Ei, Ei

(Oh, Oh!)

R39.00

ISMN
979-0-804001-10-5;979-0-804001-11-2
Catalogue No
JPM 006
Notation
Dual notation (staff & tonic solfa), Staff notation
Scoring
choir SATB
Edition
Joshua Pulumo Mohapeloa Critical Edition
Category

Mohapeloa wrote ‘Ei, Ei’ in the early 1930s, publishing it in Morija in 1935 as song No. 6 of 32 in his first song collection, Meloli le Lithallere tsa Afrika. It is a humourous lullaby, urging a baby boy to stop crying by trying to make him laugh. According to his brother, historian J.M. Mohapeloa and M.K. Phakisi, it was typical of Mohapeloa’s comic style:

His role as a comedian is evident in many of his songs, even where the aim is not to make people laugh. For example, in a song called Ei, ei he does with music the job that is done by girls of taking care of the little ones. Here the child is crying, and is being hushed: ‘There, there, little boy / Hush, please, don’t cry’. But quickly he is scorned. ‘Cry baby, you cry too much. / You are even sobbing’. This scorning continues, until we are told when the child is happy and no longer crying: ‘Ha, ha, ha ha ha! Ha, ha, ha, ha, you are happy’.

The music’s time signature, chromatic notes, and parallel sixths parody a sentimental Victorian part-song; but there are a few un-Victorian dissonances.

Audio

Type:
Studio Recording
Performers:
Orlando Methodist Church Choir, conductor not specified. Originally recorded in 1980 and digitized by the SABC in 1997, on CDT 904.
Location:
Unknown
Source:
African Choral Legacy - Historic Recordings of J.P. Mohapeloa Track 18
Publisher:
African Composers Edition
Date:
2014