At school we sang a song "Taraboemdery, my vaalhaarnooientjie - my mousy-haired
girlfriend" - then I came across the same
melody in an Italian song called "Tic e Tic e
Toc" and I wondered: Who translated that
into Taraboemdery? But where we sang
about "mousy hair" the original Italian
refers to a "bel moretto" - a handsome
dark fellow! – Another example of
Calvinist reduction: Bring it down,
make it small – when we ask my Dad
whether he’s proud of us, he always replies
"Not proud at all – humbly thankful you’re
alive at all…" Really, as if to survive makes
any sense whatsoever… I don’t approve of
existence per se – always imagined it bigger
and better and larger and wider - so his
attitude is incomprehensible to me forever…
But to conclude: Both Italian and Afrikaans songs
have the same ending: All fear will disappear
once I can hold you again – Vaalhaarnooientjie
and Bel Moretto!
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