Arroro del Niño (Colombian lullaby)

Nationality: Colombian/Americn
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Diego, CA
Performance Date: 4/17/15
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

My informant refused to have his voice recorded, and I have respected this. Instead, he told me the lyrics to the lullaby which his mom had sung to him and continues to sing to him even though he is still in college. He unfortunately couldn’t recall the whole thing when I interviewed him and instead gave me the first verse. Despite persistence, I could only get this much out of him.

Siempre te querer

Siempre te querer

Asta que me halla unda

Seas me bebe

 

Translation

Whenever you want

whenever you want

till you found me life

you are my baby.

 

Analysis

He says that there are many variations of this song, and that this is simply the generic version. When his family sung it, it tended to be off beat but the message was nevertheless the same. Supposedly, the whole song was about a moral because the elders would often sing this to their young, but it is restricted only to female, the male would not sing this. Literally, it shows that no matter how old you are, you will always be a mother’s baby, and that her love will always prevail. When he thinks about this, it makes him proud of his heritage. I believe that his interpretation on the lullaby is correct, and that it is traditionally sung at night because it always gives reassurance to both child and parent when they go off to bed.