Kåntan Chamoru: Atkahót

Last Saturday our evening practice group finished the 36th and final song from our current “season” of content, which focused entirely on songs from Daniel De Leon Guerrero. We’ve been making our way through this list of songs since April or May of 2024, and so it was a huge accomplishment to finish all the songs. I’ve personally felt how much my listening comprehension has improved from these evening practice groups, and we’ve also seen progress with those who’ve stayed with our group over the years. This song also took us longer than usual to transcribe, and we are so grateful to everyone who attended last Saturday and to those who were able to stick with us to the very end. In agradesi hamyu 🙂

Now that we’ve finished this list, we are already preparing a new round of songs for our evening group. Jay has landed on a focus that I appreciate, and we can’t wait to get started on transcribing them together.

In this post, here is that final song, called Atkahót by Daniel De Leon Guerrero. It’s actually a cover of a country song by Brad Paisley, which shows both the destructive and tragic nature of alcohol abuse. As always, this post includes Chamorro lyrics and an English translation. Happy listening!

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Kåntan Chamoru: Unu Ha’ na Låta

This lighthearted song tells the story of a work break gone wrong. The singer tells of a hot day, when he and his co-workers sit under the coconut tree to barbecue and crack open a few beers—but by the end, all the beer is gone, and so is his job! Our Saturday evening practice group transcribed this one back in early July. Now, with only one song left in our current “season,” Jay is already refreshing the list for the next round.

As always, this post includes the Chamorro lyrics and an English translation for Unu Ha’ na Låta by Daniel De Leon Guerrero. Happy listening!

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Kåntan Chamoru: Nånan-måmi

In early August, Jay and I traveled to O’ahu to celebrate my Aunty Lupe’s 90th birthday with family. My prima Torrey—Aunty Lupe’s granddaughter—wanted to honor her with a Chamorro song for this incredible milestone. She chose Nånan-måmi, a beloved tribute to Chamorro mothers and matriarchs. The day before the party we practiced together, and the next day we performed it as a sing-along.

Afterward, Aunty Lupe told us how special it was—no one had ever done anything like that for her before. Even my Aunty Faye, who used to teach Chamorro at UH Mānoa, hugged me and said how wonderful it was that we sang this song (she said it was even better than Happy Birthday!).

If you’re looking for a meaningful song to celebrate a mother or matriarch in your life, this is a wonderful choice. It’s well-known, beginner-friendly, and with a little pronunciation practice, even beginners can sing it beautifully. (My prima isn’t yet conversational in Chamorro, but she did an amazing job with the phrases and sounds!)

As always, you’ll find the Chamorro lyrics, language notes and an English translation for the song “Nånan-måmi”. Happy listening!

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Kåntan Chamoru: Some Beach

This past Saturday I got to pick the song we transcribed during Praktikan Pupuengi, so I chose this cover of an English song by the same name. I actually prefer this version in Chamorro to the original English song because I think the wordplay is more fun. There was definitely a lot of laughter with this one during our praktika, so I hope you enjoy it too. In this post you’ll find the Chamorro lyrics and an English translation for “Some Beach” by Daniel De Leon Guerrero. Happy listening!

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Kåntan Chamoru: Gurupun Mangga’chong

Our Saturday evening practice group is continuing through our list of Daniel De Leon Guerrero songs, and we picked this fun song, where he sings a story about his two friend groups and each of his buddies in the two groups. As always, we are sharing full lyrics and more below: Chamorro lyrics, an English translation, and translation notes for I Gurupon Mangga’chong by Daniel De Leon Guerrero. Happy listening!

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