International Lullabies

[DaddyJ]

I have recently started singing to our dd at bedtime
and she seems to appreciate it despite my supremely untrained voice.

So far I mostly sing to her in German. These are two of my favourites:
Weisst Du wieviel Sternlein stehen
Guten Abend Gut Nacht

Before I posted I did some googling and found a gorgeous Spanish one which demands to be memorised:
A La Nanita Nana

Would you lovely Mumsnetters mind posting your personal favourites, please?
Italian, French, Russian, Arabic, Japanese, all languages welcome!

www.hrmusic.com/artists/axis.html Lullabies from the Axis of Evil is funny]],
The sound files at the bottom of the page might be useful.

Just did a search on MN to see if this topic has been exhausted already but could only find two short threads..

There must be someone else who sings to their kids, non?

You haven't asked for dutch, but this is a famous flemish lullaby:

Slaap kindje slaap,

daar buiten loopt een schaap,

een schaap met witte voetjes

die drinkt zijn melk zo zoetjes,

Slaap kindje slaap daar buiten loopt een schaap.

That sounds like the German Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf- is it the same tune?

I sang lots in Swedish (and in English) to the little corydoras - but haven't got the technological knowhow to download youtubes.

Dutch is fine! Thanks for the suggestion!

I tried to find a sung version of it on Youtube
but no luck so far (well, this was amusing..)

It's called 'Slaap kindje slaap' right?

Swedish! Excellent!!

Just tell me the title or a few lines from the song itself,
I do the googling/youtubing

This will do.
I will try it tonight, thanks!

Here's one in French. Don't like it personally:

Fais dodo Colas mon petit frère
Fais dodo, tu auras du lolo
Maman est en haut, qui fait du gateau
Papa est en bas, qui fait du chocolat

C'est pas mal, could grow on me, thanks Otherside!

I always have trouble finding the correct tunes to flemish nursery rhymes - dh can tell me the words but he's hopeless at singing!

It's a sweet lullaby, belgo, seems to be really popular on youtube.

I suppose I am not just looking for traditional lullabies
but anything that can be sung at bedtime.

Say this German song is about planes but I sing it to dd
as it's nice and soothing.
Same goes for Over the Rainbow (though of course that's in English).

Any other suggestions?
E.g. any suitable chansons, Otherside?

There's 'do l'enfant do' but I don't know the words.

"Meunier tu dors, ton moulin va trop fort"

but it isn't really a lullaby

I used to sing DS to sleep but in English. Now we tend to sing rowdy and action songs to use up energy.

on the baby tv website they have a player and in it they have a songs section with tons of songs

there is also a list of the songs in their program pages, there are many international ones

Slaap kindtje slaap, it's not normally that slow though. DP usually substitutes schaap for aap.

Ba ba black sheep in dutch

Actually a sintaklaas song but makes a nice lullaby.

In fact, there's a massive list of Dutch childrens' songs.

dejavous - can you find a link for Rood kapje waar ga je heen?

Roodkapje waar ga je heen? Lyrics printed rather than sung though...

thanks dejavous. I just can't seem to find the tune anywhere. The other link is very useful.

Oh no, it is the tune, with printed lyrics IYSWIM.

lol Califra, I bought dd something similar,
song book that plays the tune as well, really good purchase.
German lullabies are pretty impactful, I do agree.

Slaap kindje slaap is a winner, thanks very much DJV and belgo!

Otherside, I am checking out your suggestions:
do do l'enfant do

I need to get the right plug-ins for baby TV, thanks though girlsaa.

thanks dajavous! I've just listened to it, and it sounds far better then dh's off key version (sorry dh)

I sing my baby daughter "une petite coccinelle" and "il etait un petit navire" (sorry - don't know how to do accents on this keyboard!) Both very relaxing.

She also responds well (ie shuts her eyes and goes to sleep!) to Edith Piaf's "la vie en rose"; the chorus (never bothered to learn the verses!) to Charles Trenet's "que reste-t-il de nos amours"; Joe dassin's "l'equipe a Jojo"; Maxime Leforestier's "La rouille" (not too cheery, but sounds nice!); and, for maximum chesse, Sacha Distel's "Oui, devant Dieu".

When she's awake we go absolutely wild to Cloclo and Richard Anthony mais c'est une autre histoire ...

A Welsh one for you:

Cysga di fy mhlentyn tlws
Cysga di fy mhlentyn tlws
Cysga di fy mhlentyn tlws
Cei gysgu tan y bore
Cei gysgu tan y bore

etc. etc. full lyrics on link below with English translation

www.gwenangibbard.com/english/gwenith9e-cysga.html