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#songreview

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Billy Joel’s Piano Man is one of the best in the way of sentimental songs. It tells the story of a bar full of lonely people who have given up on their dreams, using some of the best examples of show-don’t-tell lyrics.

He describes each person, from the “real-estate novelist” who’s clearly 3 chapters into the great American novel but never has energy after selling houses to finish it, to the waitress who wants to run for President, to the bartender himself, who would rather be in Hollywood

Then the twist:

“The piano it sounds like a carnival
The microphone smells like beer,
And they sit at the bar
And put bread in my jar
And say man what are you doing here?”

He is one of them.

Poetry.

This line sums it up, and I wonder about us here in 2024, when so many of us can’t easily do this:

“They’re sharing a drink they call loneliness, but it’s better than drinking alone.”

open.spotify.com/track/70C4Nyh

SpotifyPiano ManBilly Joel · Song · 1973

Unonzani?

Unonzani is a track by the mbira songbird, gwenyambira Tanaka Chikati who goes by the stage name SunniChi. Unonzani the title of the track is a Shona word that asks the question: What is your name?

The song is a reflective soundscape that reminds us to remember who we are and where we come from, especially in the prevailing socio-economic climate were one ends up travelling far from home for a destiny unknown….

Unonzani Lyrics and Translation

Huya pano
(Come here)

Chigwindiri changu
(My dear child)

Ndanzwa soko rekuti
(I heard word that)

Uchaenda mhiri kwemakungwa
(You will travel abroad)

Zvinoda kushinga
(It requires courage)

Zvinoda ruzivo
(It requires knowledge)

Zvinoda moyo wakasimba
(It requires a strong heart)

Ziva ziva mwanangu
(Remember, remember, my child)

Ziva ziva kwaunobva
(Remember where you come from)

Kwaunoenda usiku Saka ziva kwaunobva
(Where you are headed to is unknown, so remember where you come from)

Kwaunoenda usiku Saka ziva mwanangu
(Where you are headed to is unknown, so remember my child)

Unonzani ?
(What is your name?)
Unobvepi ?
(Where do you come from?)
Unoereiko ?
(What is your totem?)
Unonzani ?
(What is your name?)
Unobvepi ?
(Where do you come from?)
Unoereiko
(What is your totem?)

Uri mwana wamambo
(You are a child of royalty)

Asi muranda kwevamwe
(But a commoner in a foreign land)

Zvininipise
(Humble yourself)

Ubvise miti munzeve
(And listen to wise counsel)

Zvinoda njere
(It requires knowledge)

Zvinoda runyararo,
(It requires peace)

Zvinoda moyo wakasimba
(It requires a strong heart)

Saka ziva ziva mwanangu
(Remember, remember my child)

Ziva ziva kwaunobva
(Remember, remember where you come from)

Ziva ziva mwana
(Remember, remember my child)

Ziva ziva kwaunobva
(Remember, remember where you come from)

Produced, mixed, and mastered by: Rayo Beats and Ian Sinz
Ngoma: Waheed
Bass: TBlawu
Guitar: Maestro
Composed and written by Tanaka Chikati

https://becomingthemuse.net/2023/11/25/unonzani-lyrics-and-translation-sunnichi/