The National Anthem Of South Africa
The National Anthem of South Africa was adopted in 1997 and is a hybrid song combining extracts of the 19th century Xhosa hymn “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika” (English: “God Bless Africa”, lit. '”Lord Bless Africa”‘) and the Afrikaans song which was used as the South African national anthem during the apartheid era, “Die Stem van Suid-Afrika” (English: “The Voice of South Africa”), with new English lyrics.
The anthem is often referred to by its incipit of “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika”, but this has never been its official title, which is simply “National Anthem of South Africa”.
The committee responsible for this new composition included Anna Bender, Elize Botha, Richard Cock, Dolf Havemann (Secretary), Mzilikazi Khumalo(Chairman), Masizi Kunene, John Lenake, Fatima Meer, Khabi Mngoma, Wally Serote, Johan de Villiers, and Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph.
The Structure Of The Anthem
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). The lyrics are sung in these languages regardless of the native language of the singer.
The first half was arranged by Mzilikazi Khumalo and the latter half of the song was arranged by Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph, who also wrote the final verse.The fact that it shifts (modulates) and ends in a different key (from G major to D major), a feature it shares with the Italian and the Philippine national anthems, makes it compositionally unusual.
The Anthem Being Criticized
In recent years, the South African national anthem has come under criticism for its Afrikaans verse as it was originally part of the national anthem of South Africa that was used during the apartheid era, with some such as the Economic Freedom Fighters calling for the verse to be removed, supposedly because of this connection.
Others defend the inclusion of the verse, pointing out that it is included in large part due to the wishes of the first post-apartheid South African president, Nelson Mandela, who intended its inclusion as a re-conciliatory measure for the post-apartheid future of South Africa.
The Inception Of The Anthem
The practice of having two national anthems proved to be a cumbersome arrangement as performing both of them took as much as five minutes.This was rectified when South Africa’s dual national anthems were merged in abridged forms in early 1997 to form the current national anthem. The new national anthem was performed at an opening of the South African parliament in February 1997, and was published in the South African Government Gazette on 10 October 1997.
During the drafting of the new national anthem, it was requested by South African president Nelson Mandela that it be no more than 1 minute and 48 seconds in length (which was the average length of other countries anthems being used for reference).The new English lyrics were adapted from the last four lines of the first stanza of “Die Stem van Suid-Afrika” (English: “The Call of South Africa”), with the changes made to reflect hope in post-apartheid South African society.
How Many Languages In South Africa Anthem
The South African Anthem since it’s inception has been translated into 5 major languages in South Africa,namely; Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho, Afrikaans and English.
