Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika

Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika
Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo,
Yizwa imithandazo yethu,
Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo.

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.

Uit die blou van onse hemel,
Uit die diepte van ons see,
Oor ons ewige gebergtes,
Waar die kranse antwoord gee,

Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom,
In South Africa our land.

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 Call of South Africa). The fact that it shifts and ends in a different key makes it compositionally unique. 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).

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.

• Category

  Music

[sangoma2]

SOUTH AFRICA IS AMAZING AND SO IS THEIR SONG !!!!!!!

[Malkolm King]

Come from the heart ang go to the the heart. Thank God, you created me African

[Nicholas Vassiliades]

Always finding reasons to be a proud South Afirca :')

[Nordman1stchoice]

this National Anthem is so beautiful! I can sing along with it, because my gymnasial class did a video with us performing it, when 2 of my teachers went to your beautiful country as a educational project.

[TheSammieGuy]

Yes I know, But I was saying that it was better than the national anthem of holland... Hollands anthem sucks :/

[Alletta Ferreira]

South Africa has no Dutch anthem, never had one.

[Atukunda Joseph]

What are you saying now? you know what people like you are to be felt sorry for...

[TheSammieGuy]

This is the anthem, I really love it. much better than the dutch one :|

[MrArtaxerxes22]

this should be the african anthem. it is so uniting

[ballsofrock]

Are saying the Star Bangled banner is not the national anthem of USA either? Or Amhrán na bhFiann is not the national anthem of Ireland? I do not understand your point. Or is this just a "did you know?" If so then you should have told us what the answer was. What is the excepted national anthem of South Afrika (Africa)?

[Nitesh Singh]

I play this song at least 5 times a week in my car with my 2 12" subs.people love it .