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	Daisyfield Archive of Japanese Traditional Music About "Gonbe ga Tanemaku"

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Title in English: "Gonbe is Sowing"

History

"Gonbe ga Tanemaku" appears both in Nagai and Kobatake's 1892 collection and in Rudolf Dittrich's 1894 collection.

The song title is also romanized as "Gombei Ga Tane Maku".

Text

Dittrich provides a pleasant illustration for "Gonbe ga Tanemaku" (shown below) , and gives the following words and explanations for the song, in Japanese, German, and English.

GOMBEI* GA TANE MAKU

Gombei ga tane makiya
Karasu ga hojikuru;
Sando ni ichido wa
Owazuba narumai.
**Zumbera, zumbera,
Zumbera yo!

Gonbe Ga Tanemaku Click to enlarge (83kb)

GOMBEI SÄET

(Heiteres, launiges Lied der unteren Volksschichten)
Wenn Gombei säet,
Picken die Krähen die Saat wieder auf;
In drei Fällen einmal
Wird er gezwungen sein, sie wieder wegzutreiben.

GOMBEI IS SOWING

(A merry, humorous song of the lower classes)
When Gombei sows seed,
The crows pick it up again;
At every third turn
He has to drive them away again

*Gombei = a proper name.

**A merry refrain like tralala.

Remarks

Dittrich gives the metronome marking of quarter note = 112.

References

Nagai, Y., and Kobatake, K., Japanese Popular Music, A Collection of the Popular Music of Japan Rendered in to the Staff Notation, S. Miki & Co., Nos. 106 and 107 Shinsaibashi Road, Osaka, 1892.

Dittrich, Rudolf, Nippon Gakufu (“Six Japanese Popular Songs collected and arranged for the Pianoforte”), Breitkopf and Härtel, Leipzig, 1894.