooh... BOP BOP BOP! 5

& ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ Clap, clap, clap, etc.

7 C F G C F G % ™ & Œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ™ Œ œ œ ™ œ œ ™ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ We are hap py,- we are hap py-on this day. We are hap py, we are hap py-on this day.

11 C F G C (slow down at end) F G Fine ™ & Œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ™ œ œ Œ œ œ ™ œ œ ™ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ We are hap py, we are hap py-on this day. We are hap py, we are hap py-on this day.

15 C F G C F G ™ ™ ™ ™ Ó œ œ œ ‰ j ‰ Ó œ œ œ ‰ j ‰ & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ (Greet ing)- ever y-- bo dy!- Hel- lo, hel lo!- (Greet ing) ever y-- bo dy!- Hel- lo, hel lo!-

19 C F G C F G ™ ™ ™ ™ Ó œ œ œ ‰ j ‰ Ó œ œ œ ‰ j ‰ & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ (Greet ing) ever y-- bo dy!- Hel- lo, hel lo!- (Greet ing) ever y-- bo dy!- Hel- lo, hel lo!-

23 C F G C F G ™ j & Œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ™ ÓŒ‰ œ œ œ œ Œ œ œ œ œ œ œ We are hap py,- we are hap py- on this day. So, clap your hands!

© Gershom Sizomu and J.J. Keki, arrangement by Jay Sand with permission 2 27 C F G ™ ‰ j Œ & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Clap, clap, clap your hands, clap your hands! Stomp, stomp, stomp your feet, stomp your feet! Hi, hi, hi hi hi, hi, hi hi!

29 C F G ‰ j Œ & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Clap, clap, clap your hands, clap your hands! Stomp, stomp, stomp your feet, stomp your feet! Hi, hi, hi hi hi, hi, hi hi!

31 C F G ‰ j Œ & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Clap, clap, clap your hands, clap your hands! Stomp, stomp, stomp your feet, stomp your feet! Hi, hi, hi hi hi, hi, hi hi!

33 C F G D.S. al Fine ™ ™ & œ œ œ œ œ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿Œ Clap, clap, clap your hands and stomp your feet! Stomp, stomp, stomp your feet and wave hel - lo! Hi, hi, hi hi hi. And clap a - gain!