Burung Kakaktua [The Cockatoo] (SAB)

Burung Kakaktua, also known as the Cockatoo, is an Indonesian Children folk song, thought to have originated from the Maluku Islands. This song is also popular in Malaysia and Singapore.

As with many children folk songs, the words are typically simple, and often contains nonsensical or meaningless words. In this case, that applies to the chorus, where ‘Tredung, tredung, tra la la’ is more likely written simply as a musical hook (catchy musical riff) to get the kids to sing together. As a result, many versions of the chorus exist. The more popular ones include ‘Le Chum, le chum mu la la’, ‘Trek dung, trek dung, o la la’ and ‘Le trum, le trum, u la la’. The arranger Ong has chosen ‘le chum, le chum, u la la’ as he am most familiar with that. The choral director can feel free to use any version that works best for the choir.

In this arrangement, the verses and choruses are sung in different meters, tempos, and key!

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