about
We tend to think of our home as the city of "New Orleans." But when Bienville, Iberville, and the earliest European colonizers arrived here in the late 17th/early 18th centuries and started giving everything new names, native people already had a name for this area: “Bulbancha," a Choctaw word that means “Land of Many Tongues.”
It’s a perfect name for this beautiful location, where so many waterways, and thus various cultures, have converged for thousands of years. Not surprisingly, people who lived here had better names for many things. Another example is “Okwata,” meaning “Wide Water,” which Iberville dubbed “Pontchartrain” to pay homage his patron and the French Minister of Marine.
This song advocates a return to the superior indigenous terms, and more importantly, it aims to spread awareness about the amazing peoples who lived (and still live!) in Bulbancha.
For more information on Bulbancha, see:
bulbanchaisstillaplace.org
www.wwno.org/post/new-orleans-300-bulbancha-3000
antigravitymagazine.com/feature/reviving-indigenous-histories-with-bulbancha-is-still-a-place/
www.bigeasymagazine.com/2018/12/17/remembering-bulbancha-the-place-of-many-tongues-a-tour-of-new-orleans-unlike-any-other/
lyrics
Bulbancha
There were people in New Orleans
when Bienville came exploring
his tattooed torso filled with snakes
He asked them what they called this place
Bulbancha was the name for here
ignored by the Reconnoitrers
But the French renamed everything
from Baton Rouge to Pontchartrain
Forget the Colonial Europeans
the Choctaw name is what I’m feelin’
Forget the Colonial Europeans
the Choctaw name is what I’m feelin’
Bulbancha, the land of many tongues.
Bulbancha, a better name than Orléans
Bulbancha, on the shores of Okwata
Bulbancha, Bul- Ban- Cha
There were buffalo in New Orleans
When Iberville came exploring
They saw three buffalo lying there
in what became Jackson Square
Come on Bulbanchians it’s time for action
take down that statue of Andrew Jackson
Instead of him let’s memorialize
the Chitimacha who lived and died here
Forget the Colonial Europeans
the Choctaw name is what I’m feelin’
Forget the Colonial Europeans
the Choctaw name is what I’m feelin’
on the bayou’s banks with buffalo
I want to see a buffalo in Bulbancha
Bulbancha, the land of many tongues
Bulbancha, a better name than Orléans
Bulbancha, on the shores of Okwata
Bulbancha, Bul-Ban-Cha
Bulbancha, where the buffalo called their home
Bulbancha, where Chitimacha called their home
Bulbancha, on the shores of Okwata
Bulbancha, Bul-Ban-Cha
Bulbancha, Let’s go retro for our metro
credits
from
Low End,
track released October 14, 2019
Guitar, vocals, lyrics and music: Dr. Homan
Vocals: Editor B
Cello, vocals: Kalypso Homan
Bass, audio mastering: Mike Hogan
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