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- 9 01 2004 - 17:55 - katatonik

Life advice in Africa and a riddle about an infamous tune

“On the morning before I left South Africa, I attended a loveLife motivational seminar at a school not far from Orange Farm. “These seminars help young people see the future, identify choices, and identify the values that underpin those choices,” Harrison had told me. “We help them ask themselves, ‘What can you do to chart life’s journey, and control it as much as possible?’” The seminars are based on Success by Choice, a series devised by Marlon Smith, a California-based African-American motivational speaker. How was Mr. Smith’s message of personal empowerment translated to South Africa, I wondered, where children have to contend with poverty, the risk of being a victim of robbery or rape, and a grim future of likely unemployment?

About twenty-five children aged ten to fourteen were in the class, and the GroundBreaker asked them to hold their hands out in front of them and pretend they were looking in a mirror, and repeat the following words:

“You are intelligent!” “You are gifted!” “There is no one in the world like you!” “I love you!”

The children spoke quietly at first, then louder, as though they were being hypnotized. The GroundBreaker urged them to talk more openly with their parents, to keep clean, and to make positive choices in their lives, especially when it came to sexuality. There was little mention of helping other people, nor was there much advice about how to avoid being raped or harassed by other students as well as teachers, relatives, or strangers, or how to plan a future in a country where unemployment for township blacks is so high.

Then something really odd occurred. One of the GroundBreakers asked the children to stand up because it was time for an “Icebreaker.” “This is a little song and dance thing we do, to give the children a chance to stretch. It improves their concentration,” I was told. The words of the song were as follows:

Pizza Hut Pizza Hut Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut McDonalds McDonalds Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut.

In the dance, the children spread their arms out as though they were rolling out a pizza, or flapped their elbows like chickens.”

Helen Epstein: “AIDS in South Africa: The Invisible Cure”, New York Review of Books vol.50 / number 12, July 17, 2003.

I was wondering where the song came from. We all know it through DJ Ötzi, who in turn got it from a Dutch radio DJ called Eric Dikeb. But how did it get to South Africa, well before Summer 2003?


gute frage.
ich hab das jetzt zum ersten mal beim schispringen gehört. da haben sie die zuschauer zwischendurch in bischofshofen damit beschallt. dachte zuerst, das sei eben werbung. sofort allergie darauf bekommen.

godany (Jan 9, 08:53 pm) #


schlimmster soundcheck der welt: im hintergrund läuft das unaussprechliche lied. wie soll man da sagen, ob man gut klingt? unmöglich. ötzi muss weg.

LaTaiga (Jan 10, 02:25 pm) #


jaja, is ja schon gut, wir wissen eh, dass das lied unerträglich ist. mich interessiert aber mehr, woher es eigentlich kam, und wie es, wohl noch bevor es in europa verbreitung fand, durch vermittlung merkwürdiger amerikanischer lebenshilfeerteiler in südafrika landete.

katatonik (Jan 10, 02:47 pm) #


vielleicht produziert er dort wo. und lässt dann mal vor ort testen oder so. keine ahnung.

godany (Jan 10, 05:46 pm) #


Ähnliche Melodie auch bei einem Kinderlied. Musste im Kindergarten gesungen werden.

"a-ram-sam-sam
a-ram-sam-sam
a-gulli-gulli-gulli-gulli ram-sam-sam
arabi
arabi
a-gulli-gulli-gulli-gulli ram-sam-sam"

Dazu gibts dann auch diverse Bewegungen. bei "arabi" z.b. die hände in die Höhe und sich dann wie so eine Geste des Betens vorbeugen usw.
Siehe hier oder hier. . Vielleicht hilft das weiter.

toby (Jan 11, 06:38 pm) #


Ja, das hatte Herr ronsens anlässlich des Hitphänomens schon einmal bemerkt; ich kenne das auch noch ausm Kindergarten.
Auf einer der verlinkten Seiten heisst es ja, das Lied stamme aus Afrika. Hm.

katatonik (Jan 11, 08:47 pm) #


Herr Ötzi lässt in der Dritten Welt fertigen, vielleicht. Is billiger.

ichichich (Jan 20, 11:10 am) #


kennen sie eigentlich dieses neue dings von chicks on speed? - die sind da auch irgendwie draufgesprungen. hab ich erst gar nicht gemocht, jetzt aber.

(offtopic: haben sie zufällig die mailadresse des gerade getroffenen weblogsuperstars? ich hab die nämlich verschlampt. wenn ja, übers kontaktformular an mich oder so. merci)

roland (Jan 21, 02:29 pm) #


It's a MOrracan folk song the second verse to A ram Sam Sam found in every campfire sing along book ever written.

Babrs 253 (Apr 9, 10:00 pm) #

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