NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Ginen i blog "The Islander." Estague i palabras-ña i kantan KC Leon Guerrero, i na'ån-ña "Nangga Yu'." Gof ya-hu ayu na blog, hu diseseha na i dueñu para u na'lå'la' gui' ta'lo, sa' gof maolek na hinekka para palabras kantan Chamorro. ***************** Nangga Yu' Este ta'lo ginen as KC i kanta Nangga yu' http://youtu.be/97CNdG6faO0 Kirida bai hu mapressu pago- Darling they're arresting me today Sa hu a punta i pakikku gi tinderu- Because I put the gun to the store owner Lao ayu neni chinileku- Because baby I did it ni aniyu ilekmu mas yamu- for the ring you said you liked Munga umasagua kirida nangga yu'- Don't marry darling wait for me Nangga yu' sa ti apman yu guatu- Wait for me I'll be back soon Nangga yu sa ti apman bai hu fatto- Wait for me because I'll come back soon Makonne yu' gi gima para Hagatna-They took me from my home to Hagatna Ha godde nen

Ti siguru yu' hafa maolek na pinila' gi Fino' Chamoru para i palabara "avalanche." Sina un deskribi gui' gi Fino' Chamoru komo un nåpu pat un pakyo'. Sina un usa palabra siha ni' para u ma deskribi i kinalamten-ña pat i fuetså-ña, pat i piligro kada mana'fanhuyong. Ti siguru yu' hafa i mas propiu na pinila'. Manhahasso yu' put este sa' unu na kanta ni' gof ya-hu (ya hu e'ekungok gui' pa'go ha' na momento) i na'an-ña "Avalancha" ginen un inetnon danderu ginen España "Heroes del Silencio." Anai i fine'nina hu hungok i palabra, ti hu komprende hafa ilelek-ña i taotao, lao gof ya-hu i bos-na yan i tunada. Ya kada mafåtto i koru ya ma essalao "Avalancha!" malago' yu' tumachu yan umessalao lokkue'. Kada hu hungok ya na påtte, hu imahihina na ma'u'u'dai yu' un kabayu gi hilo' un nåpu niebes ni' pumopoddong ginen un takhilo' na okso. M

It is now less than a year til Guam hosts FESTPAC or the largest cultural festival in the Pacific. I am involved in FESTPAC in a number of forms and there are some ways that we are clearly ready and on course and others where ai adai it seems like it'll take a miracle for us to make it on time.  Para i taotao ni' muna'la'la'la' yan chumochonnek mo'na i kuttura-ta (gi meggai na manera) este na dinana' i mas takhilo', i mas sagradu na tiempo. Kada kuatro na sakkan mandadana' i taotaogues i Pasifiku gi unu na isla, ya manafa'nu'i yan manapatte i kutturan-niha. Un sen dangkolu na onra este na para ta kombida taotao ginen kana trenta diferentes na isla siha magi para i tano'-ta.  For those of you who would like to receive regular updates about FESTPAC, its planning and organizing go on Facebook and LIKE the official FESTPAC page. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/guamfestpac2016 Or, each Friday the Pacific Daily News i

Gaige yu' giya Luta gi este na weekend. Dumeskakansa ham yan i nobia-hu guini. Meggai dinimalas yan na'triste gi i finakpo' i sakkan para Guahu. Giya Luta hu kekehagong huyong todu ayu na piniti yan sahuma halom nuebu na fuetsa. Este na ma'pos na sakkan na'yafai para Guahu, lao mas meggai na makkat na cho'cho' hu fafana' gi i mamaila na sakkan Para bai hu honora este na sen gatbo na tano', malago' yu' na bei hu "post" guini magi i palabras para i ofisiat na kanta-na i isla. I na'an-na i anthem Luta "I Tano'-Mami." Estague i palabras:  *********** I Tano’-mami I Tano’-mami I Tano’-mami ti dangkolu na isla, Lao sumen gatbo todu i uriya I manaina yan todu i familia Hu diseseha nah u li’e’. Todu nu hu gofli’e’ Guini gi islan Luta KORU Dikike’ na isla, bensiyon yan bunitum, I ladera-na kahulo’, kulan gua’ot para’isu, Ha fa’t

Last year the group TASI or Traditions About Seafaring Islands organized a Sakman Summit, or an event where experts on Chamorro culture, language, history and Micronesian traditional navigation gathered together to discuss various aspects about the recreation of the Chamorro sakman, or open-ocean large canoe. Central to the gathering was developing a standardized vocabulary for all of the terms which you would need for navigation in Chamorro, such as parts of the canoe, tools, sea-birds, names for the different parts of the day, etc. I've written before about how critical in today's Guam the work of TASI is. They are decolonizing. They are not returning to a previous era, but rather showing us how it is entirely possible that things which were lost or prohibited long ago, such as the seafaring skills and technology of Chamorros can find a place in today's world. Decolonization is not about preserving, because preserving assumes that something is dead or on the verge of de

A lot of people end up visiting this blog because they are searching around the internet for lyrics to Chamorro songs. Over the years I’ve pasted a couple here and there, but haven’t really kept up with it as much as I should. I complain all the time about there not being enough internet presence for the Chamorro language and for Chamorro thoughts and so I feel bad when I inadvertently contribute to that absence. På’go, gaige yu’ gi i gima’ iyo-ku grandfather. Desde i ma’pos’ña na mes, kumakatre gui’. Kana’ hineart attack gui’, ya sumaga’ gui’ gi i espitåt para tres meses. Mana’huyong gi i ma’pos na mes, ya sumåsaga’ gui’ gi i gima’, lao ti ha hulat tumohgue sin ayuda. Kada na puengge måtto yu’ gi i gima’-ña para i tetno-hu pumulan gui’. Gi este na tiempo, tåya’ internet, pues siña hu usa este para bai hu fanhasso. Manhasso yu’ put i lina’la’-hu pat i guinife-hu. Buente i chinathinasso-ku siha lokkue’. Tonight, I was trying to figure out what would be the best song to share the lyr

"One" ginnen U2 Is it getting better Or do you feel the same Will it make it easier on you now You got someone to blame You say... One love One life When it's one need In the night One love We get to share it Leaves you baby if you Don't care for it Did I disappoint you Or leave a bad taste in your mouth You act like you never had love And you want me to go without Well it's... Too late Tonight To drag the past out into the light We're one, but we're not the same We get to Carry each other Carry each other One... Have you come here for forgiveness Have you come to raise the dead Have you come here to play Jesus To the lepers in your head Did I ask too much More than a lot You gave me nothing Now it's all I got We're one But we're not the same Well we Hurt each other Then we do it again You say Love is a temple Love a higher law Love is a temple Love the higher law You ask me to enter But then you make me crawl And I can't be holding

Click this link and check out below the lyrics for a beautiful song titled "Isla Para Ladrones" by the band J.R. Jones . Its a contemporary sound, but with a curious ancient feel as well. Its a rock song about Chamorros and their long-standing struggles. The title for those who don't know refers to the name that Guam and Chamorros were given by the Spanish, which called them "thieves" and their land an island full of them. This is a conscious song not just in the sense that it is a rethinking of history and culture and Chamorro identity, but that its also made with the explicit intent that it be used as a tool for the creating of consciousness and the supporting of movements on Guam and amongst Chamorros for their sovereignty and decolonization. According to the band's description this song is "dedicated to our ancestors and to the undying efforts of the Nasion Chamoru. Our intentions with this song is to help promote the spirit of the

With some of the stress of the writing and defending a dissertation over now, I can finally enjoy the breaths that I take and try to relax a little bit. As some might be familiar with on this blog, one of the ways that I relax is by writing songs or poems in Chamorro, or translating lyrics from songs into Chamorro. The past month while I’ve been furiously writing my dissertation was the longest period of time since 2000 that I went without opening up my Chamorro dictionary. As I’ve been shut away in my computer for so long, and without doing much talking, thinking or writing in Chamorro, I’ve actually felt at times the language fading from my head. That’s why it was exciting recently, after defending my dissertation, to finally open up the dictionary again and start work on translating another song. This post is the fourth installment of a feature that I call Sakigakke Chamorro! In this feature I take a song from a Japanese anime and translate it into Chamorro. The translation is

A very personal post today, so I hope you'll forgive me. I’m at the very end of a big phase of my life. I’m all but finished with my Ph.D. program, I graduated, I defended As I stand here though, where the future looks like a frightening bleak expanse, which I can only jump into, and the past is a welcoming mass of things all radiating nostalgia, both in good and bad sense. First as things which I no longer cherish, but wish I could and others which I have left behind and wish I didn’t. Whenever we come to a point such as this, we wish desperately that we could sift through that old life, like a family searching through an already burning house for the things that are most precious, and pack a suitcase to carry them with us. But you know that you can’t do that. Some if not most of that old life will be waiting for you at the bottom of the cliff. It will appear brand new at first, but then begin to signify the same familiarity. What scares us the most about this situation, this t

I've always thought it very interesting, that of all the things I write about on this blog, the posts which elicit the most comments or negative feedback are one's dealing with the Chamorro language. Its so strange, because I say some pretty negative things about the United States, militarization and have some pretty radical political and social positions compared to most Chamorros, but I don't get much feedback in that direction. Most of it is all related to me mis-using the language, abusing it, not speaking it or spelling it authentically, sabotaging it or perpetuating poor grammar or English-affect Chamorro. Its possible, that I could simply be the worst speaker of Chamorro in the world, and all of these people are angels who are doing the Lord's work in protecting the Chamorro people from my evil damaging influence. Sina, lao hu dududa este. One of the reasons that I think this may be the case, is that unlike issues of history, culture, politics and current even

Recently, i hagga-hu Sumahi started talking so much, and not just words, but sometimes even short sentences. Usually these sentences deal with demands, for liquids, foods, items, demanding to leave someplace, demanding to go to another place, etc. One of the cutest sentences that she's started using that is not a demand, is when if you say "I love you" to her, she'll respond to you back (if she loves you) with "I Wow You." I've tried to get her to respond to me when I say "Hu guaiya hao," but no such luck. Although she does respond when I say to her "Hu Wow Hao Nene," and when I respond to her saying it with "Hu Wow Hao Lokkue'." One of the ways in which you can tell whether or not Sumahi does indeed "wow" you, is if she'll play with you when you speak to her in Chamorro. Slowly over the past couple months I've taught her a half dozen words, and taught her a corresponding action to each of those words.

Kada na gof tinemba yu’ (triste i siniente-ku) put i direchas kuetdås gi lina’la’-hu, ya-hu muna’sumåi maisa yu’ gi halom dandan (musika). Fihu bei ayek singko pat sais na kanta, ya bei na’dandan ayu na singko pat sais, ta’lo, ta’lo, ta’lo’lo’lo’lo. I dinisehå-hu para este, na siempre u malaknos i chinathinasso-ku ginnen i tintanos-hu nu i dandan. Ya mientras matata’chong yu’ gi halom ayu na chubaskon palabras yan notas, maninasa este siha na achaki-ku ni’ ayu na manglo. I mas maolek na kanta para este na cho’cho’, i musikan Oasis. Siha i Beatles para på’go na tiempo. Gof “poppy” gof “rocky.” I palabras i kantan-ñiha, guaha nai masångan na puru ha’ lassas (ti tahdong), lao guaha lokkue’ masångan na gai simiyas (tahdong). I mas ya-hu na kantan-ñiha på’go i kanta “Live Forever.” Ti hu tungo’ taimånu madulok gui’. Ya-hu Oasis, ya ya-hu este na kanta. Lao desde i tinituhun este na mes, kalang kinenne’ yu’ ni’ este na kanta. Ya-hu bei hungok este yan kanta este todu tiempo. Ya-hu kuma

When I get a break from writing my dissertation, but still want to use my brain somehow, I usually end up translating songs from Chamorro to English or from English to Chamorro, or as I started doing last fall, from Japanese to English to Chamorro. I started the regular thread called Sakigake Chamorro, last year which is my quick, fun and sometimes ridiculous translations of songs from Japanese anime into Chamorro. I don't speak Japanese so I have to use other people's English translations. But these aren't meant to be perfect or well thought out, they are more for me to flex my brain and have a little bit of fun. So far I've made two Sakigake Chamorro, the first was from Sakigake! Cromartie High School and the second from FLCL . The one I'd like to share with you today, is a beautiful, J-poppy song from Naruto Shippuuden. Its song by the Japanese rock band Ikimono Gakari and is titled Bluebird. Here's the lyrics in Japanese: Artist: Ikimono Gakari