Lyr Req/ADD: Suliram (English & Indonesian)

Subject: English Translation of 'Suliram'?
From: GUEST,Steve B
Date: 04 May 01 - 05:57 PM

Does any one know what the english translation of to the beautiful Indonesian lulluby "Suliram"? here are the Indonesian words:

Suliram, suliram, ram, ram
Suliram yang manis
Adu hai indung suhoorang
Bidjakla sana dipandang manis

Tingi la, tingi, si matahari
Suliram, Anakla koorbau mati toortambat
Suliram, sudala lama saiya menchari
Baruse klarung sa ya mendabat

La suliram, suliram, ram, ram
Suliram yang manis
Adu hai indung suhoorang
Bidjakla sana dipandang manis


Thanks for any help!

Steve

Subject: ADD: Suliram
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 May 01 - 07:29 PM

Hi, Steve -
Pete Seeger says he hasn't found a translation of "Suliram" that he likes. Here's the blurb from my 1960 Weavers Song Book:

The melody of this lullaby is strongly European - probably Dutch - but the Indonesian words follow the style of typical indigenous songs. the words go:

Hush, baby
Now that I've found you, I won't let you go.
Early in the morning as the sun was rising,
I saw a water buffalo slain.

In the songbook, the Indonesian words are just a bit different:

Suliram, suliram, ram, ram
Suliram yang manis
Aduhai indung suhoorang
Bidjakla sana dipandang manis
La sulinis.

Tingi la, tingi, si matahari
Suliram. Anakla koorbau mati toortambat
Suliram. Sudala lama saiya menchari.
Baruse klarung saiya mendabat.
La sulinis.

Copyright 1950 by Folkways Music Publishers, Inc.

---

From the notes for Pete Seeger Sampler (Folkways):

"I have waited for you so long. Now that I have found you, I will never let you go."

---

From the notes for Pete Seeger: The Complete Bowdoin College Concert, 1960 (Folkways)

This was learned from a young Indonesian, Mas Daroesman in 1949 (Seeger 1964, 11). It appeared on one of Seeger’s earliest LPs, The Pete Seeger Sampler (1954). During this period, Pete rarely performed a concert without including it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: English Translation of 'Suliram'?
From: GUEST,Steve B
Date: 04 May 01 - 11:56 PM

Hey thanks Joe!

Are those really all the words though? Seems like there should be more. Language is funny though...I keep expecting it to line up. :-)

Thanks a bunch...

Steve

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: English Translation of 'Suliram'?
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Nov 10 - 09:05 PM

suliram, suli ram, suliram oh suliram ram ram oh suliram
soon the clouds will cool the earth with showers
so sleep in peace until the morning hour

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: English Translation of 'Suliram'?
From: GUEST,Benny Ohorella
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 07:47 PM

I believe that lyrics is from Suliram sung by Miriam Makeba. As far as I know, she heard this song from Malay/Indonesian descendants brought there as slaves by the Dutch several hundred years ago. So, the words are quite strange for native Indonesian like me but I can still guess the meaning (e.g. here we pronounced it Soleram). Here I try my best :

Suliram is a girl's name

Suliram, suliram, ram, ram
Suliram yang manis
(Sweet Suliram)
Adu hai indung suhoorang
(Oh my only one)
Bidjakla sana dipandang manis
(Be a wise person, it is indeed sweet)

Tingi la, tingi, si matahari
(oh high or high is the sun)
Suliram, Anakla koorbau mati toortambat
(Suliram, oh a calf died because it's tied)
Suliram, sudala lama saiya menchari
(Suliram, I've searched for so long)
Baruse klarung sa ya mendabat
(Only now I got it)

La suliram, suliram, ram, ram
Suliram yang manis
Adu hai indung suhoorang
Bidjakla sana dipandang manis

notes from me :
standard Indonesian spelling should be like below :

Suliram, suliram, ram, ram
Suliram yang manis
Aduhai indung seorang
Bijaklah sana dipandang manis

Tinggi lah, tinggi, si matahari
Suliram, anaklah kerbau mati tertambat
Suliram, sudahlah lama saya mencari
Baru sekarang saya mendapat

Lah suliram, suliram, ram, ram
Suliram yang manis
Aduhai indung seorang
Bijaklah sana dipandang manis

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Suliram (English & Indonesian)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 Apr 15 - 04:41 PM

The more I study this song to prepare it for the Rise Again Songbook, the more confused I get. One of our people posted a note that said:

Note comment of one (anonymous) post under video "God bless Mama Africa- @gcsusteyo, this rendition may sound strange to those who speak Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia as their mother tongue, but it is actually a popular lullaby amongst the descendants of Indonesian and Malay slaves

Miriam Makeba recorded the song, and I wondered why. Does the note mean the song was sung by Indonesian and Malay slaves in Africa? Benny's post above confirms this.

Apparently, there's an explanation of this song in Pete Seeger's 1964 book, The Bells of Rhymney and Other Songs and Stories from the Singing of Pete Seeger. New York: Oak
Publications.

I thought I had that book, but can't find it. Anybody have that book? Can you post the book's entry on this song?

-Joe-

---

This is from the notes for On a Starry Night, a 1997 CD from Windham Records.

3. Suliram (Indonesia)

This is a very old lullaby from Indonesia, which is a group of islands in the ocean on the other side of the world from America. Suliram means "go to sleep" and we thought it was so beautiful that we wanted to play it for you ourselves. Can you hear the flute and the violin playing their separate parts and also playing together? There are words to it which are very, very beautiful.

Thea Suits-Silverman: Flute Tracy Silverman: 6 string violin, Keyboard, Percussion, including Balinese Marimba Traditional, arranged by Tracy Silverman © 1997 From The Gut Music (ASCAP) *Recorded at Tiki Town, San Rafael, CA

Suliram
Suliram, ram, ram
Suliram, yang manis
Adu hai indung suhoorang
Bidjakla sana dipandang manis

(repeat first verse)

Tingi la, tingi, si matahari
Suliram
Anakla koorbau mati toortambat
Suliram
Sudala lama saiya menchari
Baruse klarung sa ya mendabat

(repeat first verse)

Translation:
"Go To Sleep"
Go to sleep
Go to sleep, sleep, sleep
Go to sleep, little one
Close your eyes and dream tender dreams
For you are guarded, protected by my love

[repeat 1st verse]

Long have I waited, I've waited for you
Go to sleep
Years I spent hoping and praying for you
Go to sleep
Now that I have you right here by my side
I will not ever, no never let you go

[repeat 1st verse]

---

But if Benny's post above is correct, then this "translation" has very little to do with the actual meaning of the song.

---

Here's the writeup I'm going to submit for the songbook:

Miriam Makeba recorded 'Suliram' after hearing it from Malay/Indonesian descendants of slaves brought to Africa by the Dutch several hundred years ago. Pete Seeger learned the same song in 1949 from a young Indonesian who was passing through New York. Seeger performed it regularly at concerts in the 1950s and 1960s. Many lullabies have been written in English to this melody; but as Seeger said, "Some things you just can't possibly translate."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Suliram (English & Indonesian)
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 30 Apr 15 - 11:54 PM

Joe:

To clarify a bit, there is a rather large Indonesian-rooted community in Cape Town who are called Cape Malay and Cape Muslim(though neither is strictly accurate) who have a musical performance tradition called Nederlandslied(also not strictly accurate), It consists of groups called "Sporting Clubs" which are choruses accompanied by multiple guitars, mandolins, and banjos--they sound like this

This would likely be Miriam Makeba's source. However, not withstanding the comment above, I think it is also still sung in Indonesia, my evidence being that I think I heard it on an album of Keroncong music once, and I am pretty sure it is coming out of a radio at some point in "The Year of Living Dangerously";-)

Here is some information, clipped from the "Cape Malay" entry on Wikipedia:

The Cape Malay community is an ethnic group or community in South Africa. It derives its name from the formerProvince of the Cape of Good Hope of South Africa and the people originally from Maritime Southeast Asia, mostlyJavanese from modern-day Indonesia (largely speakers of Malayu, hence the name Malay), a Dutch colony for several centuries, and Dutch Malacca,[1] which the Dutch held from 1641 – 1824.The community's earliest members were enslaved Javanese transported by the Dutch East India Company. They were followed by slaves from various other Southeast Asian regions, and political dissidents and Muslim religious leaders who opposed the Dutch presence in what is now Indonesia and were sent into exile. Malays also have significant South Asian (Indian) slave ancestry.[4] Starting in 1654, these resistors were imprisoned or exiled in South Africa by the Dutch East India Company, which founded and used what is now Cape Town as a resupply station for ships travelling between Europe and Asia. They were the group that first introduced Islam to South Africa.

People in the Cape Malay community generally speak mostly Afrikaans but also English, or local dialects of the two. They no longer speak the Malay languages and other languages which their ancestors used, although various Malay words and phrases are still employed in daily usage.

This cultural group developed a characteristic 'Cape Malay' music. An interesting secular folk song type, of Dutch origin, is termed the nederlandslied. The language and musical style of this genre reflects the history of South African slavery; it is often described and perceived as 'sad' and 'emotional' in content and context. The nederlandslied shows the influence of the Arabesque (ornamented) style of singing.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Suliram (English & Indonesian)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 May 15 - 03:48 AM

This is fascinating. Thanks, Stim.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Suliram (English & Indonesian)
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 01 May 15 - 11:01 PM

Your welcome.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Suliram (English & Indonesian)
From: GUEST,Guest (Eric)
Date: 17 Nov 17 - 12:37 PM

My mother-in-law, who grew up in Singapore in the 30's, recognized the song, I think from her childhood, when I played it for her on the guitar. I learned the song from The Weavers at Carnegie Hall, an album my parents had when I was a child.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Suliram (English & Indonesian)
From: GUEST,Rod Stevens
Date: 02 Jan 19 - 08:10 PM

I was a student at Ardmore College in New Zealand training to be a primary school teacher specialising in Music. We were given a book of songs as the basis of class singing and music learning. The words were as below.

Suliram, Suliran, ram, ram,
Suliram, rest now my child.
As the earth awaits the cooling shower,
So sleep is waiting for you my little flower.

Shadows are tempting, they want you to play, Suliram Suliram
Whispering "Come with us, come far away Suliram, Suliram"
But shadows fly off beyond the farthest sea
And when you waken you'll still be here with me.

First versa again.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/ADD: Suliram (English & Indonesian)
From: GUEST,Filipus Andika Wicaksana
Date: 19 Dec 19 - 11:16 AM

As another Indonesian, I can confirm Benny Ohorella's translation as the only accurate one, as the other translations have nothing to do with the original song. To improve on his translation:

Suliram, suliram, ram, ram
Suliram yang manis
Aduhai indung seorang
Bijaklah sana dipandang manis

Suliram, suliram, ram, ram
Suliram who is so sweet
Oh my, who's daughter is this
It is only wise that she's seen as sweet

Tinggi lah, tinggi, si matahari
Suliram, anaklah kerbau mati tertambat
Suliram, sudahlah lama saya mencari
Baru sekarang saya mendapat

Up on high, oh so high the sun is
Suliram, the child of the buffalo is dead on a leash
Suliram, oh for how long have I seek
It is only now that I have found you

Lah suliram, suliram, ram, ram
Suliram yang manis
Aduhai indung seorang
Bijaklah sana dipandang manis

Oh Suliram, suliram, ram, ram
Suliram who is so sweet
Oh my, who's daughter is this
It is only wise that she's seen as sweet

*Several notes about the song
1. This song, while known abroad as "Suliram", is better known in Indonesia as "Soleram" and in Malaysia as "Suriram".

2. The word Suliram/Soleram/Suriram itself seem to have no special meaning, with the most plausible explanation being that it's a (somewhat archaic sounding) Malay name. (Keep in mind Malays are native to Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, and Thailand) with Indonesian (my native tongue) being based on Malay from the island of Sumatra.

3. The middle line about "the sun" and the "dead buffalo" has no hidden meaning, as it's part of a pantoum/pantun, which is a Malay form of poetry, where the first two lines are gibberish, used only for the rhymes in its final syllables. Meaning is found in the latter two lines (about "seeking" and "finding"), with the final syllable of the odd and even line rhyming with each other, respectively.

4. There exist many different versions of Suliram/Soleram/Suriram, each with a different lyric, with the only similarity being the first two lines of the refrain, and its nature as a lullaby/children's song.