All South African property owners, as applies to all other South Africans, should really make an effort to learn the words to the South African National Anthem.
Some of the South African Anthem lyrics (or words) might be a bit difficult to pronounce, especially to someone who has had little or no exposure to the 5 official languages that were incorporated into the anthem. But with a little practice and perseverance, the beautiful anthem of the Republic of South Africa will become one of your fafourite songs, guaranteed!
So, read through the words to the South African National Anthem (English translation is provided in brackets, so that you know exactly what you are singing), download the South African Anthem soundtrack , and get a-singing!
Sheetmusic for the South African National Anthem can also be downloaded, for free, of course!
The South African National Anthem:
(Xhosa and Zulu)
Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika ("Lord bless Africa")
Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo ("May her spirit rise high up ")
Yizwa imithandazo yethu. ("Hear thou our prayers ")
Nkosi sikelela Thina lusapho lwayo. ("Lord bless us, Your people.")
(Sotho)
Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso, ("Lord save our nation")
O fedise dintwa la matshwenyeho, ("Intervene and end all conflicts ")
O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso, ("Protect us. Protect Your nation. ")
Setjhaba sa South Afrika - South Afrika. ("Protect South Africa")
(Afrikaans)
Uit die blou van onse hemel, ("Ringing out from our blue heavens")
Uit die dieptevan ons see, ("from our deep seas breaking round")
Oor ons ewige gebergtes ("Over everlasting mountains")
waar die kranse antwoord gee. ("where the echoing crags resound")
Sounds the call to come together,
and united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom
in South Africa, our land.
Origins of the South African National Anthem
The National Anthem of South Africa is a wedding of two beautiful songs, written by two men on different sides of the racial divide that used to characterise South Africa. Both songs hold special meaning to the people of South Africa.
So, in a brave move that was aimed at ensuring that the South African National Anthem becomes a unifying factor for the people of South Africa, instead of a reason to remain devided, a shortened, combined version of "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" (God bless Africa) and "Die Stem Van Suid Afrika" (The Call of South Africa) is now the National Anthem of South Africa.
Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika (God bless Africa)
Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika is hymn that composed in 1897, by Enoch Sontonga, a lay preacher and teacher at a Methodist mission school in Johannesburg, was born in Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika was one of many songs he composed (in Xhosa) for his pupils' school choir.
Enoch Sontonga died in obscurity at age 33, in 1905, and buried in the Braamfontein Cemetery. But Enoch Sontonga left an indelible legacy, in the form of his hymn, Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika (God bless Africa), a prayer for God's blessing on the land and all its people.
Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika became a very popular church hymn after his death, and became famous, performed at concerts throughout Johannesburg by both Zulu and Xhosa choirs. Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrica was sung at the first meeting of the South African Native National Congress (forerunner of the African National Congress), after the closing prayer on 8 January 1912.
Soon Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika was also adopted as the anthem at political meetings (often sung as an act of defiance against the authorities), and the national anthem of South Africa, in the hearts and minds of the disenfranchised people of the apartheid era of South Africa, for several decades.
Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika went on to become Africa's most famous anthem of black struggle against oppression. Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrica has been translated into numerous African languages, including Swahili, and incorporated into the national anthem of Zambia, Tanzania and Namibia.
A granite cube, designed by William Martinson, was placed on his grave, and inveiled by "the father of the nation", Nelson Mandela, after a long search for his forgotten gravesite. The Order of Meritorious Service was posthumously bestowed on Sontonga.
Die Stem van Suid Afrika (The Call of South Africa)
The official anthem of the Republic of South Africa was Die Stem van Suid Afrika (The Call of South Africa), a poem written by Afrikaans poet, CJ Langenhoven, in May 1918, and set to music composed by dominee Marthinus Lourens de Villiers, in 1921. The South African Government, however, only announced that Die Stem had been accepted as the official National Anthem of South Africa on 2 May 1957.
The Call of South Africa (Die Stem van Suid Africa) is an anthem that represents the Afrikaner's struggle from freedom and oppression under British rule, as the last two lines clearly indicate: "Let us live and strive for freedom, in South Africa our land!" The literal translation from the original Afrikaans reveals a somewhat stronger sentiment: "We will live and die for you, South Africa".
Ironically, this beautiful song, which embodied freedom to the Afrikaner, was seen as a song of oppression and hate by many of the disfranchised black, coloured and Indian communities of South Africa.
Anthem of Unity
So, between 1994 and 1996, both Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika and Die Stem van Suid Afrika (The Call of South Africa) jointly served as South African National Anthem. Both are songs of the struggle for freedom for some South Africans, and both songs had negative connotations for those South Africans that did not identify with the freedom struggle sentiment each song represents.
What many South Africans believed to be an uneasy and temporary pairing of two incompatible anthems, was made much more permanent in 1996, when Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika and Die Stem van Suid Afrika (The Call of South Africa) was "married" (or merged) into a single song, consisting of two verses from each song.
This new South African National Anthem has crept into the hearts of South Africans, and has become a very powerful symbol of national unity. The anthem that might have been a national embarrasment has been transformed into a national treasure.
