They are not what they sound like!

Have you ever wandered whether the foreign songs you are listening to has the same ‘nice’ meaning as they sound?

I once volunteered for an outing to bring residents of a shelter for abused maids to go have a fun BBQ in East Coast Park. After dinner, one of the activities we did was to make our new friends sing their country’s national anthem to encourage them to be proud of their home country despite the poor economic conditions there which had obviously forced them to become victims in this country.

Everyone knew their national anthem. And they sang it with much gusto. The Filipinos obviously have the best voice. The Indonesians are shy but proud. The Sri Lankans are quiet but they are joined in gamely.

When it comes to the volunteers’ turn (we have to sing too), they made me sing Negaraku. The Frou only know the first 2 lines “Negaraku. Tanah tumpahnya darahku”. I think it means my blood will flow for my country or something like that. When I stop at the end of the second line, everyone looked at me quizzing and threw me “What happens after your blood floweth?” looks. I also don’t know what’s to happen! So I proceeded to hum the rest of the tune until someone yelled at me to get off the stage.

The Korean volunteer, who went after me, helped save the volunteers’ face by belting out the most lovely tune in Korean. He sang ARIRANG, which he explained is not the Korean’s national anthem but is one of the most popular and loved folk songs in his country.

I have heard this song many times in my life, and have always thought it to be very melancholic and melodious. The lyrics, based on the way the song is always sung, seems to be profound and somewhat sorrowful.

I sidled up to the Korean volunteer after his song:

Frou: Eh, that was so well sung! Well done!
Korean Volunteer: Thank you. * beems*
Frou: I have always wondered. What does “Arirang” means?
KV: ‘Ari’ basically means beautiful, and ‘rang’ means dear.
Frou: So it’s about a beautiful girl?
KV: No. It’s about a girl whose lover have left her to go travelling round Arirang Mountain.
Frou: So, she is sad?
KV: Erm. I guess you can say that.
Frou: You’re not sure?
KV: Well, there are 5 stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, sadness and then acceptance. I don’t think she reached sadness yet.
Frou: Which stage is she in then?
KV: You figure it out. The first 2 lines of the songs literally mean, “My lover has gone to Arirang Mountain. I hope he gets a fungal infection and never makes it there”.
Frou: Ohhhh… still in anger!

Now, I am left wandering what all those lyrics in the Ayumi Hamasaki trance music I have been listening means. For all I know, she may be wailing about strange diseases, deviant sex moves or her favourite sanitary pad brand in Japanese, hor?!?!