This song contrasts the hardship of life in Haiti with the more desirable lifestyle left behind in the Kongo. It does so by presenting a woman at the riverside faced with a pile of clothing to be washed. The woman becomes mesmerized as the sight of the river transports her mind back to the Kongo.
A passerby wonders why the woman, Yaya, is unable to wash as she should. To capture the depth of the woman's detachment from her current situation, the song notes that everything is on hand for doing the laundry. There is water, soap, indigo and starch. Nothing is missing but Yaya remains disengaged. Instead of the water carving through her fingers and through the burdensome load, the river purges her mind, washes away her misery, and transports her to the Kongo.
The Kongo Kingdom was built around the tributaries of the Kongo River, the largest river in Ginen and the second largest river in the world by volume of water that it discharges into the Atlantic. The Kongo River is 4,700 kilometers long and reaches a depth of 230 meters. It has areas with rapids and waterfalls. Its magnificence has captured the imagination of numerous poets. In this song, it captures the mind of Yaya. The African American poet, Langston Hughes, wrote a poem mentioning the Kongo called, I Have Known Rivers. The word Kongo itself means river that flows from mountains (Online Etymology Dictionary, 2010 Douglas Harper). It is with knowledge of this by the citizens of the Kongo and their descendants living in Haiti that the song is set at a river to be reminiscent of the Kongo.
The pile of clothes to be washed is unflatteringly called kotonad, derived from the French word cottonade. It refers to tough fabrics made of cotton mixed with other fibers (Collins English Dictionary, Harper Collins Publisher 2003). The song refers to clothing to be washed as kotonad to emphasize how arduous the work is. This aids in contrasting life in Haiti with that of the Kongo. So, rather than toil in her undesirable situation, music begins to play in her mind, transporting her to the Kongo, and helping to transform an unhappy situation into a joyous one.
The principle character is intentionally called Yaya. It is done so as to identify the protagonist as Kongolese. Yaya is an endearing Kikongo word meaning a female relative. It can mean mother, sister, aunt, etc. (KiKongo dictionary). Yaya as a female Kongolese relative is the reason for the expression: when help is needed from one's Kongolese Ancestors, invoke the name Yaya. This is said in Creole as: lč ou bezwen Kongo, rele Yaya. Another expression is Yaya ti Kongo, meaning Yaya the little Kongolese.
The passerby in the song implies that he is of Kongo descent by referring to the protagonist as a relative, Yaya. The two join together. The song continues using the pronoun we instead of I. Together, they show their joy and begin to dance the Kongo Dance. The Kongo Dance dates back to a popular 18th century dance in the Kongo bearing that name (Thornton). We can assume that the passerby is male because Kongo derived dances in the Americas, like Konpa, Salsa, Meringue, Samba, Cumbia, and the Tango, all involve a male and a female dancing as a couple ( Robert Farris Thompson). This African or Kongo influenced way of dancing, was also observed and published by Moreau de St. Mery in the 18th century.
Today, Dans Kongo (Kongo Dance) in Haiti is usually done with a male and female dancer. The female dancer dresses with a large skirt with different layers and colors of cloth. The dance showcases the lavishness of cloth worn by the dancer. The display of cloth is reminiscent of the abundant quantity of cloth the Kongo Kingdom once produced (Thornton).
As the two dance by the riverside, engulfed in the memory of the Kongo, the song ends exclaiming how beautiful the Kongo is - Bčl Kongo, Kongo a Bčl. Yaya’s misery is washed away- Bčl Kongo, Kongo a Bčl.
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