Che che colé

Che che kole
Che che kofiza
Kofi salanga
Kaka chilanga
Ayeiyeee

Ladies (and some gentlemen), does anyone remember singing this song during break in primary school? I know it involved clapping and in typical African fashion, caller response but I can't for the life of me remember if it involved dancing ... Sigh the good ol' days when I didn't have bills to worry about and my only responsibility was finishing my breakfast.

Anyway so there I was jejely easing into the days work. I have switched from listening to celebrity gossip on WBLS courtesy of Wendy Williams (How u doin'?) actually I think the incessant speculation about everybody and anybody's sexuality tired me more than the gossip ... I now listen to my very own radio station on Yahoo (Launchcast?. Its so much fun to not be 'responsible' for the selection of music you listen to well this is not exactly true, you can (and are encouraged) to rate genres, artists, songs, albums, etc and based on these Yahoo makes selections on your behalf. Of course you still get some strange music filtering through no matter how diligently you rate (I guess Yahoo has to make money somehow) ... SO I am listening to my radio, I had been welcomed to work by Sting, Seal, Tupac and Heatwave (in that order) then like some 5 more songs after the unmistakable percussion of latin music, 'e don tey when I listen to Buena Vista o, e be like say time don reach make I give 'Heavier Things' a rest' I thought as I 'tuned' in then I heard it:

Che che colé, (que bueno e’………)
Che che cofriza, (muerto e’ la risa……)
Coqui saranga (ay viene la malanga……)
Caca chilanga, (viene de catanga……)
Ayeiyeee, (a ver e’ tu lo ve………)

Are you kidding me?!

You mean that 'sensless' chanting I did in Staff School wasn't that at all? You mean it was a song, a real song I was singing? OMG! Who is singing this song o? Kia I checked it was Marc Anthony, the sing is titled ' Che che colé' and it is on the soundtrack from the movie 'El Cantante'. Wonderful! The song was apparently originally performed by Héctor Lavoe on whose life the movie was based. I had planned to see this movie but somehow it slipped off my radar. Okay make I no lie, the prospect of being introduced to a 'new' artist and his music was enough to ensure that the movie would never leave my radar. However the fact that I would have to suffer through a J-Lo performance seemed to high a price to pay. I promised myself I would go to B&N and go take a listen to the soundtrack and possibly make a purchase. Now on the strength of this one song and all the warm memories it has unearthed for me I will be buying it.

The Internet is a wonderful thing o! Apparently Osibisa had a song in the 70's titled 'Che Che Kule'. Perhaps this is the song that crept into our playtime repertoire?