Friday, 11 June 2010
Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika - the call of South Africa
So today begins the World Cup. And our prayers are with the diverse peoples of South Africa.
For the next few days we will hear one of the most complex national anthems the world has ever known (Update: Thanks to Angus Kelly, the minister at Paarl Methodist in SA who tells me that the anthem was written by a Methodist, see the comments below). Let Marius Soma explain:
Afrika/The Call of South Africa". It is the only neo-modal national anthem in the world, by virtue of being the only one that starts in one key and finishes in another. The lyrics employ the five most populous of South Africa's eleven official languages - Xhosa (first stanza, first two lines), Zulu (first stanza, last two lines), Sesotho (second stanza), Afrikaans (third stanza) and English (final stanza).
Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika
Maluphakanyisw' uphondo Iwayo
Yizwa imithandazo yethu
Nkosi sikelela thina lusapho Iwayo
Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso
O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho
O se boloke, o se boloke setjhaba sa heso
Setjhaba sa South Africa
South Africa...
Uit die blou van onse hemel
Uit die diepte van ons see
Oor ons ewige gebergtes
Waar die kranse antwoord gee
Sounds the call to come together
And united we shall stand
Let us live and strive for freedom
In South Africa our land
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2 comments:
Very excited about the world cup here in our country!
On Sunday we at Paarl, South Africa will be skypeing in to two churches in the UK, a Methodist one in Knutsford, and an Anglican one in Reading.
Members of our church here, and the churches in the UK raise a lot of money to build an indoor sports centre here in an area called Mbekweni.
A real sign of the Kingdom of God woven through the world.
And the reason for my comment - we'll be singing our anthem at the end of the service because most of it - the Xhosa, Sotho and Zule part, is a hymn.
The composer, Enoch Sontonga, was a Methodist.
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