Acholi and Lingala: Makambo

So on my birthday we watched a movie, I shazammed the soundtrack, and found it was Makambo, by Geoffrey Oryema. I looked up the lyrics and found them on Rockol. I give those below, on the left, with my amendations from comparing with the video on the right.

O na ma kanguwe O na ma kanguwe O na ma kanguwe Ni na ma kanguwe U lu pa la ki lé ba tu li ba lu kuwa Lu kuwa Lu kuwa u lu we (we) Lu kuwa u lu we (we) O na ma kanguwe Hié ééé Ni na ma kanguwe (ééé) O na ma kanguwe Hié ééé Ni na ma kanguwe U lu pa la ki lé ba tu li ba (Lu kuwa) x 21 O na ma kanguwe Ni na ma kanguwe Zandi zanbi ba lé koé Ni na ma kanguwe iééé O na ma kanguwe U lu pa la ki lé ba tu li ba lu kuwa Lu kuwaaa Lu kuwa u lu we (we) Lu kuwa u lu we (we) O na ma kanguwe Ni na ma kanguwe (ééé) U lu pa la ki lé u lu pa lu kuwa U lu pa la ki lé ba tu li ba lu kuwa Lu kuwaaa Lu kuwa u lu we (we) (Lu kuwa) x 21 O na ma kanguweééé Ni na ma kanguweééé O na ma kanguwe Ni na motena U lu pa la ki lé u lu pa lu kuwa Lu kuwa Lu kuwaaa Lu kuwaaaaa uenluwe O na ma kanguweééé Zandi zanbi ba lé koé Dé kambo la motene Ni na motema U lu pa la ki lé u lu pa lu kuwa Ni na ma kanguwe

O na ma kanguwe O na ma kanguwe O na ma kanguwe Ngai na ma kanguwe U lu pa ra ki lé ba tu li ba lu kuwa Lu kuwa Lu kuwa u lu we (u lu we) Lu kuwa u lu we (u lu we) O na ma kanguwe Hié éé éé Ngai na ma kanguwe (hié ééé) O na ma kanguwe Hié éé éé éé Ngai na ma kanguwe U lu pa ra ki lé ba tu li ba (Lu kuwa) x 22 O na ma kanguwe Ngai na ma kanguwe Zongi sogi ba lé koé Ngai na ma kanguwe iééé O na ma kanguwe U lu pa ra ki lé ba tu li ba lu kuwa Lu kuwaaa Lu kuwa u lu we (u lu we) Lu kuwa u lu we (u lu we) O na ma kanguwe Ngai na ma kanguweeee Ngai na ma kanguweeee U lu pa ra ki lé ba tu li ba lu kuwa Lu kuwa Lu kuwa u lu we (u lu we) (we) (Lu kuwa) x 18 O na ma kanguweééé Ngai na ma kanguweééé O na ma kanguwe Ngai na motena U lu pa ra ki lé u lu pa lu kuwa Lu kuwaaaa Lu kuwaaaaa u lu we (u lu we) O na ma kanguweééé Zongi sogi ba lé koé Dé kambo la motenaaa Ngai na motema U lu pa ra ki lé ba tu li ba lu kuwa O na ma kanguwe

I then looked the song up on lyricstranslate, hoping to find a translation and a language label. I ended up here, where I found the following lyrics labelled as French:

kan gu we
na ma kan gu we
u lu pa la ki le
ba tu li ba lu ku wa

Naturally, I was like, "Are you kidding me?". I looked at Wikipedia, and the guy seems to have sung in English, Swahili, and Acholi, and since this was none of the first two, it had to be Acholi. So I said so in the incorrect lyrics forum, giving the above amendation of the Rockol lyrics, and within a day the thing was corrected. Apparently they don't have a label for Acholi.
For some reason, some sites (like Genius) give the following lyrics for this:

Ngibathe Ngicelu Xolo
Ngatholi nzondo
Ngibathe Ngecelu thando ma, ah oh
Yiningathi yini ngomhlaba
Yini Singa Funu Zwano? ah oh
Ngibathe Ngicelu Xolo
Ngatholi nzondo, ah oh
Washu mathambo espoki wathi
Africa, Umhlaba ubolile
Abantu bane nkohla kalo
Umhlaba ubolile
Umhlaba unengozi
Sudan, Rwanda, Angola, Malawi, Liberia, Zaire
Stop the killing
Phansingo dlame
South Africa: war is never good
Phansingo dlame
So why?
So why?
So why?
Africa, Africa will sing - so why?
The sun in your heart is your smile - so why?
Wozani bizanu tula - So why?

This is of course completely wrong, and these are a badly spelled version of part of this song, specifically the first Zulu part and other random parts in Zulu and English. I'll probably get back to that song in another post.
Much later, in the evening of 21/4/21, I posed the problem to Quoran Kelechi Wachuku, who provided the following Acholi spelling and translation, and an alleged Lingala translation which seems to be a very loose version of the above incorrect lyrics:

Lutuwa wun wuwek lweny Wun wupara ki leb Acoli ba lutuwa Wun wupara ki leb Munu ba lutuwa Lutuwa lutuwa lutuwa

My people stop fighting You worried about me in Acholi language You worried about me in using the white man's My people, my people my people      [(munu) language (leb) I've been asking for Peace But all I got was war I've been looking for love But I didn't find togetherness What is wrong with the world? What is wrong with the people? Why don't we want peace?

Trying to back-translate that alleged Lingala translation results in nothing:

Can’t figure out anything. The Lingala lines should be:

O na ma kanguwe
Zongi sogi ba lé koé
Dé kambo la motenaaa

“motema” is a Lingala word meaning “strength of character”. “Zongisa” means “to go back, to return”. “Makambo” means “problems”. “War” is “etumba”. “World” is either “mokili” or “molongo”. “Peace” is “boboto” / “bosembo” / “kimia”. Love is bolingi/bolingo/lolango/makango/likango. But makango is actually “lover”. “To search” = “koluka”, “to seek” (or “ask for”) = “kosenga”. I think this Lingala translation is BS.

With that, here is my tentative respelling of the lyrics, where some of the w's of the Acholi spelling became u's because they are drawn out or gained accents to mean they are not heard in the video:

O na makambo ee
O na makambo ee
O na makambo ee
Ngai na makambo ee

Ẃun ẃupara ki leb Acoli
Ba lutuwa!
Lutuwa!
Lutuwa, ẃun ẃuwek lueny!
Lutuwa, ẃun ẃuwek lueny!

O na makambo ee
Hié éé éé
Ngai na makambo ee (hié ééé)
O na makambo ee
Hié éé éé éé
Ngai na makambo ee

Ẃun ẃupara ki leb Acoli
Ba lutuwa!
Lutuwa! x 22 (or 16 + 5)

O na makambo ee
Ngai na makambo ee
Songisongi(?) bandeko ee
Ngai na makambo iééé
O na makambo ee

Ẃun ẃupara ki leb Acoli
Ba lutuwa!
Lutuwaaa!
Lutuwa, ẃun ẃuwek lueny!
Lutuwa, ẃun ẃuwek lueny!

O na makambo ee
Ngai na makambo ee ee ee
O na makambo ee

Ẃun ẃupara ki leb Acoli
Ba lutuwa!
Lutuwa!
Lutuwa, ẃun ẃuwek lueny!
Hié éé éé
Lutuwa! x 18

O na makambo ee
Ngai na makambo ee ee ee
O na makambo ee
Ngai na motema

Ẃun ẃupara ki leb Munu
Ba lutuwa!
Lutuwaaaa!
Lutuwaaaa, ẃun ẃuwek lueny!

O na makambo ee
Songisongi(?) bandeko ee
Dikambo na motema ee
Ngai na motema

Ẃun ẃupara ki leb Acoli lo(?)
Lutuwa!

O na makambo ee ee ee

I have submitted this to lyricstranslate, along with a translation which is now at the previous link. I will go on to make an analysis of this as far as I can. Lingala and Acholi confirmed, btw. The title is in Lingala.

Acholi part:

Ẃun ẃupara ki leb Acoli/Munu ba
Lutuwa! Lutuwa!
Lutuwa, ẃun ẃuwek lueny!
Lutuwa, ẃun ẃuwek lueny!

Analysis as far as I can reconstruct:

1. L. 1: «Ẃun ẃupara ki leb Acoli/Munu ba»
   
   • Wun [wụ́ụ́n]: you pl.;
   • wupara: wu- [wụ́ụ́-] “you pl.” + -par- [pàār] “think about” + -a [-á] “me, I”;
   • ki [kī]: in, with, from; and;
   • leb [lééb]: language; tongue;
   • Acoli is Acholi; Munu, or actually “muno” [mùnó], is "white person";
   • Ba [báá]: the whole lot, all, everything; that's what I originally read this as; however, [bá], an interjection used to plead, which ends a sentence, definitely fits better, as "ba" is split off from "lutuwa"; You use ceŋ/con for the past, and doŋ for the perfect, before the verb, so I guess “ba” is indeed to plead.
   So «Please think about me in Acholi / in "white-man-ish"»;
2. L. 2: «Lutuwa! Lutuwa!»: -a could be [-á] “my”, but lutu(w)- is unfindable; “person/people” would seem to be “dánóò”, I tried “brother” and “sister” and they are “òmíìn” and “làmíìn” resp., we have lụ̀ụ́t “dip hand etc in liquid”, lùùt “stick”, lụ̀ụ̀t “fish species”, and lụ̀ttọ̀ “dipping hand”… not sure what this means; I think I'll just trust the ready-made translation «My people!»;
3. L. 3: «Lutuwa wun wuwek lueny»
   
   • wuwek: wu- [wụ́ụ́-] cfr. above, + wek [wèék] “leave” (~stop, I assume);
   • lweny [lwéény]: fighting, war, battles; I wrote lueny because I’m hearing more like /lu.en/ or the likes than /lwen/ or the likes.
   So «My people, stop the fights!»;
4. L. 1 has the alternate form replacing "ba" with "lo", which, joined with "lutuwa", could mean «Think about me in Acholi, the words (lok [lọ̀ọ̀k]) of my people». All other words close to “lo” are verbs. I do hear a long o in the song, not sure if an unreleased -k could be there and I’m not really hearing it (it’s at 4:33 in the video).

So assuming I haven’t forgotten any Acholi part, we’re only missing lutu and possibly the right reading of lo/lok.

As for the Lingala parts, it’s pretty much all findable on this Lingala dictionary. Translating essentially word by word gives the translation here. I tried to translate "na" as "have" (e.g. Ngai na makambo -> I have problems), but Bokasi Link (remember the guy who commented on Sáleláká Mokonzi?) advised me against that. Also, "motema" also means "heart", besides "strength of character". I think the analysis is superfluous since you look up each word and get the translation. Just note that ee and iéé are "musical gibberish". I plan to translate it from Acholi/Lingala to Basque/Spanish. We'll see how that goes :).