Mɔgɔ n'à cɛ musow = monde entier musow [Solved]

Mɔgɔ n’à cɛ musow
Mɔgɔ n’à cɛ cɛw

Wondering about the phrase “Mɔgɔ n’à cɛ musow yo” which has cropped up in a Bambara song. A translation I have been given is “women/men from all over the world” @Christy I wondered if you were familiar with this phrase and its meaning, because it’s also a line in the song ‘Sontila’ by Rokia Koné at 0:59 in this YouTube video of a live Bamako “show”.

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Hi Odhrán! In this context, “women from all over the world” makes sense because Rokia starts out specifically addressing certain women groups that are throughout the world up until that 0:59 point. Then, instead of continuing on in that way she simply addresses the collective: women from all over the world.

Mɔgɔ = People
na = come
cɛ = collect, gather
musow = women
yo = hello

Something to the effect of “Hey ladies! Let us ALL come together.” Hope this helps! :slightly_smiling_face:

Hi Christy, yes that’s really helpful, thank you. I’m sure a few other questions may crop up as we go along, as you’ve got a lot of useful insight.

best,
Odhrán

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To clarify a bit, I think that the question that @OdhranMullan and I have is related to the expression “Mɔgɔ n’à cɛ ___” in a broader sense.

As Odhran showed, it is repeated with different nouns taking the spot of the blank.

First, we have (Note that I’ve used double parentheses around the part where we aren’t 100% sure, etc):

Ɛ musow yo! ((Mɔgɔ n’à cɛ musow yo!))
Oh women! ((Women of the world!))

And then later:

Ɛ cɛw yo! ((Mɔgɔ n’à cɛ cɛw yo!))
Oh men! ((Men of the world!))

From my perspective, the expression could be something that comes from:

mɔgɔ + ni + à + cɛ
people + and + its +

The question is what the is. It could be postposition (‘between’) which can sometimes means ‘relationship/relation’, but I think in this case, we might be looking at an idiomatic expression that lines up with the something like “____ all over the world” in English.

Just an idea!

OK fellas! Just heard back from Koro on this. Rokia is speaking part french.

Ɛ musow yo! Monde entier musow yo!
Oh women! Women of the world!

And then:

Ɛ cɛw yo! Monde entier cɛw yo!
Oh men! Men of the world!

As to your other question Coleman, I also sent a forwarded explanation to you on WhatsApp.

mɔgɔ + ni + à + cɛ
person + and + his/her + between

It is the postposition (‘between’) which can sometimes mean ‘relationship/relation’.

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2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Alternative YouTube version of “Sontila”

Haha, wow! It’s definitely that! I just went back to the track we were working on and like in so many other cases, it’s suddenly 100% clear! It’s French "monde entier musow/cɛw :slight_smile:

Always amazing how sometimes your brain can define/limit what you think someone could possibly be singing or saying.

Good ear, Koro, and aw ni ce to you both, Christy!

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