Do You Know About This Michael Jackson Song In Which Kiswahili Is Used?

The song starts with the Kiswahili language phrase “Nakupenda pia, nakutaka pia, Mpenzi we!” (I love you too, I want you too, my love!); and was a hit song in the late 80s. Well, it called “Liberian Girl”.

The song is off MJ’s “Bad” album and was released in 1987 and to-date it has not lost its lustre. The song was written as early as 1983 and was among those considered for The Jacksons’ Victory album as it was reworked and rewritten for Bad.

The words “Nakupenda pia, nakutaka pia, mpenzi we”, were not sung by MJ but by South African singer Letta Mbulu. Directly translated to English from Kiswahili, the lingua franca of East and Central Africa, the phrase means “I love you also, I want you also, you my love” which is grammatically incorrect. According to pundits, the song could alternatively have been phrased as “Nakupenda, nakutaka, mpenzi wangu” i.e. “I love you, I want you, my love”.

However, the same pundits acknowledge MJ saying the phrase was a big honour to the entire East & Central Africa back then, to have and to hear Kiswahili in one of Michael Jackson’s legendary productions.

Listen to “Liberian Girl” below;

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[Courtesy]