Cheki Morena
"Cheki Morena" is a traditional Puerto Rican song. "Cheki" is thought to be a Spanish way of saying "shake it", the sound "cheki" coming from the English phrase.
Cheki Morena
Shake It Brown Girl!
Juego en círculo
Circle Game
(Spanish)
(English)
El juez le dijo al cura, ¡curita!
El cura le dijo al juez,
¿Qué fue?
Que a dónde está ese ritmo, caramba
Del merecumbe, ¡ue!
Cheki, morena, cheki,
Cheki, morena, ¡jue!
¿Que a dónde está
Ese ritmo caramba
Del merecumbé?
Un pasito alante
Y otro para atrás
Y dando la vuelta
Y dando la vuelta
¿Quién se quedará? ¡Jue!
The judge said to the priest, "Little priest!"
The priest said to the judge,
"What happened?
Where is that crazy rhythm
Of the merecumbe*?"
Shake it, brown girl, shake it,
Shake it, brown girl, hey!
Where is that
Crazy rhythm
Of the merecumbe?
One small step forward
And another to the back
And turn around
And turn around
Who will be next? Hey!
Notes
*Merecumbé is a combination of the two words, "merengue" and "cumbia". "Merengue" is a type of music and dance from the Caribbean. "Cumbia" is an African word and a type of dance found in Colombia. Merecumbé is a type of Colombian music that combines the two styles of "merengue" and "cumbia". This musical style was created by Francisco "Pacho" Galán around the 1950's.
Game Instructions
Children form a circle and one goes in the middle. Everyone sings the song and dances on the 1st two verses. On the 3rd verse they follow any directions in the song (i.e. take a step forward, etc.) The kid in the middle closes his/her eyes and turns around in circles on the lines, "Y dando la vuelta, y dando la vuelta. ¿Quién se quedará?" On "Jue" s/he opens his/her eyes and whoever is pointed to goes to the center of the circle next (the kid in the center and the one pointed to switch places). Then the game starts all over again.
Thanks!
Thanks and Acknowledgements
Thanks to Amanda Figueroa for contributing the first verse of this song!
