Dioula Lullaby
Dioula Lullaby Lyrics. An original lullaby inspired by the Dioula people of northern Ivory Coast, a Mandé-speaking trading community whose language serves as a regional lingua franca. Dioula traders historically formed one of West Africa’s most important commercial networks, carrying goods, and often Islam alongside them, across vast distances of the Sahel for centuries, and their language remains closely related to Bambara and Malinke, part of the wider Manding language family spoken across much of the region. Here you will find the lyrics, meaning, and chords.
Lyrics & chords
An original arrangement, with guitar & piano chords above each line.
Verse
What the words mean
Chords — guitar & piano
What “Dioula Lullaby” Means
The Dioula are a Mandé-speaking trading community of northern Ivory Coast, whose language has long served as a regional lingua franca along West African trade routes. This original lullaby draws on those market and savanna images of Dioula life.
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- An original lullaby by Relax In No Time, inspired by the musical traditions of its region. The words, melody, arrangement and recording are ours.
- Recording and arrangement: real instruments played by hand, no AI music, by Relax In No Time.
- Chords: written by us for guitar and piano.
- Translation: our own meaning-for-meaning translation, written for understanding. The sung words stay in the original language.
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