Was grateful to friends for helping me pull off an entertainment segment at an annual dinner last night. Came to the conclusion that we need to have a couple of international folk songs up our sleeves for future events.
E.g. for Chinese Delegation - Jasmine Flower - Mo Li Hua might be good. Here are various different arrangements of the same song
Link to music score http://www.myscore.org/minge/e68.htm
Ashita hamabe o samayoeba (in the morning as I wandered about along the seashore) Mukashi no koto zo shinobaruru (I remembered things from the old times) Kaze no oto yo kumo no sama yo (the sound of the wind, the shape of the cloud) Yosuru nami mo kai no iro mo (the wave that came and the colour of the seashell too)
Yuube hamabe o motooreba (at dusk as I wandered about along the seashore) Mukashi no hito zo shinobaruru ( I remembered people from the old times) Yosuru nami yo kaesu nami yo (The wave that came, the wave that went away) Tsuki no iro mo hoshi no kage mo (the colour of the moon and the light of the star too)
Hayachi tachimachi nami o huki (the sudden wind blew the wave at once) Akamo no suso zo nureijishi (the bottom of the red clothes became wet) Yamishi ware wa sude ni iete (I was sick but it already has healed) Hamabe no masago manago ima wa (The sand along the seashore, where is my beloved child now)
This song represents the experience of the poet’s young days. Kokei Hayashi spent time convalescing near the ocean when he was sick. The poem was written in 1913 and published in a magazine called Music. Later young Tamezoo Narita, who was a student at Tokyo Music Institute, composed the melody. The song became well-known when it was included in a music textbook in 1947. Originally, the song consists of four verses, the last two verses of which described the poet’s sickness. In the school textbook, only the first two verses were included, and the original meaning of the song was lost. However, the third verse is sometimes included in performances.
