Rakaboom
Artist: Emmanuel Jal
Producer: Jesse Bukindu
Video Director: Ogega Andere | Frinant Pictures, Kenya
Executive Producer: Nana Baffour
Creative Executive: Tania Campbell Golding
Sponsored by Twins for Peace
Copyright: Gatwitch Records 2022.


With Kenya offering Emmanuel a refuge once he escaped the war in South Sudan – the country and its cultural offerings have always influenced Jal’s artistic direction.
 
Rakaboom is a playful love song, which brings together these influences from South Sudan and Kenya with the lyrics sung in Emmanuel’s mother tongue Naath (Nuer), the track recorded in Nairobi with Kenyan producer Jesse Bukindu and the visuals shot in Lamu, the oldest Swahili settlement in East Africa.
  
The video, sponsored by ethical footwear brand Twins for Peace ignites the relationship between music, fashion and afro-centric heritage. The visuals highlight South Sudanese beauty, its prominence within the fashion industry and the mark it’s making on the international cultural landscape.
 
To highlight this, Emmanuel worked with Kenyan film director Ogega Andere, to intentionally frame together exceptional modelling talent from South Sudan with eye catching Swahili details, set amongst the people and treasured backdrop of Lamu and its stunning UNESCO world heritage site.

Lyrics & Translation:

Intro

Ya yo yo yo nyawargah
Ya yo yo yo nyawargah
Ya yo yo yo nyawargah

A yo yo yo nyawargah

Verse 1 translation

Relaxing strong, relaxing strong
My heart is happy and strong
Yea strong
Come my sister
I peel for you a mango
I cook for you now we live together
Relaxing strong, relaxing strong
My heart is happy and strong
Yea strong
Come my sister,
I peel for you a mango

I cook for you, now we live together
Look look look look
Look look look look at her
Look look look look
Look look look look at her
Big girl
Look look look look
Look look look look at her
Kea Lual Buodjiak - Look look look look
Look look look look at her
She is a good girl- Look look look look
Look look look look at her
She has a calm heart – Look look look look
Look - look look look at her

Chorus translation

Glow glow ah unfold she made my form glow
Ya yo yo my brothers and sisters
Glow glow ah unfold she made my form glow
Ya yo yo my brothers and sisters x 2

Verse 2 translation

We enjoyed the fruits of the girls from the farm
and daughter from the lake farm la oh
Like the way you do your thing oh
You do your thing
Like the way you make me think oh
You make me think
Your humour is a great humour
Open heart and open mind
Look at her yo oh
Look at her the Nyawargah
Look at her yo yo yo look at her the Nyawargah
Something good that can take us forward
She has it Nyawargah
Something yummy that can certify humans she has it
Nyawargah


Chorus

Verse 3 translation

Swagger swagger like Nyamakuach
White ox for truth she is a great speaker
Incredible wonderful beautiful
So sweet so kind so natural
Energy a force like a gravity
Cutey a girl with a dignity
Am looking at your cheeks girl I like your cheeks.

Outro

Rakaboom
Rakaboom
Teth loijdah a boom
Ah Yea Ah Boom
Ber Nyamar beingang manga
Cook for you now we live together
Rakaboom
Rakaboom
Teth loijdah a boom
Ah Yea Ah Boom

Nene yo oh e nene e Nyawargah
Nene yo yo yo oh e nene e Nyawargah

Madung Goa mah Nang Naath nhiam
Teke je e Nyawargah
Machum chum ma deah Na luang
Teke Je e Nyawargah


I am looking for a way of life, I love the way your living.