Voice 1: Bantwana bam bantwana bam, i-yo
Voice 2: Hayi iyo, hayi iyo hayi sho sho
Voice 1: Ndinovalo, ndinovalo i-yo
Voice 2: Hayi iyo, hayi iyo hayi sho sho.

This is one of sixty children's songs in isiXhosa, isiZulu, English and Afrikaans (with one song in Sesotho) in a book called 'Songs Sung by South African Children' (1990, 1992 and 2002) published by Grassroots Adult Education and Training Trust. Liz Brouckaert, the researcher, was commissioned to source and document local songs and make them accessible to teachers who were not specialist music educators. She looked for songs that children preferred to sing. What emerged time and again was that children really like singing about taboo subjects. She collected the songs mainly in Cape Town over a period of 18 months, and then worked with friends to make audio recordings of the songs.

© Grassroots Adult Education and Training Centre, 2002 Text: Liz Brouckaert Design and illustration: Kobie Swart Music notation: Alvin Petersen and Liz Brouckaert Translators: Rodney Adonis, Sandile Dikeni and Vukile Handula To listen to the song click here: {{Bantwana_Bam.mp3}}.