Jambo
Swaziland
History and Song Notes
Jambo is a folksong from Swaziland. The word jambo means “hello.” The children often enjoy singing the song in other languages as well, particularly the languages that they speak at home. For example:
English: Hello, hello everybody, hello
Spanish: Hola, hola mis amigos, hola
Mandarin: Ni hao, ni hao wuo de peng yo, ni hao
You’ll notice that the practice recording and the piano accompaniment below are performed at a fast tempo. When you first introduce the song to the children, and as you are becoming more comfortable with the song yourself, take your time, begin slowly and gradually speed up over time. The children will likely need to practice echoing line-by-line before they will be ready to sing the song straight through.