arunshah
“Tsamina” or “Zangaléwa” is a hit song of 1986, it was sung by a makossa group from Cameroon called Golden Sounds.They were famous throughout the continent for their silly dances and costumes. “Tsamina” was such a hit for Golden Sounds that they eventually changed their name to Zangaléwa, too. It pays tribute to African skirmishers during WW II. Most of the band members were in the Cameroonian Army themselves and used make up, fake belly and fake butt for comic relief.
The song is still used today almost everywhere in Africa by soldiers, policemen, boy scouts, sportsmen and their supporters, usually during training or for rallying. It is also widely used in schools throughout the continent especially in Cameroon as a marching song and almost everyone in the country knows the chorus of the song by heart. The song was also popular in Colombia where it was known as “The Military” and brought to the country by West African DJs.
The men in the group often dressed in military uniforms, wearing pith helmets and stuffing their clothes with pillows to appear like they had a swollen butts from riding the train and fat stomachs from eating too much. The song, music historians say, is a criticism of black military officers who were in league with whites to oppress their own people. Or at least, some of it was. The rest is Cameroonian slang and jargon from the soilders during the war.
According to Jean Paul Zé Bella, the lead singer of Golden Sounds came from Cameroonian “sharpshooters who had created a slang for better communication between them during the Second World War”. They copied this fast pace in the first arranments of the song. They sang the song together for freedom in Africa.
The lyrics, which are in a Cameroonian language called Fang, read like this:
Tsa mina mina eh eh
Waka waka eh eh
Tsa mina mina zangalewa
Ana wam ah ah
Zambo eh eh
Zambo eh eh
Tsa mina mina zangalewa
Wana wa ah ah
Meaning of the words in Fang language
- Tsaminamina means Come.
- Waka waka means Do it – as in perform a task. Waka is pidgin language meaning walk while working.
- Tsaminamina zangalewa means where do you come from?.
- Wana means it is mine.
- Zambo means wait.
Covers
Shakira’s song with Freshlyground for the 2010 FIFA Football World Cup Waka Waka (This Time For Africa) samples this song because it’s both a tribute to African music – with the World Cup being held in South Africa – but it is also a nod to the folks back in Shakira’s native Colombia who have been partying to this song since 1987 when the song rose to prominence thanks to West African DJ’s in Cartagena, Colombia. It is not clear whether the original band has been compensated for the use of this song.
