Bebe Muke (Bebe Moké): Congolese Song for Elementary Music

In typical Elizabeth fashion, I was searching this past summer for a new song to use to teach one specific musical concept and ended up stumbling on a wonderful song from a country I didn't have represented in my curriculum yet that is accessible and engaging for elementary age students AND can be used to teach several different musical concepts besides the one I was looking for! Here are my lesson ideas for the song "Bebe Muke (Bebe Moké)" from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

First the song. It should be noted that if you search online for the song title you may find a "Wee Sing" version, listed as from Zaire (which the country has not been called since 1997). That version is very different from the African sources I have found so I do not recommend using that one- here are some recordings I recommend:

You'll notice the second recording is in a different meter than the other 2 and feels much more like a lullaby, while the others are more upbeat. Depending on what musical concepts you're wanting to teach I think you could present either version, although I prefer the upbeat one for the 3rd graders I am using the song with.

The lyrics are in Lingala. As with any song that has been passed down for a long time like this, there are several variations on the exact lyrics, but here is the most common version of the first verse that I found among Congolese sources I saw (sidenote: the animation in the first video above makes sense when you see the main thrust of the lyrics):

Original Lyrics (in Lingala)

Bebe moké nani abêti yo

Loba na ngai

Ngai na zongisa

Yomoko otutani na mur ya ndako

English Translation

Little baby, who hit you?

Tell me!

I'll tell you what happened:

You hit the wall of the house yourself.

Now let's talk about musical concepts that could be taught through this song: I am using it this year to review pentatonic solfege and same and different phrases, but (if you use the more upbeat version) this would also be a great song for triple meter.

Pentatonic Solfege

First and foremost I think this song is perfect for practicing pentatonic solfege, because the melody line at the end of every phrase is a descending pentatonic scale (la sol mi re do). I'm using the song this year as a way to review pentatonic solfege by having students aurally identify the solfege of that line after learning the song. After we've sung the song a few times, I have them all sing the pentatonic notes they've learned on solfege syllables with hand signs, and then I ask them to listen to each note in the melody and identify which solfege note it matches. Because the notes are in order it's easier for them to hear, so it's a great way to do a quick review and practice identifying notes aurally, but it would also be an easy way to have students practice notating or identifying the solfege from notation as well.

Same and Different Phrases

The other main reason I chose this song is because there are 2 identical melodic phrases followed by 1 that is clearly different from the first 2 because it has a different rhythm and it stays on the same repeated pitch in the beginning. It's easy for students to hear the phrases because they all end with the same descending scale. I always review same and different phrases in 3rd grade as we're preparing for recorders, because I want students to get in the habit of looking for repeated phrases when they are learning new recorder songs.

Triple Meter

I didn't set out to find a song to teach triple meter, but I'll definitely be touching on the meter with my students when we learn it because it has such a clear downbeat but with the syncopated rhythms, faster tempo, and upbeat feel, it has a different feeling from the typical lilting waltz-feeling triple meter songs I often use with my younger grades. I have students listen to the recording and try to identify the meter by tapping on the beat in groups of 2, 3, and 4 until they find the one that fits the music best. Once we've identified the meter, I reinforce it by having them pat their laps on the downbeat and clap on beats 2 and 3. This is also an easy way to encourage active listening when I'm first introducing the song, so it's easier for them to learn the non-English lyrics when we start practicing the singing.

I hope these ideas inspire more teachers to introduce this song to your students! For more lesson ideas like this to cover your entire year, you can get my curriculum here. Find more elementary music lesson ideas and teaching strategies for music around the world in these blog posts. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions!