Rasechebeab

a beab

Today’s song — Rasechebeab [the blood of a rat] — uses one of the most cutting Palauan expressions that I know of for its title.  Referring to someone as having the blood of a rat is to call them cruel, heartless or having no compassion.  I count four other songs (so far:  1, 2, 3, 4) where this expression is used.  The lack of compassion in today’s song makes the bloom fall off the plant; their love has fallen to the ground, discarded like a dead flower.

This song shares its melody with “Karebara no Hana.”  Since that song has lyrics entirely in Japanese, perhaps today’s song was written as an extension to it, with most of the words in Palauan.  I wonder who might know the answer to that?  While the words are different, both songs end with their love being like a dead flower (any old flower in today’s song and a dead Palauan rose in Karebara no Hana).

Let’s listen to Myuki Takataro and the Lucky 7 Band (from Ngiwal).  She is backed up by a guitar and mandolin.

Rasechebeab, Myuki Takataro & the Lucky 7 Band, 1960s

The melody of the song is in a major (Ionian) key, and the melody follows the yonanuki major pentatonic scale.  The backup chords are straight forward:  I — IV — V.

The lyrics to this song, as presented in Cisca’s songbook [1], with some modification, are as follows.  Myuki Takataro’s recording above sings verses 1, 4 and 5.  The first two lines of verse 2 are shared with the song “Sera dekot el tibil kmo,” which was composed by Ymesei Ezekiel.  Perhaps this points to his hand in the song, or perhaps someone else liked that line and borrowed it for this song (or the other way around, since we don’t know when this song was written).  Similarly, the most of the 2nd line of that 2nd verse shows up in Dudiu Tutii’s Meringel Emel.

Bechesei me ng uoi meketeketang
Me a renguk ak mong dikea mkongak
Le kau a ta er a rasechebeab
Me ng ke mchubur a chebulang

Sera dekot el tibil kmo
Kodall a keleng mo ullebengelel
E ngera uchul me ke ulumulak e
Mochemau a nisinoho

Ultoir a uoi meringel
leng omak a ngamkechui er a
deluill e kau a diak er a rengum me
ke mo ikrak e ng me a bedengem

A kuldengei e anesang el kmo
ng diak bol ungil besuk
E a bai kuk di mlengam er a renguk e
Kede mo kiikr kau me ngak

Sel koi re kid e ochedengei
Di ua sodel a ulebok el bung
Me ng saite wa chiri yuku
Wangami wakareru

I translate this (with help again from Kenzo on the Japanese) as follows:

Sweetheart, it is taking a bit long
and I think that you no longer care for me
because you are one heartless person
as you pity the one descending into misery

When we first planned, we said that
death would perhaps be its end
and what was the reason you lied as
you faced toward the west

Love is rather difficult
when also trying to make the relationship among our relatives closer
and you are heartless as
you ignore me with your body

I ponder and am disturbed that
there is no way to improve my situation
and instead it almost just broke my heart
how we just ignored each other, you and I

That love of ours, sweetheart
just like the ending of an opened flower
it bloomed and fell to the ground
like myself, apart from my love

The story of this song, especially with all five verses, gives us some clues as to what might have been behind the lover acting like a heartless person [rasechebeab].  The singer is exasperated – having tried a balancing act of maintaining a connection with her lover while keeping everyone in her extended family (those distantly related ngamkechui) satisfied.  But while she’s working hard, he ignores her and she’s left, like the faded bloom, lying on the ground.

I have not found any other recording of this song.  It’s a good one though.

Sources:
[1] — Cisca Yalap Soaladaob’s songbook, August 2002.