Cradle Song Research Articles

Women oppressed in the daily lives and cultural practices of the akha people, Thailand: how can the situation change?

BackgroundGender equality is one of the most concerning issues globally. Females lacking equality could lead to several impacts, including health and economic impacts. Gender equality is often present in some minorities, such as the Akha hill tribe people who live in remote areas and have poor educational and economic statuses. This study aimed to understand the patterns and forms of women’s oppression through their norms and cultures.MethodsA qualitative method was used to elicit information from participants in twelve group discussions. The participants were Pha Mee and Ulau Akha people living in six selected villages along the border of Thailand and Myanmar. Twenty-two main questions were used as a guide in the discussions, which were grouped by gender and conducted by a same-gender moderator. The findings were extracted and formed according to a thematic approach.ResultsA total of 72 Akha from six villages were invited to participate in the study: 29 males and 43 females. The average age was 47.7 years, 69.4% were married, 63.8% were Buddhist, 47.2% had never attended a school, and 47.2% worked in the agricultural sector. Several forms of Akha women’s oppression were identified: oppression through daily life, religious rituals, son preference, novels and cradle songs, naming ceremonies, and work performances. Many factors acted as unorthodox patterns to relieve the oppression of Akha women: religious conversion, educational impact, exposure to people from outside villages, and social and economic roles. Oppressed Akha women moved through four layers: individual, family, community, and external culture and modernization. The combination of culture and globalization was a key factor in gender inequity through these four layers to balance the pressures to oppress and resist.ConclusionsAkha women have lived under the power of men for several years, and these men have built up common features to control women in their society. Improving gender inequity is important for moving to a better stage of health, quality of life, and social roles, which will increase the power of all people to improve their society in the future.

Поэтическая трансляция как герменевтический диалог переводчика с исходным текстом (опыт интерпретации разновременных переводов «Казачьей колыбельной песни» М.Ю. Лермонтова)

The article discusses the comparative hermeneutic analysis of the semantic-derivational worldview of the translators who render the classical poetic text in different historical periods. The relevance of the study is stipulated by the increased attention to the sociocultural determination of meaning generation within the framework of the cognitive-and-discursive paradigm that dominates in the modern community of linguists and translators. Cossack Cradle Song and its five translations into German carried out in different periods served as the practical material. The article aims to establish the features of multi-temporal Russian-German translations of the poem and the source text as a single semantic space that reflects the worldview of the author of the original text, variably explicated by different translators through the language of the target text. According to the research hypothesis, poetic translation reflects the translator's hermeneutic interaction with the original text, which generates the personal meaning of the translated text. The findings of the linguo-stylistic analysis of the Cossack Cradle Song at the semantic, meta-semiotic, and meta-metasemiotic levels, reveal that the compensation technique plays the leading role in the process of translating the poetic text studied in this article, contributing to the achievement of expressive and impressive equivalence of the original and the translation in the process of explication of invariant content-factual and content-conceptual meanings, as well as the subjective-personal determinism of translation decisions, which does not contradict the intentions implied by the author of the source text.

Blake in the Marketplace, 2022

John Windle provided an auspicious beginning for the 2022 Blake market with his February publication of catalogue 70, Present Joy. At 160 pages offering 809 items, this is the second-largest sale catalogue devoted to Blake and his circle, exceeded only by Windle’s October 2009 catalogue 46. The organization of Present Joy is unusual for its genre. The main section is arranged chronologically, with works listed by the year they were originally created, even for later reproductions. Thus, a 1955 facsimile of Songs of Innocence and of Experience appears in the subsection on Blake’s productions of 1789–​94. The catalogue includes three drawings from the smaller Blake-Varley Sketchbook, separate plates including “Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims,” print series such as the Job and Dante engravings, a large group of Blake’s commercial book illustrations, ranging from his apprentice work in Jacob Bryant’s A New System, or, an Analysis of Ancient Mythology (1774–​76) to John Varley’s Treatise on Zodiacal Physiognomy (1828), and most of the William Muir and Blake Trust/​Trianon Press facsimiles of Blake’s illuminated books. All but a few works by Blake are illustrated. Many items are recorded as “Sold,” including “Holy Thursday” from Songs of Innocence copy W and “A Cradle Song” (both plates) from Songs of Innocence copy Y, and have been listed in earlier installments of these sales reviews. In the listings below, I have included all original materials for the record.

GUJARATI LULLABIES: AN ORAL FORM IN FLOW

A lullaby is a from that defies the frame of a proper definition. The word lullaby has its root in the Sanskrit word लालन गीतम्. Most popularly it is known as a cradle song. The reasons behind this deferment are primarily two. The first is its performative functional frame which allows the singer a vent to express one’s singularity through the collective form. The second is the striking contrast between the oral and the written traditions. According to the Markandeya Purana, the queen Madalasa used to put her children to sleep at night by singing to them a lullaby. It is thought that Madalasa, one of India's most admirable and learned women, attained enlightenment. It is also believed that only her four sons, Vikranta, Subahu, Shatrumardana, and Alarka, gave up the throne and went on a spiritual journey as a direct result of her teachings. Indian mystic tradition provides a well-known Story of Madalasa when her child started to cry, rather than trying to divert him with a variety of toys or other objects, she decided to give him the truth rather than try to distract him with sweet Lullaby like- सुखानि दुःखोपशमाय भोगान् सुखाय जानाति विमूढचेताः। तान्येव दुःखानि पुनः सुखानि जानाति विद्धनविमूढचेताः॥ This truth is sung in the form of a comforting lullaby called Madalasa Upadesha, also known as Madalasa Putra Upadesha. In Gujarat, the oral tradition of lullabies has remained for long a forlorn area. The present paper is an attempt to study this form from critical point of view, for this form is not as simple as it appears. Within Gujarat, there are four categories of lullabies as far as the oral tradition is concerned. Over and above, the present paper also tries to locate the functional aspects of this form and its lucid literariness. The primary data under the inquiry are part of performative tradition and their collection was carried out through random sampling technique. It is believed that the prime function of lullaby is to make a child sleeps. However, the present paper will prove an iconoclast as it sheds light on some of the covert features of Gujarati lullabies along with its transliterated versions.

Nyanyian Buaian Pada Masyarakat Kaili Tinjauan Nilai Estetika Dan Nilai Relijius

This study aims to describe the aesthetic value and religious value in the cradle song of the Kaili tribe. In this study, several concepts and theories used are cultural theories that represent literary values. This study uses a qualitative descriptive method with a naturalistic approach. Sources of data obtained from informants in the field. Data collection techniques used include direct observation, recording, interviews, and recording. Data analysis used interactive analysis with three stages of analysis, namely data reduction, data presentation, and inference. The lyrics of the Kaili cradle song were collected and analyzed in this study, which consisted of four verses obtained from four different informants. The results showed that the value of the lyrics of the cradle song included aesthetic values, namely: The value of the beauty of language seen in the array of repetitions of sounds generated from rhyme by using the sound patterns a, e, i, o in the middle of the word and at the end of the word. Religious values explain the Oneness of Allah and the qualities of the apostle that must be brought to life in the child.

A verbális művészet ősi műfajai : Egyszerű formák és ösztönös megnyilvánulások

According to fundamental scientific principles, simple forms develop into complex ones, with the rare exception of regression. In metaphysics, however, evolution and involution are seen as being in unity, with complex forms developing into simple ones. At any rate (as far as we can see into the past), we might presume basic elementary, primary, simple, artistic, and linguistic typological forms that can be linked with basic cognitive forms. According to art theory, in the beginning there was ancient syncretism, which was dominated by undivided liquid ancient forms. Psychoanalysts and myth researchers speak of ancient language, ancient picture language. Folklorists list blessings, curses, and oaths, as well as work songs, among the primary genres. I present three basic genres as an example: cradle songs, dance words and laments. Their common characteristics are sung lyrics and speech-like melodies (parlando). Further instinctive behaviours that receive little attention include: outbursts, impulsive shouting, cursing, mumbling, sighing, pleading, and prayer, as well as sexual intercourse, giving birth, euphoric speech (under the influence of alcohol or narcotics), aphasia, and speech degraded by old age. Instinctiveness is clearly reflected by rhythmic counting or scribbling.

Gender Sensitivity of Nueva Ecija, Philippines Cradle Songs

Gender is recently becoming a significant area of research in the field of popular music studies. As most studies focus on content analyses of popular music, there is still a need to research on the content of traditional songs, particularly, that which focuses on gender sensitivity. The idea that have appeared in most literatures that music phenomena are gendered, and that these phenomena are present in the musical “messages” with its gendered qualities imposed by the listener in the process of perception were the focal points of the study. The conclusion of the research provided information about the contents of lullaby in consideration of gender sensitivity. Data collection was through personal interviews and focus group discussions with elderly citizens groups of selected Nueva Ecija municipalities. The respondents were considered based on their age and initial claims that they have sung lullabies to their children. The more important results indicated that, most of the lyrics of cradle songs of Nueva Ecija are stereotypical with messages implying that mothers are usually left at home to take care of the children and fathers go work to provide the needs of the family. The backstories of the songs are connected to farm activities, market undertakings and advices for the child to grow worthy of their parents. Some songs deal with the merits of being a good and obedient child. It appeared that the cradle songs of Nueva Ecija are not highly gender-biased because most of the lyrics pertained to a child that for the time being is yet insensitive to gender roles.

Death Cults and Dystopian Scenarios: Neo-Nazi Religion and Literature in the USA Today

In this article, I investigate the literary representation of the religious convictions and political strategy of neo-Nazi ideologues who are influential in rightwing authoritarian movements in the USA today. The reason that I do this is because in contemporary fascism, the novel has replaced the political manifesto, the military manual and proselytizing testimony, since fiction can evade censorship and avoid prosecution. I read William Luther Pierce’s Turner Diaries and Hunter together with his text on speculative metaphysics and religious belief, Cosmotheism. Then, I turn to Harold Covington’s Northwestern Quintet with The Brigade, reading this with Christian Identity and his own conception of Nazi religious tolerance. Finally, I look at OT Gunnarsson’s Hear the Cradle Song, reading this together with discussions of racism in Californian Odinism. I propose that what this literature shows is that the doctrinal differences between the three main strands of neo-Nazi religion—Cosmotheism, Christian Identity and Odinism—are less significant than their common ideological functions. These are twofold: (1) the sacralization of violence and (2) the sanctification of elites. The dystopian fictions of fascist literature present civil war scenarios whose white nationalist and genocidal outcome is the result of what are, strictly speaking, supremacist death cults.

Песни нымыланки В’алят (по материалам Комплексной экспедиции на Камчатку 1991 года)

For the first time, the paper presents the song creativity of Ekaterina Ivanovna Chechulina (Koryaks name V’alyat) - a native of the Karaginsky district of Kamchatka, bearer of the Koryak-Nymylan tradition. The research is based on the field materials of the well-known Siberian ethnomusicologist, Doctor of Arts, Yu. Sheikin, namely, on the materials of the Complex folklore and ethnographic expedition to Kamchatka in 1991. The research is carried out as a part of the preparation of the volumes of Koryak folklore in the series “Monuments of Folklore of the Peoples of Siberia and the Far East”. The author consistently examines the genres of song folklore of the Koryak-Nymylans on the example of V’alyat’s creativity: personal songs sininkin ӄuliӄul and tribal songs yanutsʔinav’ ӄuliӄul, fly-agaric songs lyllʔal ӄuliӄul, lullabies and cradle songs alulukin ӄuliӄul. The description of the song genres of Koryak-Nymylans is accompanied by samples of texts and notes, allowing us to get an idea of the lyrics and the nature of the melodies. This study made it possible to conclude that at the poetic, syllogorhythmic, and compositional levels, there are trends toward more systemic organization, while the modus and intonation components are more unstable, which is characteristic for early-song melodics (E. Alekseev). Based on the material of several songs recorded from one bearer of the tradition, the author reveals the diverse world of folk song genres of Koryak-Nymylans, interesting timbre, pitch, and rhythmic characteristics of this ancient, unique, and original cultural phenomenon.

ETHNO-PSYCHOLOGICAL ARCHETYPES: UNCHANGEABLE CODES OF THE HISTORY

The internal mechanism of mythical subjects’ self-organization resuscitates the folklore and gives life to it at any time. The folklore becomes active only in a person’s life. Particular people renew forms existing for centuries on the improvisation basis. Thus one can get rid of monotony and a tradition gets a new breath in the performance of each person as well. The tradition is kept, but expressed by a new rhythm and breath. And it shows that myths always live and go through centuries in a new improvisation. Elements of mythical thinking, as archaeological types, always become the center of the researchers’ attention. But there are still such problems in this area, so that are of scientific interest. There are issues among them that have a direct appeal to the philosophical thinking. The observation of striking similarities among myths of the world people is of this kind. These are plot similarities. Even the mythical plots of nations located in a remote geography quite far from one another contain elements and images similar to each other. In Turkish provinces everybody knows the Khizir’s Spirit as a cradle song. It is the symbol of the Holiness from its original date. Khizir- a thousand year old Turk fondles his love by the language of the lullaby and bayaties.He has made a tale of his Memory and set up a great deal of saga for himself. In this case the evaluation of mythological plots always maintains its topicality as one of the important terms.

Violin Cycle by Bohdan Shyptur with Epigraphs from Children’s Poetry of Mariika Pidhirianka

The article specifies the necessary condition to involve the national samples of pedagogical repertoire in the teaching and educational process of training violinists. The programmatic musical pieces, which are directly related to Ukraine and its nature, are particularly important. The author has chosen the cycle for the violin and piano by Bohdan Shyptur for analysis. This cycle includes four musical pieces with programmatic title and epigraphs from Children’s Poetry of Mariika Pidhirianka. Most of these excerpts are from her collection My Songs. As a poet and teacher, she focused her creative work on the Ukrainian folklore and its educational and spiritual potential. The first musical piece of the cycle V Litniu Poru In the Summer) has the features of the marching song. This genre is organically derived from the text of the epigraph. The violin and the fortepiano complement each other in performing the exalted and cheerful marching. The second piece Dzvinochky (Little Bells) includes the onomatopoeic leitmotiv, which has a semantic meaning of good wishes. In the counter instrumental parts, the composer used ingenious texture transformations and modal-tonal musical composition approximating to the folk harmonic means. The third musical piece Kolyshysia Kalynonka (Wave Snowball Tree, Wave) has a lyrical mood and resembles folk cradle songs by both in rhythm and intonation, and by modal and structural features. The final of Oy Selom, Selom (Oh, in Village, Village) is a comprehensive picture with a variety of themes – from Kolomyika tongue twisters to improvisatory recitative and thoughtful contemplation. The diatonic scale is combined with alterations and chromaticism, the dance rhythm - with song rhythm, three-part form - with variant deployment. In general, B. Shypura cycle combines typical national figurativeness peculiar to the poetry by the poet and musical lexicon inspired by them. The duo of two instruments made the beauty of the artistic word visible and enriched it with emotional and semantic nuances.

White Willow in Russian Literature: Folklore “Roots” of Image

The article deals with a complicated archetypal tree complex in Russian literature. The object chosen here is “white willow” (vetla) as one of the species of willow in its different variations - daphne willow (verba) and goat willow (rakita), and willow itself. In the 19th century Russian literature we can find the image of white willow is in V. Zhukovsky’s translated poem “The Forest Tsar”; in prose it appears in poetics of F. Dostoevsky where it is embedded in ritual mythological context. In the 20th century literature, both in poetry and in prose, white willow has also held its place. For instance, I. Bunin and M. Gorky used this image giving the tree a metaphysical meaning. S. Yesenin writes about the meaning of this tree in poetry in his treatise “The Keys of Mary” (1918) where he draws parallels with Russian folklore. The image of white willow is also live in modern poetry: it traced back to Russian literary and folklore tradition. In children's folklore (cradle songs with “scary plot”) we can see “other-worldly” nature, semantics of a tree which functions as the World Tree.

The Cradle (Lullabies) Songs in the Villages of Tirana

This study intends to represent the importance of the cradle songs (lullabies) in the Albanian folklore. The stimulus to study this topic was the importance of the expression of feelings, thoughts, values, and the bond created between a mother and her child through these songs. This is the place and the moment where is created the melody of the soul which communicates the mother’s love to her child. We would like to point out some general characteristics of these songs and their resistance towards time and social changes. The language used in the verses of the lullabies used in this study is really simple, and there are not many figures of speech in them either. In these lullabies is expressed the mother’s desire for her child to be healthy, by comparing the baby to the dove, the brave men and the heroes. During the expeditions in different villages of Tirana, we found out that the habitants had forgotten almost completely these lullabies and we were only able to find these songs in the areas of Krraba and Vaqarr. In this study we have analyzed these lullabies in order to better understand their background and to reach some conclusions too. In our days the lullabies are disappearing because no body sings them any more. The social and cultural development, and also the progress of technology caused these songs to be forgotten.

“Kalevala-sarja” Uuno Klamiego jako dzieło przełomowe fińskiego narodowego modernizmu

„The Russian Modernists such as Prokofiev and Stravinsky and new Spanish music shook me up from top to toe. ... It was around that time that I went to the Sorbonne to borrow a copy of the Kalevala” (Virtanen 1945: 613– 614). Abovementioned sentence was said by the Finnish composer Uuno Klami (1900 – 1961), who during his studies in Paris (1924 – 1925) was fascinated by the music of Igor Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel, Sergei Prokofiev and Manuel de Falla. Inspiring by achievements of Western modernists Klami wanted to break up the tendency begun by Jean Sibelius to treat Finnish epos Kalevala only in the national romantic spirit. In 1930s Klami under the impression of The Rite of Spring ’s score started composing vocal-instrumental work based on topics from Kalevala. However dur- ing working on it he changed his preliminary plans and composed a five-movement sym- phonic suite Kalevala-sarja op. 23 [Kalevala Suite]: Maan synty [The Creation of the Earth], Kevaan oras [The Sprout of Spring], Terhenniemi, Kehtolaulu Lemminkaiselle [Cradle Song for Lemminkainen], Sammon taonta [The Forging of the Sampo]. Kalevala-sarja started in Klami’s output searching for his personal voice and influenced on his further style. Nowadays the score is regarded as the most significant Finnish or- chestral compositions from the first half of the 20 th century, and very often is called The Finnish Rite of Spring. The article’s goals are: to introduce into Klami’s output, to demon- strate the genesis and inspirations of the suite Kalevala-sarja and to briefly analyse par- ticular movements of the composition in the light of European modernistic influences.

Mythological Plotsasa Self-Organizing Process

Elements of mythical thinking, as archaeological types, always become the center of the researchers’ attention. But there are still such problems in this area, so that are of scientific interest. There are issues among them that have a direct appeal to the philosophical thinking. The observation of striking similarities among myths of the world people is of this kind. These are plot similarities. Even the mythical plots of nations located in a remote geography quite far from one another contain elements and images similar to each other. The internal mechanism of mythical subjects’ self-organization resuscitates the folklore and gives life to it at any time. The folklore becomes active only in a person’s life. Particular people renew forms existing for centuries on the improvisation basis. Thus one can get rid of monotony and a tradition gets a new breath in the performance of each person as well. The tradition is kept, but expressed by a new rhythm and breath. And it shows that myths always live and go through centuries in a new improvisation. In Turkish provinces everybody knows the Khizir’s Spirit as a cradle song. It is the symbol of the Holiness from its original date. Khizir- a thousand year old Turk fondles his love by the language of the lullaby and bayaties.He has made a tale of his Memory and set up a great deal of saga for himself. In this case the evaluation of mythological plots always maintains its topicality as one of the important terms.

Creative Works of Alfred Tennyson in Russian (Not Found, Not Published and Lost)

In the last decades in Russia the interest of researchers to problems of Russian perception of Alfred Tennyson has been essentially increased. It was expressed in particular by issuing the article by A.N.Girivenko «Tennyson in Russia: The history of perception» (1993), which included the bibliography of Russian translations, the complimented bibliography prepared by L.I.Volodarskaya and printed as an appendix to the edition of a new translation of «Idylls of the King» executed by V.V.Lunin (2001); monograph by V.K.Chernin «Alfred Tennyson and Russia: From history of the international literary ties» (2009); anthologies «Alfred Tennyson in Russian translations of XIX – early XX century» (2014) carried out by D.N.Zhatkin and V.K.Chernin. It gives the complete overview of nowadays Russian translations and transpositions of Alfred Tennyson. At the same time it is necessary to confess that only the Russian translational reception of Alfred Tennyson’s works done in the period previous to 1917 have been comprehended at a worthy scientific level, whereas the Russian translations of subsequent time and literary-critical problems of perception of texts of the English Poet Laureate in Russia, the tradition of his creativity in works of Russian writers have not been practically studied. «The Russian theme» which is traditionally considered as the reflection of poet’s ideological and political views in his poems devoted to actual events of the international life (Russian suppression of the Polish revolt in 1830-1831, the Crimean war of 1853-1856, etc.) has been comprehended in a one-sided manner, whereas the meetings of Tennyson with Russian writers that are also of great interest, require ordering the facts of his acquaintance with their works. In this article there named the Russian translations of Tennyson that remain not found («Enoch Arden» by I.A.Bunin, some translations by S.M.Gorodetsky, N.S.Tikhonov, etc.), not printed (translations by E.S.Kudasheva, I.G.Shumsky, etc.) or forgotten («Dead Soldier» by English scientist-polyglot Donald MacAlister, the publication of translation of «Cradle Song» by L.N.Martynov («The Wind of these coasts…»), carried out in Omsk in the middle of 1940th, etc.). As response in original works of Russian writers to the image of Lady Godiva from Tennyson’s poem of the same name there can be traditionally mentioned the poem by O.E.Mandelstam «With the majestic world I was only childishly connected…» (1931). The image has drawn attention of not only O.E.Mandelstam but of I.Severyanin, D.D.Burlyuk, I.A.Aksenov, A.S.Grin, and G.M.Shergova as well, and this fact allows to say that Tennyson’s tradition has not been studied in the Russian literature yet. There has also been examined the possible influence of «In Memoriam» by Tennyson on creative works of such Russian writers as N.M.Minsky, A.A.Akhmatova, V.A.Merkurieva. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s4p228

Klâsik Türk Şiirinde Kadın Söyleminin İzinde: Şeref Hanım Dîvânı’nda Ninniler

Cradle-songs that are known as a kind of folk song sung by mothers melodiously to silence and make sleep their babies are the most valuable products of the woman literature as the creators are women. Woman, who expresses wishes and dreams for the baby in the lap or in the cradle in a form of her most sincere emotions attached by motherhood to her, would find the opportunity in this way to share her distresses and troubles with her baby. Cradle songs that are considered as included among products of anonymous folk literature and sorted accordingly have been sung gently by the female poets particularly in the classical Turkish Literature and been written up by containing wishes and advices in general. In this study, the projection of woman discourse under guidance of cradle songs sung by Seref Hanim will be identified and evaluated in the classical Turkish Literature where the love is expressed with pre-determined stereotype and poetic themes and where a male-mouth discourse is dominate.

Knots in the Nursery: (Cats) Cradle Song of James Clerk Maxwell

Knots in the Nursery: (Cats) Cradle Song of James Clerk Maxwell

Children's oral poetry: A reflection on the role of Imilolozelo (lullabies) as Art Performance in Zulu

Imilolozelo (lullabies) form part of Zulu children's poetry that is probably the most ancient form of African children's literature. It includes the poetry and folksongs of societies whose literature was transmitted orally. Like all folklore, children's oral poetry is an art performance and tradition transmitted from one's forefathers. Children's oral poetry is characterised by song, repetition, physical actions and gestures. The performance nature of imilolozelo can be likened to an informal school where, from infancy, a child slowly discovers her/his world and some aspects of all that is in it. On remarking about oral performance Okpewho points out that ‘There must be a certain appeal in not what the performer is saying but in the way it is said.. much of the appeal lies in the quality of the voice used and the skill with which the speaker manipulates the tones of the words involved.’ Zulu traditional oral poetry, like all African poetry, was not composed to be read silently or aloud; instead, it was always meant to be heard by the ear and its actions perceived and appreciated with the eyes. The oral element focuses on performance and sound whereas the written form is text-centred. The performance of imilolozelo or ‘cradle songs’, as Weinberg calls them, was intended not only to entertain children or while away time. They were composed also to teach and bring people together. The aim of this paper is to show that in ancient Zulu societies, the performance of imilolozelo as an oral art form was not only used to lull a child to sleep but it also also had other important roles to play in the upbringing, socialisation and development of a child.

Cradle songs of Avatime women (Ghana)

The Avatime child is born into an atmosphere charged with belief in myths, legends and tradition. Cradle song performances are part of the enculturation process through which babies are introduced to music and linguistic behaviour. The songs are mostly performed by women for personal and social reasons. Traditionally, most of the songs are acquired aurally from older relatives. Analyses of selected song texts reveal the joy of childbearing, admiration for babies, female concerns and social commentary, making cradle songs transcend trivialities, and promote musical values and customs.