Shí naashá

{{Infobox song

| name = Shí naashá

| image = Navajo Nation flag (4910586306).jpg

| caption = Flag of the Navajo Nation

| language = Navajo

| written = 1868

}}

{{spell-nv|Shí naashá}} (I'm going) is a Navajo song, composed in 1868 to commemorate the release of the Navajo from internment at Fort Sumner.{{cite book|title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music|chapter=Overview|pages=366–373|last=Heth|first=Charlotte}} The song's lyrics express the elation of the Navajo people on the occasion of their return to their homeland.

The word {{spell-nv|hózhǫ́}} (beauty), a major concept in Navajo spirituality, is used throughout the song.{{cite web|title=Navajo Songs from the Cayon De Chelly liner notes|url=http://www.newworldrecords.org/linernotes/80406.pdf|website=New World Records|publisher=New World Records|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212211559/http://www.newworldrecords.org/linernotes/80406.pdf|archivedate=2012-02-12}}

Lyrics

{{Verse translation

|Ahala ahalago naashá ghą

Shí naashá ghą, shí naashá ghą,

Shí naashá lágo hózhǫ’ la.

Shí naashá ghą, shí naashá ghą,

Shí naashá, ladee hózhǫ’ǫ’ lá.

|I am going in freedom

I am going, I am going,

I am going in beauty.

I am going, I am going,

I am going, beauty is all around me.}}

References

  • {{cite book

|editor-last = Koskoff

|editor-first = Ellen

|id = {{ISBN|0-8240-4944-6}}

|publisher = Garland Publishing

|title = Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 3: The United States and Canada

|year = 2000

}}

Notes