Song lyrics from the Avatar soundtrack

Started by Payoang, December 21, 2009, 04:35:15 PM

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Payoang

I have a proposal. All lyrics on the soundtrack (aside from Leona Lewis's I See You) are in Na'vi. Wouldn't it be nice to have them written out?

For example, Jake's First Flight is probably the prettiest song on the soundtrack, rivaled only by Scorched Earth and War, and well, all lyrics websites report it to be an instrumental song. Lazy non-Na'vi-literate folks. But we know better! Right?

Fortuna

Ooh, that would be awesome!  It's hard for me to pick up on exact sounds by ear, but I'll try my best to get them all down!

HawkPidgeon

It would be great to be able to sing along with the score :D

I will try to pick some stuff out when I can
Fìtsenge lu Eywayä kelku, sì fìtsenge lor lu. | Oel oeti kameie fa ngeyä menari.

Seniver

Anyone who can get the lyrics down is my hero! Would be a useful learning resource too, for translating exercises, etc. I'd love to be able to sing along to 'Jake's First Flight', what an amazing piece of music.

Payoang

I haven't had the soundtrack on loop for the past 3 days. Really.

Meta-lyrics for Jake's First Flight. Romanticized phonetics, at the very most:

ta ka tih nu pe
ti nu ka lu peh
ti nu ka lu peh
ka
ti nu ka lu ka lu teh tah
ta ma ke nu
tah teh tih
kah te tih mih lee
(hai-weh!)


(huu-wah!)


(huu-wah!)


ta ka tih tuh
meh
ma na teh teh
eh suuhhhh~

tah tah tih
mata tih
tate tah-ha-la
le tah te ti
a ka neh tah! (?)

tena kun...

HawkPidgeon

We could always just ask James Horner (or rather his agents, since that's the only way to contact him) what the lyrics are.

...Of course, that wouldn't be as fun. :P
Fìtsenge lu Eywayä kelku, sì fìtsenge lor lu. | Oel oeti kameie fa ngeyä menari.

Seze

I don't have a copy of the Avatar Field Guide, but I remember leafing through it at the bookstore and they had a song or two listed in it.  Might be something to look into...


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EPILEFMAN

That is such a nice song, love to know the words!

EPILEFMAN

ta ka tih nu pe- from across (something i don't know) what

and: Hu- Wah- With (something i don't know)

i'm a great help....

Nìngay sìltsan pamtseo!

Payoang

So, I got in contact with the James Horner's agency, asking for the release of lyrics. No-go, as expected: they advised me to get in touch with 20th Century Fox regarding publication of such classified materials...

I also sent an email to Wanda Bryant (ethnomusicologist who helped develop the musical background for the Na'vi culture, and undoubtedly had her hand in songlyric creation), who politely responded to a few queries about her involvement.


QuoteSome elements of the musical and cultural life on Pandora are chronicled in the book "James Cameron's Avatar: An Activist Survival Guide" by Maria Wilhelm and Dirk Mathison. I contributed 10 entries to the book, on the Na'vi music and instruments. I think it's a pretty cool book!

I am currently writing a paper to be presented at the Society for Ethnomusicology annual meeting next fall. I prefer not to discuss the concepts that James and I created for Avatar prior to the release of that paper.

There will be information on the upcoming DVD — look for the Special Features DVD. Both the linguist and I will be speaking on our respective topics.

Sorry folks, dead end for lyrics - for the time being.

Txur’Itan

Quote from: Seabass on December 21, 2009, 04:35:15 PM
I have a proposal. All lyrics on the soundtrack (aside from Leona Lewis's I See You) are in Na'vi. Wouldn't it be nice to have them written out?

For example, Jake's First Flight is probably the prettiest song on the soundtrack, rivaled only by Scorched Earth and War, and well, all lyrics websites report it to be an instrumental song. Lazy non-Na'vi-literate folks. But we know better! Right?


Sticky them when we get em.
私は太った男だ。


hiyìk tutean

Quote from: Seabass on December 23, 2009, 03:47:43 PM
So, I got in contact with the James Horner's agency, asking for the release of lyrics. No-go, as expected: they advised me to get in touch with 20th Century Fox regarding publication of such classified materials...

I also sent an email to Wanda Bryant (ethnomusicologist who helped develop the musical background for the Na'vi culture, and undoubtedly had her hand in songlyric creation), who politely responded to a few queries about her involvement.


QuoteSome elements of the musical and cultural life on Pandora are chronicled in the book "James Cameron's Avatar: An Activist Survival Guide" by Maria Wilhelm and Dirk Mathison. I contributed 10 entries to the book, on the Na'vi music and instruments. I think it's a pretty cool book!

I am currently writing a paper to be presented at the Society for Ethnomusicology annual meeting next fall. I prefer not to discuss the concepts that James and I created for Avatar prior to the release of that paper.

There will be information on the upcoming DVD — look for the Special Features DVD. Both the linguist and I will be speaking on our respective topics.

Sorry folks, dead end for lyrics - for the time being.


So... I'll be buying that book, but I'm interested in this paper. Do you have any info? Is it going to be published, or just presented? (I know these are questions that, likely, only she would know. Sorry if I'm being pushy.) Can give out her e-mail, or would that be asking too much?

Payoang

She said she would not respond to any specific questions until the release of her paper. She did, however, describe some of her involvement in the Survival Guide.

And I respect her privacy enough that I already felt bad tracing down her email just to get an answer. We'll have to be patient for a bit.

hiyìk tutean

Ah. Yeah, sorry. I realize now just how... pushy that sounded...

I'll keep my eyes up for that paper come this fall, though, and send a link over this way when the time comes!

Prrntxe

Quote from: hiyìk tutean on December 26, 2009, 10:24:31 PM
Ah. Yeah, sorry. I realize now just how... pushy that sounded...

I'll keep my eyes up for that paper come this fall, though, and send a link over this way when the time comes!

2010 Annual Meeting (55th): Los Angeles, California. November 11-14, 2010.
Host Institution: University of California, Los Angeles.

The countdown begins...
Oeri Loräkx lu. Fpi ayutral plltxe oe.

Payoang


kawenaveg

helloo fellow na'vi lovers :)

so, i watched the movie at least five times since it came out a few weeks ago, i love it so much. the na'vi are pretty much the BOMB, the people, the culture, the language is really interesting.

considering lyrics, i wanted to know if anyone knew the lyrics and the translation of the song the omaticaya peole sing at the tree of souls, after Hometree was destroyed. depressing and haunting and amazing song, all at the same time.

Numeyu

I'm not sure if this is the right thread for this, but I noticed something while listening to "The Destruction of Hometree" the other day. At about 2:47, I hear what sounds like "kxangangang". In the movie, this can be heard right before a large amount of missiles are fired at Kelutrel. Does anyone else hear this?
Kaltxì frapo!  Oel Na'viti nerumeie.  Oeyä Na'vi kesìltsan längu slä fratrr fteria.

Atoki Atanyä

Quote from: Seabass on December 28, 2009, 03:58:04 AM
11 months is a long time...

Every cloud has a silver lining, and the silver lining here is that we know Paul Frommer will be talking on the DVD, hopefully with some sort of learning guide or insight into speaking the language.

Atoki's Guide to Learning Na'vi: Part One is Here!

Atoki Atanyä

Quote from: Seabass on December 21, 2009, 04:43:20 PM
I haven't had the soundtrack on loop for the past 3 days. Really.

Meta-lyrics for Jake's First Flight. Romanticized phonetics, at the very most:

ta ka tih nu pe
ti nu ka lu peh
ti nu ka lu peh
ka
ti nu ka lu ka lu teh tah
ta ma ke nu
tah teh tih
kah te tih mih lee
(hai-weh!)


(huu-wah!)


(huu-wah!)


ta ka tih tuh
meh
ma na teh teh
eh suuhhhh~

tah tah tih
mata tih
tate tah-ha-la
le tah te ti
a ka neh ti tah! (?)

tena kun...


This translation is being based purely off of the transcript of sounds provided by Seabass, and my own hearing. It's a little rough round the edges, so wintxu txoa :P
(ti is an accusative form for nouns according to the dictionary)
from across  (here I believe it is the word nume, meaning learn. It fits more with the idea of the song)
across (i here think it is new - want, kar - teach, lu - to be, exist, and then pey, what)
across (i here think it is new - want, kar - teach, lu - to be, exist, and then pey, what)
across
across want teach to be teach to be (tei ta? - from the plains?)
from (ma) not want
from the plains-ti
go from the plains in (unsure, again the wording seems strange)

(Chants - i'm guessing just chants, with no specific meaning, i cannot find any similar sounding words)

from across, a person
(dual + vocative marker?)
like (part used in full names) (part used in full names)
(could be sutx, meaning track, but the word is held for so long it is unclear)

from from (noun deriving affix)
(vocative marker)from (noun deriving affix)
from the plains from in that case otherness
(adjective deriving affix) from the plains (accusative f for nouns)
which across towards (noun deriving affix) from

from towards (could not find a rough translate word for kun)

when made into a sensible English translate, i reckon it would sound something like this:

From across, you learn
from across, we teach you to be
from across, we teach you to be
from across
from across you want to be taught, want to be taught to be from the plains
from
from the plains
To come from the plains

A person from away
you track (learn)
from, from
from
from the plains and lose your otherness
from the plains
which you came towards from away

came towards from (blank - no idea what kun would be)

This is purely my speculative opinion, and could be completely wrong. Considering im a beginner, it probably is, but i thought it might serve as a jump start to this initiative :D

Kiyavame, si Eywa ngaru.

Atoki.



Atoki's Guide to Learning Na'vi: Part One is Here!