Guabi Guabi can be found on a field recording collected by Hugh Tracy in the mid 1950s. It was released on a Decca 10" LP called Guitars of Africa. I don't know if there have been any re-issues since. Jack Elliot and several other folkies used to play this tune in the '60s. A version of it was printed in Sing Out magazine round about then.

According to the sleeve notes on the Tracy recording, the singer (and presumably composer) was George Sibanda, who came from the country now known as Zambia, but once called Northern Rhodesia. The song is based on a children's game - one child hides something behind his/her back and invites the other child to guess what it is (apparently "Guabi" means "Guess").

The lyrics, more or less phonetically transcribed, go like this:

Guabi guabi guzwange, lay tombyami

Laleng kambi, shu yantanda (2x)

Nizabu tengi, la ma banzi,

Izu wiji, lay banana! (2x)

Any Swahili speakers out there who can give a translation (and correct my spelling)?

Besides being a pretty little song, "Guabi Guabi" also features a nice bit of guitar-picking. And on the same "Guitars of Africa" disk, there are two stunning pieces by the famous Zairian guitarist, Jean Bosco Mwenda - one of them, "Masanga", was also transcribed in Sing Out in the 1960s. Some of his stuff has been reissued on CD - well worth seeking, though I don't know where you'd find it.