Liberal Arts Blog — (“Go forward”) — South Africa’s “Second National Anthem” And “A Favorite At Sporting Events”
Liberal Arts Blog — Thursday is the Joy of Music Day -
Today’s Topic: Shosholoza (“Go forward”) — South Africa’s “second national anthem” and “a favorite at sporting events”
I want to thank Nureldin Mohamed of Durban, South Africa for introducing me to “Shosholoza” — one of the most popular songs in South Africa. It is sung in a mix of Zulu and Ndebele and traces its origins to gold miners from Zimbabwe traveling to South Africa on a steam train (evoked onomatopoetically with the syllables “sho sho” in the first word of the song).
“The late former South African President Nelson Mandela described how he sang Shosholoza as he worked during his imprisonment on Robben Island. He described it as a “song that compares the apartheid struggle to the motion of an oncoming train” and went on to explain that “the singing made the work lighter.”
For those new to the blog, posts hop around from country to country and genre to genre. Last time, three songs by Ed Sheeran, including “Perfect.” Before that, Ricardo Arjona, the Guatemalan icon, and his signature song “Jesus Es Verbo No Sustantivo” (Jesus is a verb not a noun). In the past few months we’ve tasted the wonders of Joseph Haydn and Mozart but also those of Tracey Chapman and Luke Combs. We’ve been to Vietnam for the “Butterfly Song,” Thailand for the “Elephant Song,” and Rwanda for “Rwanda Nziza.” Not to mention Neapolitan folk songs featuring Luciano Pavarotti.
The general theme is that the wider the musical net you cast, the greater the opportunity for shared joy with anyone you meet.
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
LYRICS AND TRANSLATION
1. “Shosholoza kulezo ntaba, stimela siphubme, South Africa” (Go forward, You are meandering on those mountains, the train is from South Africa)
2. “Wen’ uyabaleka, Kulezo ntaba, stimbela siphubme South Africa” (You accelerate, you accelerate, on those mountains, the train is from South Africa)
A LITTLE GOLD MINING HISTORY — sung while swinging their axes
1. “The song was sung by working miners in time with the rhythm of swinging their axes to dig.”
2. “It was usually sung under hardship in call and response style (one man singing a solo line and the rest of the group responding by copying him.”
3. “It was also sung by prisoners in call and response style using alto and soprano parts divided by row.”
THE RUGBY WORLD CUP 1995 — an historic moment turned into a book in 2008 and a film in 2009
1. “The song gained further popularity after South Africa won the 1995 Rugby World Cup and is a favorite at sport events in South Africa.”
2. The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the first major sporting event held in South Africa after the fall of apartheid.
3. Mandela, wearing a Springboks jersey and cap, “used rugby as a symbol of national unity.” This historical moment was the basis for a book (John Carlin’s “Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation”) which inspired the film “Invictus” (2009) directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar, captain of the Springboks. Both Freeman and Damon won Academy Award nominations. The title of the film means “invincible” and is taken from the eponymous poem by William Henley (1849–1903). If you don’t know it by heart already, I strongly recommend memorizing it now. See last link below.
NB: The Springboks (a kind of antelope) are the national animal of South Africa and the mascot of the rugby team.
The fourth link below is Pete Seeger’s version from his album “We Shall Overcome” recorded live at Carnegie Hall in NYC in 1963,
Shosholoza — LYRICS + Translation
Ndlovu Youth Choir — Shosholoza Feat. Kaunda Ntunja
How Nelson Mandela Used Rugby as a Symbol of South African Unity | HISTORY
South Africa national rugby union team — Wikipedia
1995 Rugby World Cup — Wikipedia
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with. those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED THEMATICALLY
Updating PDFs: 2023 — Google Drive
ATTACHMENTS BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
YOUR TURN
Time to share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to music.
Or the coolest thing you learned in your life related to music.
Say your favorite song or songs. Or your favorite tips for breathing, posture, or relaxation. Or some insight into the history of music….Or just something random about music… like a joke about drummers. jazz, rock….or share an episode or chapter in your musical autobiography.
This is your chance to make some one else’s day. And perhaps to cement in your memory something important you would otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than you otherwise would about something that matters to you.
