This song is about a woman who is leaving her village to move with her husband's family to a new place.

 Ай бөпем (Ay Bopem) - Kazakhstani Children's Songs - Kazakhstan - Mama Lisa's World: Children's Songs and Rhymes from Around the World  - Intro Image

Notes

Note: "Ай literally means "moon". But here it's just a kind of la-la-la (it has no meaning), it just shows her pain. It's used mostly in lullabies." -Ruslan Abdirashid

Pronunciation:

Aulim koship baradi
Almaliga kim konbeidi tagdirdin
Salganina-ai
Kormegeli kop aidin
Juz jil boldi akennin habarin
Almagali-ai.

(Chorus)
Ai-ai, bopem, keyin kalgan elimdi
Korer me ekem-ai?
Igigai-igigai-au,
Korer me ekem-ai?

Tugan jerdi saginip
Topiragi koz aldima keledi
Sol turagim-ai
Batirimdi ayauli
Ansaganda ak bopemdi ayalap
Otiramin-ai

Comments

Assylbek Alimbekov sent the following translation:

My awil's* gone far away --
Woman should obey her destiny,
When her fiance's taking her from her father's home.
And there is sorrow in my soul:
Still no breeze (news) about my parents
For several months.

Chorus:
-Sleep, my baby! When will we return back
-To our homeland?
-Sleep, my baby! When will we return back
-To our homeland?
-Igigay-igigay-au**!
-To our homeland?
-Igigay-igigay-au!
-To our homeland?

And when there is no place to hide from anguish,
I'm walking back there
- To my homeland...
And rocking the cradle of my daughter,
I sing her this lullaby,
In memory of my folks...

*Awil - Kazakh nomadic village.
**Kazakh special interjection.

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Thanks and Acknowledgements

1st translation by Mama Lisa and Ruslan Abdirashid. 2nd translation by Assylbek Alimbekov.

Photo: Inside a Kazakh Yurt (1911 - 1914)

Рақмет!