From: mark@uctvax.uct.ac.za
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: Re: unity and other myths
Date: 7 Sep 92 10:29:34 +0200
Organization: University of Cape Town


Steve.Hayes@p5.f22.n7101.z5.fidonet.org (Steve Hayes) writes:
> On <01 Sep 1992 21:08> Robertc. Moldenhauer (5:7104/2) said to All :
> 
>  RM>I, for one, have never seen the words for Die Stem or Nkosi 
>  RM>Sikeleli i'Africa
>  RM>in English.  Maybe someone could post an English translation of 
>  RM>the two songs
>  RM>and we could judge for our selves wether either or both of them 
>  RM>are exclusive.
> 
> Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika
> .....
> Die Stem van Suid-Afrika
> .....
> Accuracy not guaranteed. I've typed both from memory, and translated both on 
> the fly. 
> 
> "Nkosi silelele" is usually sung with a Sotho song "Morena boloka sechaba sa 
> heso" (God bless our nation), but I don't know Sotho, and so can't translate 
> it. 
> 
> "Die stem" has three more verses, but I don't think I can remember them all. 
> There is also an official English translation in verse, but it's kitsch and 
> banal and I don't know it, nor do I want to.

Ok close your ears Steve; I enclose (with some background)
a full translation of each.  Those who want can then compare
the wording of the anthems, and can also compare the English
and Afrikaans versions of Die Stem.  The main problem here is
that people won't be able to compare the music.  Nkosi sikelel'
iAfrika has quite beautiful music, whereas Die Stem is pompous
(IMO).

Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika

This anthem was composed by Enoch Sontanga, a teacher in
a Methodist Mission school at Johannesburg in 1897.  It
was one of many songs he composed, and he was apparently a
keen singer who composed the songs for his pupils to sing.

Most of his songs were sad, witnessing the suffering of
people in Johannesburg, but they were popular and after his
death choirs used to borrow his songs from his wife.  The
Rev JL Dube's Ohlange Zulu Choir popularised Nkosi Sikelel'
iAfrika at concerts in Johannesburg, and it became a popular
church hymn which was also adopted as a closing anthem for
political meetings.

It has been translated into several languages, and is
the national anthem of Lesotho, Swaziland, and Botswana.

The words are as follows:

          Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika 
          (Lord Bless Africa) 
          Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo 
          (May her voice be raised up) 
          Yiva imithandazo yethu 
          (Hear our prayers) 
          Nkosi, sikelela 
               thina, lusapho lwayo 
          (Lord bless us this generation of Africa)

          Yiza Moya 
          (Come Spirit) 
          Sikelela, Nkosi sikelela 
          (Bless, Lord, Bless) 
          Yiza, Moya Oyingcwele 
          (Come, Holy Spirit) 
          Nkosi, sikelela 
               thina, lusapho lwayo 
          (Lord, Bless us this generation of Africa)

          Morena boloka sechaba sa heso 
          (Lord, bless our nation) 
          O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho 
          (Stop the fights and hardships)

          O se boloke, 
          (Bless our nation) 
          O se boloke Morena, 
          (Bless our nation Lord) 
          Sechaba sa heso, sechaba sa Afrika. 
          (Our Nation, this nation of Africa)

Die Stem

Die Stem van Suid-Afrika (the Call of South Africa)
was composed by CJ Langenhoven in 1918.  He was an ardent
Afrikaner nationalist who wrote a number of poems, stories,
plays, etc.

Originally there were three verses, but a fourth was
later added "by popular request".  Langenhoven's own melody
to Die Stem was widely criticised, and the Cape newspaper
_Die Burger_ sponsored a national competition to find
"more suitable music".  In 1921, after several
unsuccessful attempts, the Rev ML de Villiers of Paarl
produced an acceptable melody.  Die Stem was first sung
officially on 31 May 1928, and from 1938 was sung with the
then official national anthem God save the King at the
opening of parliament.  In 1957 it was adopted  as South
Africa's official national anthem.

In 1952 an English translation of Die Stem had
been recommended "by a special committee of eminent
South Africans" out of 220 options submitted to the
committee.  In the same year, during the Van Riebeeck
tercentenary festival celebrations in Cape Town, Die Stem
was sung in English for the first time.  (The tercentenary
celebrations also coincided with the ANC-led Defiance
Campaign: peaceful mass action where 8500 people were
arrested for deliberately breaking 6 selected apartheid
laws).

I agree with the person who described Die Stem as a tribal
anthem, not just in its wording, which you may judge for
yourselves, but also (through its exclusive use) what it
represents.  (Please note that what follows is not my
translation, it is the official English version referred to
above):

                                  1.

     (Ringing out from out blue heavens, from our deep
          seas breaking round; 
     Over everlasting mountains where the echoing crags
          resound; 
     From our plains where creaking wagons cut their trails
          into the earth - 
     Calls the spirit of our Country, of the land that gave
          us birth. 
     At thy call we shall not falter, firm and steadfast we
          shall stand. 
     At thy will to live or perish, O South Africa, dear
          land)

     Uit die blou van onse hemel, uit die diepte van ons
          see. 
     Oor ons ewige gebergtes waar die kranse antwoord gee, 
     Deur ons ver-verlate vlaktes met die kreun van ossewa -
     Ruis die stem van ons geliefde, van ons land Suid-
          Afrika 
     Ons sal antwoord op jou roepstem, ons sal offer wat jy
          vra: 
     Ons sal lewe, ons sal sterwe - ons vir jou, Suid-
          Afrika.

                                  2.

     (In our body and our spirit, in our inmost heart held
          fast; 
     In the promise of our future and the glory of our
          past; 
     In our will, our work, our striving, from the cradle to
          the grave - 
     There's no land that shares our loving, and no bond
          that can enslave. 
     Thou hast borne us and we know thee.  May our deeds to
          all proclaim 
     Our enduring love and service to thy honour and thy
          name.)

     In die merg van ons gebeente, in ons hart en siel en
          gees, 
     In ons roem op ons verlede, in ons hoop op wat sal
          wees, 
     In ons  wil en werk en wandel, van on wieg tot aan ons
          graf - 
     Deel geen ander land ons liefde, trek geen ander trou
          ons af. 
     Vaderland! ons sal die adel van jou naam met ere dra: 
     Waar en trou as Afrikaners - kinders van Suid-Afrika.

                                  3.

     (In the golden warmth of summer, in the chill of
          winter's air, 
     In the surging life of springtime, in the autumn of
          despair; 
     When the wedding bells are chiming, or when those we
          love depart, 
     Thou dost know us for thy children and dost take us to
          thy heart. 
     Loudly peals the answering chorus; We are thine, and
          we shall stand, 
     Be it life or death, to answer thy call, beloved land.)

     In die songloed van ons somer, in ons winternag se
          kou, 
     In die lente van ons liefde, in die lanfer van ons
          rou. 
     By die klink van huw'liks-klokkies, by die kluitklap op
          die kis - 
     Streel jou stem ons nooit verniet nie, weet jy waar
          jou kinders is. 
     Op jou roep se ons nooit nee nie, se ons altyd, altyd
          ja: 
     Om te lewe, om te sterwe - ja ons kom, Suid-Afrika.

                                  4.

     (In thy power Almighty, trusting, did our fathers build
          of old; 
     Strengthen then, O Lord, their children to defend, to
          love, to hold - 
     That the heritage they gave us for our children yet may
          be: 
     Bondsmen only to the Highest and before the whole
          world free. 
     As our fathers trusted humbly, teach us, Lord, to trust
          Thee still: 
     Guard our land and guide our people in Thy way to do
          Thy will.)

     Op U Almag vas vertrouend, het ons vadere gebou: 
     Skenk ook ons die krag, o Here! om te handhaaf en te
          hou - 
     Dat die erwe van ons vaad're vir ons kinders wrwe bly: 
     Knegte van die Allerhoogste, teen die hele wereld vry. 
     Soos ons vadere vertrou het, leer ook ons vertrou o
          Heer - 
     Met ons land en met ons nasie sal dit wel wees, God
          regeer. 

The flag

For what its worth, the SA flag is very closely linked to
Die Stem:

In 1926 an official commission was established to consider
the design of a distinctive national flag for the Union of
South Africa.  Since Union in 1910 the Union Jack had been
used.  The major debate amoung the settler government was
whether the Union Jack should be included in the new flag,
and apparently feeling ran high on both sides of the debate.

The commission proposed the "Van Riebeeck flag", (the flag
of the earliest colonial authority - the Netherlands flag of
orange, white and blue) in which there would be placed a
quartered shield consisting of the Union Jack, the 2 flags
of the boer republics (Vierkleur and OFS flag) and in the
fourth quarter white stars on a blue field.  Ultimately the
shield was replaced by the three flags mentioned.

This flag, representing all the settler interests, was
adopted in terms of the Union Nationality and Flags Act of
1927, and was flown for the first time on 31 May 1928 (with
the first singing of Die Stem).  For about 30 years it was
flown with the Union Jack.  In 1957 the nationalist
government obliterated all references to the Union Jack from
the relevant legislation, making 'the flag of the Union' the
official national flag.  This flag remained after South
Africa became a republic in 1961.  It is common cause these
days that the flag represents narrow interests,  and while 
promoting the narrow interests represented by the flag (inter 
alia at  Ellis Park and Newlands) the government warns its 
supporters that the flag will HAVE to change in the near future.

Mark Ramsden
Information Systems Department
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african