tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue May 06 07:44:16 1997

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing



[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

Re: The Klingon Anthem! At last!



At 02:14 PM 5/5/97 -0700, mIqIraH wrote:
>Terrence Donnelly wrote:
>> 
>> Well, I watched (and taped) Warriors of the Empire, and I _still_ don't know
>> what the words are!  But, boy, has anyone tried to actually sing this song?
>> [..]
>
>That's funny, I've never taken a singing class in my life (although I do
>play trumpet) and I have no problem singing the anthem.
>[..] 
>I don't know how you read music, 
 (slowly!)
>but here it is the counting written
>out, measure by measure.  

qatlho'neS.  For some reason, I just couldn't get it.  It seemed as if there
were too few syllables for the notes.

>Just for reference, the Anthem is in 4/4 time,
>with a tempo of roughly 50-80 beats per minute.  I just copied the
>closed captioning lyrics rather than the transliterated tlhIngan Hol...
>
>12&34        Koi keh less pook load.
>12&3         Koi pook beh poo.
>1&2&3&4      Yoch bow math bow je shoov wee,
>1&2&3a       Say moach chu mey ew.  Mah
>1a2a3&4a     Shoov mah nong ej ma choch chew, nee
>1&2&34       Beh yin mahj ach wov, coo!
>1&2&3&4&     Bath ma chech bejj ej yo keej dahk
>1&a2&a3&a4&a Vav poo na dee muv pa rech ma shoov tach koo ma
>1&a2&&4      Mev ko ma shoov tach, ma ov!
>
>In case you don't read this system, here's a quick breakdown:
>
>1,2,3,4: down-beats
>&: up-beats
>a: sixteenth notes.  I put some "a"s at the end of the measure they're
>in, even though they are pickup notes to the next one.
>

I still think it's a difficult song to sing.  All the syncopation in the
last two lines really throws off the rythmn, especially the enjambment where
the syncopation goes into the last line and then suddenly hits a rest in the
middle of the measure.  
Considering that this song is evidently supposed to be both common and
popular, I'm
surprised it is so complicated.  Although maybe Klingons are better at this
than humans (I almost said 'have natural rythmn') - maybe that's why opera
is so popular among them.

>-mIqIraH
>
-- ter'eS



Back to archive top level