Isabella Terrell 2/27/18

Madrigals Mod 1B
“Baba Yetu”

“Baba Yetu” was written by Christopher Tin and performed by Ron Ragin. Christopher
Tin was born to immigrant parents from Hong Kong in northern California. Tin was deeply
influenced by Jazz and musical theatre. He took honors classes and graduated at the top of his
class. He became a two time winning composer of media music and concert.

The english translation for “Baba Yetu” means “Our Father.” The lyrics to this song is a
Swahili-language translation of the Lord’s prayer. “Baba Yetu” is the theme song for Civilization
IV, a video game that came out in 2005. The song “Baba Yetu” was the first video game theme
song to be nominated for a grammy award.

I enjoy singing this song because pronouncing the lyrics give us a challenge. Another
reason why I enjoy performing this song is because it is the Lord’s Prayer in a different language.
I know the Lord’s Prayer in english and when I researched the song, it came to my surprise that
we were singing Lord’s Prayer in the Swahili language. The music is very upbeat and makes the
song catchy.