Insight, advice, news and chit chat

Flag_of_South_Africa

An Idiot's Guide to Singing The South African National Anthem

The South African national anthem is a hybrid song with many different languages.

Since 1997 it has included English lyrics plus extracts from a hymn called “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika” (which means God Bless Africa) and “Die Stem van Suid-Afrika” (The Call of South Africa).

As Wikipedia says: “The lyrics employ the five most widely spoken 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).”

But this version illustrates it best: