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Learn Traditional South African Songs Karaoke DVD
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The World Behind the Songs
[source: wikipaedia]
“Shosholoza”
Shosholoza is a traditional Southern African folk song. The song was traditionally sung by all-male work gangs in a call and response style.
The song has been recorded by a variety of artists, including Helmut Lotti, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, PJ Powers, The Glue, Soweto Gospel Choir, Peter Gabriel and Drakensberg Boys’ Choir, as well as being a standard of most gumboots bands.
The song gained further popularity after South Africa won the 1995 Rugby World Cup, and is a favourite at sport events in South Africa. The South African boy band Overtone recorded the song for director Clint Eastwood‘s movie Invictus (2009), in which the 1995 World Cup victory plays a central role in newly-elected president Nelson Mandela‘s desire to unite the racially-divided country.
The Zulu word Shosholoza means go forward or make way for the next man, and is also reminiscent of the sound made by the steam train (stimela) described in the song. The song has also given its name to Team Shosholoza, the first African challenger for the America’s Cup, and to Shosholoza Meyl, the long-distance passenger train service operating in South Africa.
This was not originally a song of joy or victory. It would have been sung by workers on way to the mines, a harsh and dark reality of hard labour for low pay. It has since come to represent the banding together of a people, their pride and dignity, and their progression into a new and free world.
The lyrics of the song vary, as do the transcriptions. Here is one example:
Shosholoza
Ku lezontaba
Stimela siphum’ eSouth Africa
Wen’ uyabaleka
Wen’ uyabaleka
Ku lezontaba
Stimela siphum’ eSouth Africa
A rough translation:
Move fast
on those mountains
train from South Africa.
You are running away
on those mountains
train from South Africa.
“Daar Kom die Alibama – There comes the Alabama“
Every New Year the streets of Cape Town ring with this song, sung by the choirs of “Cape Minstrels” in remembrance of the visit to the city of the Confederate Steam Ship Alabama in 1863.
Daar kom die Alibama,
Die Alibama die kom oor die see,
Daar kom die Alibama,
Die Alibama die kom oor die see…
There comes the Alabama,
The Alabama that comes oer the sea,
There comes the Alabama,
The Alabama that comes o’er the sea…
The minstrels, known in the local language as “Klopse”, grew out of the experience of oppression by the Creole descendants of slaves in the Cape. It is widely believed that the Minstrel practises and costumes were learned from a visiting American minstrel troupe.
Each year from about the mid-19th Century, at the beginning of each year, troupes of minstrels would parade, especially on the day known as “Tweede Nuwe Jaar” (second New Year), the 2nd of January, up and down the streets of Cape Town singing songs, often composed for the specific occasion, dressed in bright costumes and accompanied by instruments such as banjos, clarinets and various forms of drums. For many it’s a remembrance of the end of slavery which was abolished in South Africa on 1 Jan 1834.
This soon became known as the “Coon Carnival” and was an opportunity for the oppressed local Creole population to transgress the mostly unofficial, but nonetheless rigid class and racial barriers in the Cape Colony.
The term “coon” is usually, and rightly, viewed as a racial pejorative, but in this context it is acceptable to those taking part. Most believe that the word coon is a corruption of the word Racoon. The visiting American troupe painted their faces with a black and white racoon pattern.
When the Alabama sailed into Table Bay towing a prize conquered in the Bay, the Sea Bride, on 5 August 1863, a huge crowd of excited spectators on Cape Town’s Signal Hill gathered to watch the fun, and the ever-popular song was created.
The song has two aspects, the first being the simple relation of “there comes the Alabama”, but the second verse has some element of social commentary, perhaps alluding to cross-racial sexual liaisons, or with the experience of racial oppression of the Cape Creole people.
Nooi, nooi, die rietkooi nooi
Die rietkooi is gemaak,
Die rietkooi is vir my gemaak,
Om daarop te slaap.
(Miss, miss, the reed bed miss
The reed bed is made for me
The reed bed is made for me to sleep on.)
“Bobbejaan klim die berg”
The meaning behind this old South African favourite is very vague. It more than likely has its roots in the South African war, where the under-manned and somewhat disorganised Boer army took on the might of Victorian England.
Some versions of the song refer to the “Rooinek” ( a redneck – slang for Englishman) as opposed to “Boere” ( South African born Afrikaans speaking farmers) as used in our version.
Stellenbosch University has adopted the song as a rugby supporters song, hence the last line. Stellenbosch University is recognized as one of the top research universities in South Africa. It lies in the picturesque Jonkershoek Valley, in the heart of the Western Cape Winelands. Some claim the nickname for Stellenbosch students (Maties) arises from their maroon rugby colours; a “tamatie” is the Afrikaans translation for tomato. The Stellenbosch University rugby club has produced many famous rugby players.
Bobbejaan klim die berg,
so haastig en so lastig.
Bobbejaan klim die berg,
om die boere te vererg.
Hoera vir die jollie bobbejaan.
O moenie huil nie,
O moenie treur nie,
die Stellenbosse boys kom weer.
Baboon climbs the mountain
so quickly while he teases.
Baboon climbs the mountain,
teasing farmers when he pleases.
Hooray for our jolly baboon.
But please don’t cry, dear,
don’t ever sigh, dear,
the Stellenbosch boys will soon be back.
“South African National Anthem”
Since 1997, the South African national anthem has been a hybrid song combining new English lyrics with extracts of the hymn “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika” and the former anthem “Die Stem van Suid-Afrika/The Voice of South Africa“. It is the only neo-modal national anthem in the world, by virtue of being the only one that does not finish in the home key.
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 was composed in 1897 by Enoch Sontonga, a Methodist school teacher. It was originally sung as a church hymn, but later became an act of political defiance against the apartheid government. Die Stem van Suid-Afrika is a poem written by C.J. Langenhoven in 1918 and was set to music by the Reverend Marthinus Lourens de Villiers in 1921. Die Stem was the co-national anthem with God Save the King/Queen from 1936 to 1957, when it became the sole national anthem until 1995. The South African government under Nelson Mandela adopted both songs as national anthems from 1995 until they were merged in 1997 to form the current anthem.
Lyrics
| English | |
| (Xhosa) Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika Maluphakanyisw’ uphondo lwayo, (Zulu) Yizwa imithandazo yethu, Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo. |
God [Lord] bless Africa May her glory be lifted high Hear our petitions God bless us, Your children |
| (Sesotho) Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso, O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho, O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso, Setjhaba sa, South Afrika – South Afrika. |
God we ask You to protect our nation Intervene and end all conflicts Protect us, protect our nation, our nation, South Africa – South Africa |
| (Afrikaans) Uit die blou van onse hemel, Uit die diepte van ons see, Oor ons ewige gebergtes, Waar die kranse antwoord gee, |
Ringing out from our blue heavens, From our deep seas breaking round, Over everlasting mountains, Where the echoing crags resound, |
| (English) Sounds the call to come together, And united we shall stand, Let us live and strive for freedom, In South Africa our land. |
