Naho se bene wacu ?
Translation
from the French into the English
Music:
traditional
Arrangement:
Massamba
Text:
Marie-France Collard, Dorcy Rugamba
Text
in kinyarwanda: Massamba
(And our people?)
While the speaker leaves, Massamba accompanying himself on the
traditional cithare (inanga), sings a very old melody and against this musical
background the Chorus of the Dead raises the question of the responsibility of
the Rwandans themselves:
1.
This
monster who has killed us / was conceived in the colonial / womb
But
he was born here, in / Rwanda! / He grew up, was nurtured and / brought up / on
our hillsides, in our homes / by Rwandans!
Those
who governed us first / those who, in the name of / democracy, abolished the /
monarchy / it is they who distilled / hatred amongst some / and shame amongst
others
2.
They
put the people into a logic / of crime / They inaugurated this “ethnic /
republic” / where all Rwandans were not / equal before the law / they developed
a culture of / impunity
As
lightning preceders thunder / thought precedes action / For a long while / it
put conscience to sleep / it skilfully orchestrated crime / it planned and
structured the / genocial machine
3.
You
shall not kill, says the law / They said: You shall / You shall kill your
neighbour, / your godson, your nephew / You shall kill your wife and your /
brother´s wife / You shall kill them when I give / you the signal / When I tell
you: “the work” can / begin / you shall massacre them, old and / young / the
tall, the fair, and the dark / you shall kill them to the last / one
You
shall kill and it will be a / civic act / You will have deserved well of / the
country
4.
In a
criminal society / murderers are respected / We know those who / taught this
law / we obey them
Who
were they / if not our mayors / our military police, our doctors / our priests?
/ Who drew up the lists? / Who marked out the houses? / Who bought tonnes of /
machetes?
Who
distributed them? / Who? /If not the highest authorrities of / the country?
5.
Friends
/ we do not claim to know exactly / why / On the green hills of Rwanda, / The
sons of Gihanga / dismembered other sons of / Gihanga. / But we believe we
understand / this / Tear up the very roots of the / culture of a people for a
century / And you will plant in each head / the seeds of crime