Inspired by the lullaby I sing my son every night.
There is a popular Filipino lullaby that I began singing to my son when he was born. “Sa Ugoy ng Duyan” (literally, the swaying of the hammock) is a melody I’ve heard all my life, it being a favorite song for school children to be taught so they can sing it at school shows to bring audiences packed with their adoring families to tears. It has stuck with me over the years, and I had decided early on (even before I got pregnant) that it was a song I wanted to sing for a someday child).
Voila the inspiration for my first ever pattern design! (And coincidentally, also the first triangle shawl I cast on, ever. Ambitious?) Anyway, Duyan has been underworks for at least a couple of months now, and I'm excited to announce that it will soon be released! By soon, though...I mean within the next 2 months. Haha... due to current living situations and life plans, it's the soonest I will be able to get to seriously knitting up the sample. I'll at the same time, you see, be looking for a new job after having left the workforce to be with my son for the first two years of his life. That, and finding a place to live after living abroad where the cost of living is cheaper (due to said leaving of workforce and thereby cutting our family's income in half).
The lullaby that was the inspiration for this knit has a beautiful but uncharacteristically somber melody for a lullaby that flits in and out of minor key. Perhaps it's because of the nostalgic quality of the lyrics. Scouring the web for versions to link to has left me unsatisfied though. A lot of the versions of the song that I've found were over-embellished with too much instrumentation. But then again, my preference is for the cleaner simpler, one voice, one guitar renditions (the way that I hear it in my head, the way that my voice alone fills the room as I sing it to my son). I also love the instrumental versions of it. The melody is haunting, to say the least. It was composed in 1948 by Lucio San Pedro, based on a melody he remembered his own mother singing to him when he was a child.
I've written here, a rough translation of the lyrics. A lot of the translations I've read online too seem off to me. I've pared it down to an almost literal word for word translation of the song, because again, I feel that the song's charm lies in it's simplicity. I hope to carry that simple beauty into the stitches of my shawl as it takes shape.
Here's a link to a few versions I do like
SA UGOY NG DUYAN
Sana'y di nagmaliw ang dati kong araw
Nang munti pang bata sa piling ni nanay
Nais kong maulit ang awit ni inang mahal
Awit ng pag-ibig habang ako'y nasa duyan
Refrain:
Sa aking pagtulog na labis ang himbing
Ang bantay ko'y tala, ang tanod ko'y bituin
Sa piling ni nanay, langit ay buhay
Puso kong may dusa sabik sa ugoy ng duyan
[TRANSLATION:
I hope the memories of those olden days do not fade
When I was a young child in my mother's company
I want hear/sing again the song of my dearest mother
A song of love, while I was still in the cradle
Refrain:
As I slept so deeply in my cradle
The stars watched over me, my guards were the stars
In mother's company, life was heaven
My heart longs for the swaying of the cradle]