ULALI (last message, as they say on the LINGUISTLIST)

[Dave Robertson]

Howdy, konaway klaksta,

Oh shucks, my guess about ULALI was the pits, but at least it planted the
seeds of a good discussion.  (Looks like almost everyone got the joke.)
Herewith three more messages which are anonymously quoted with the presumed
assent of their writers...  Kloshe polaklie...  Dave...

============================================================
Kloshe, not cultus hihi!  But it only works for Barry Manilow if
   "Berry"
   and "Barry" are homophonous in your dialect, which they're not in mine
   -
   "Barry" has /ae/ for me. Regional or generational? Probably a bit of
   both.
   It's still a good pun - and wouldn't it be fun to find out that it was
   intentional on the group's part?
===================================================================


   I saw the movie Smoke Signals a couple of years ago, and I remember
   being kind of impressed with the soundtrack, especially the piece that
   was sung during the closing credits.  So I stayed to find out who that
   was, and the credits said it was Ulali.  They struck me as being kind
   of
   "New Age Native American", and given how much I hate new age music, I
   was surprised I liked them so much.  But like I said, they weren't
   just
   new age, but also Native American, and their acapella singing style
   sort
   of reminded me a bit of the group Sweet Honey in the Rock but with a
   stronger (almost African) beat to the whole thing.  So in other words,
   they're really nothing at all like Chuck Berry, nor Barry Manilow.  In
   fact, even the alledged berry-ish associations of their name have
   nothing to do with either of those guys.  Ulali played in Portland not
   too long after I saw the movie, and an article in the Oregonian
   explained their name.  I don't remember now what they said, but it had
   nothihg to do with berry's; and for that matter, had nothing to do
   with
   Chinook either.  Here is a URL I found for the official Ulali Web
   site:

   http://www.ulali.com/

   As you can see, Ulali is claimed to be a Tuscarora name for a wood
   thrush.  Here is another URL I found which has other information:

   http://www.traditionalways.com/ulali.html
================================================================


   Ulali (you-lah-lee) in the language of the singers (all women) refers
   to a
   mountain thrush.  Sorry, it isn't jargon, as I had originally thought,
   as
   well.  The song they perform at the end of Smoke Signals is quite
   powerful...  Give them a listen sometime.