Obwisana (Oboo asi me nsa - "[Oh Grandma,] the rock crushed
my hand") aka "Goin' to Ghana, Two Ghana folk
songs" - Mary Donnelly & George L. O. Strid

Translated into ASL by David Bar-Tzur

Created 26 December 2005, links updated monthly with the help of LinkAlarm.

EXPLANATION OF THE GLOSSING SYSTEM
(to understand how I describe the signs in this translation).

(SING LANGUAGE FROM AFRICA.) ||: WE THANKFUL GATHER-UP FOOD, THUMBS-UP. :|| "HEY"-all, YOU-all! WANNA VISIT G-H-A-N-A GHANA? "HEY"-all WANNA JOIN-us US GROUP-GO GHANA, MY BROTHER+? WHILE WE TRAVEL, #DO-DO? SING HAPPY CELEBRATE. ||: WE THANKFUL GATHER-UP FOOD, THUMBS-UP. :||

(role play to lf) "HEY"-all, YOU-all! WANNA VISIT GHANA?
(role play to rt) YES, WE REALLY-WANT VISIT GHANA.

(role play to lf) "HEY"-all WANNA JOIN-us US GROUP-GO GHANA, MY BROTHER+?
(role play to rt) YES, WE REALLY-WANT JOIN-you GROUP-GO GHANA, MY BROTHER+.
(return to center) WHILE WE TRAVEL, #DO-DO? SING HAPPY CELEBRATE. ||: WE THANKFUL GATHER-UP FOOD, THUMBS-UP. :||

(NOW SING LANGUAGE FROM AFRICA. TAKE-IT-AWAY.)

(role play to lf) "HEY"-all, YOU-all! WANNA VISIT GHANA)?
(role play to rt) YES, WE REALLY-WANT VISIT GHANA.
(role play to lf) "HEY"-all WANNA JOIN-us US GROUP-GO GHANA, MY BROTHER+?
(role play to rt) YES, WE REALLY-WANT JOIN-you GROUP-GO GHANA, MY BROTHER+.
(return to center) WHILE WE TRAVEL, #DO-DO? SING HAPPY CELEBRATE. ||: WE THANKFUL GATHER-UP FOOD, THUMBS-UP. :|| WE THANKFUL. (pause) WE THANKFUL. (pause) WE THANKFUL.


Notes: (SING LANGUAGE FROM AFRICA.) - This is simply to inform the Deaf audience of what is happening and perhaps why they can't lipread parts of the song.

Underlined words are honorific indices ("indexes"), using the FT of the upturned palm to indicate who is being honored.

THANKFUL - THANK++.

GATHER-UP - [5:], PO down, FO away, scrapes material into palm of upturned [B] while sweeping > NDS.

"HEY"-all - Looks like (2h)CHILDREN but the movement is larger and is basically waving to get attention of everyone.

YOU - Underlined words are honorific indices ("indexes"), using the FT of the upturned palm to indicate who is being honored.

GHANA - [G], PO > signer, moves from FTs to end of palm of [B], PO up, FO away from signer, 2x.

WANNA - (2h)[5:], POs up, FOs away, wg fingers but hands remain in place.

GROUP-GO - (2h)[C], POs ><, FT touch, and both hands move together > appropriate space.

REALLY-WANT - WANT but shaken back and forth to show intensity.

(NOW SING LANGUAGE FROM AFRICA. TAKE-IT-AWAY.) - When the chorus goes into this extended repetition of their language (sorry I don't know which specific language from Ghana it is) you could turn the attention to them and stop until they return to English. TAKE-IT-AWAY is [B], PO down, FO > NDS, flips over and points > choir.

Lyrics:

||: Tue tue barima tue tue. (We are thankful for our harvest) :|| Hey, do you want to go on down to Ghana? Hey, do you want to come along, my brother? And as we travel we'll sing this happy song. ||: Tue tue barima tue tue. :||

Hey, do you want to go on down to Ghana? (At the same time: Hey, hey we want to go to Ghana.) Hey, do you want to come along, my brother? (At the same time: Hey, hey we want to come along.) Hey, do you want to go on down to Ghana? (At the same time: Hey, hey we want to go to Ghana.) And as we travel we'll sing this happy song. ||: Tue tue barima tue tue. :|| ||:

(5x) Obwisana sanana, obwisana sa. [Oh, I hit my finger on a rock!]:|| ||: (3x) Obwisana, :|| obwisana sa. ||: Tue tue barima tue tue. :||

Hey, do you want to go on down to Ghana? (At the same time: Hey, hey we want to go to Ghana.) Hey, do you want to come along, my brother? (At the same time: Hey, hey we want to come along.) Hey, do you want to go on down to Ghana? (At the same time: Hey, hey we want to go to Ghana.) ? And as we travel we'll sing this happy song. ||: Tue tue barima tue tue. :|| Tue tue. Tue tue. Tue.

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