![]() ![]() What follows will be long and complex, in part because of the complexity of the facts, in part because they have to do with geography, history, languages, cultures, and societies that will not be familiar to many readers of this blog, and partly because it’s hard to piece together facts about popular culture from even 100 to 120 years ago (as in this case): much is murky. The mystery in all this is why this particular childhood memory surfaced on Sunday morning. ![]() (A more accurate translation is “Do Not Go from Zamboanga” or “Do Not Leave Zamboanga” - Zamboanga being both a place of great physical beauty and the home of the singer’s beloved.) ![]() The original of the song was in Spanish - “No Te Vayas de Zamboanga” - or possibly in the Mindanao creole called Chavacano or Chabacano, but we sang it in English, probably in the widespread mistranslation “Do Not Go to (Far) Zamboanga”. And I immediately understand why it was in my memory: it’s from a song in the music book I had in the 3rd or 4th grade (I’m not sure which - look, this is all from almost 70 years ago), a compilation of folk songs for children. Which included a song about Zamboanga. My morning name on Sunday was Zamboanga, which I immediately recognized as a placename, for a city on the island of Mindanao, the southernmost large island of the Philippines.
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