Cuab Fab (Jao Fah) Theme song
Posted on 19 May 2009
I was suppose to translate this song back when I watched the movie “Jao Fah” but I kept pushing it back and so I finally decided to go ahead and do a translation of the song. There are a few words that I couldn’t understand or it might have been used in a term that I am not sure of, so there are a line or two that may be slightly off.
I truly love the meaning of this song. It almost brought me into tears listening to this song. It was well written and the words and meaning of the song is very strong. If you are a Hmong and knows the history and what is going on right now with the Genocide, you’ll be touch by this song. It was written for the movie “Jao Fah” which was one of the top Hmong Action Movie I had seen, the movie is based on the Hmong Genocide that is happening in the Jungles of Laos.
There are a lot of clips on youtube about the Hmong Genocide, and to be honest, I was never able to watch it, it was too hurtful for my eyes, but after I saw the movie “Jao Fah” I forced myself to watch those video and documentary and it brought me into tears.
Thanks to Sara of HMB for the Hmong lyrics.
Title: Caub Fab (I believe that’s the title of the song, but it’s the theme song to the movie Jao Fah/ Caub Fab)
Singer: Txhaj Hawj (Cha Her) (I am not too sure who the singer is, but from hearing Txhaj’s album, it sounds like it is his voice and he is the main character in the movie)
I’ll translate a song from his album when I get the lyrics from Sara. Ahaha
hm….hm hm…hm hm…
humm..humm..hum.. hum…
peb lub npe hmoob yog leej twg muab
Our name Hmong, who has it
cas hmoog quaj ntsuag ho tsis los pab
Why do Hmong cry without help
hmoob tuag puv hav ntshav ntws ua dej
Hmong dies throughout the mountains, their blood flows like water
cas neeg ntiaj teb thiaj ntsia tsis pom
Why doesn’t the world see
hmoob puas yog neeg cas tsis muaj av
Are Hmong humans, why do they not have a land
ho raug nyab laj nplog liab raws tua
Why are they prosecuted by the communist
raug luag quab yuam ua dev ua npua
Forced and raped
ntiaj teb puas muaj txoj kev ncaj ncees
Does the world have fairness
[chorus]
ho…..! tiam neej no ntshe yuav tuag tsis qi muag
Ohhh.. this lifetime, they’ll cry/die (honestly I am not too sure which one he used) without closing their eyes
cas yuav yug txhaum los ua hmoob
Why were they cursed to be born as Hmong
yuav tsis zoo xws li luag
They’ll never be like other
vim yog ntiaj teb lub siab tsis ncaj
Because the world isn’t fair
lub ntuj tsis pab lub teb tsis pom
The heavens wont help, the world won’t protect
hmoob raug luag txov thiaj khiav thoob ntuj
Hmong are prosecuted therefore they fled around the world
tsis muaj twg hlub thiaj nyob pem roob
No one to love so they live in the mountains
nkaum hav zoov ua niag caub fab
Hiding in the forest as a caub fab
[instrumental]
ua neeg nyob tsis muaj leej twg yuav xav txom nyem
Living in this world, no one wants to be unfortunate
thiab xav noj pob cos hlo nrog nplooj hmab nplooj ntoos
So they eat roots, they eat vines and plants
pws qab zeb qab ca zoo li no
Sleep under rocks and caves like this
thiab tsis vim yog peb tsis tau
It is because we do not have
txoj kev ncaj ncees ntawm peb txoj sia hmoob
The fairness under our Hmong name
peb txhob muab txoj sia nyob txog txij li koj
Let’s not waste our life away
tsis xav tuag hnub no thiaj li khiav nkaum hav zoov
We do not want to die today, so we hide in the forest
hnub no peb tua tuag tag thov mus pab cawm peb txoj sia
Today we are all dying, so please save our lives
hm….hm hm…hm hm…
Humm..hummm. humm..
4 responses to Cuab Fab (Jao Fah) Theme song
Can you please send me this song?
THANKS!
[...] I’ll do a translation of this song when I get my friend to write the Hmong lyrics for me Cha her sang this song I believe. It’s his voice. [...]
I don’t know If I said it already but …This blog rocks! I gotta say, that I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say I’m glad I found your blog. Thanks,
A definite great read….
THanks for the motivation! I will work hard on making this an even better blog. If you have any request for me to work on, please feel free to, if I am able to, I will do my best at it!!