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Senzenina – A Zulu Protest Song and Funeral Song

RIP Miriam Makeba – She Was a Wonderful South African Singer

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Senzenina – A Zulu Protest Song and Funeral Song

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

This is a protest song and it is traditionally sung at funerals. It was important during the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. Senzenina means “What have we done” with the implication “what did we do to deserve this?” (Also spelled “senzeni na”.)

Here you can see the original lyrics, with an English translation and a wonderful mp3 recording that we just received by Élodie Chebat.

MP3 Recording of Senzenina

Senzenina
(Zulu/Xhosa)

Senzenina
Sono sethu ubumnyama
Sono sethu yinyaniso
Sibulawayo
Mayibuye i Africa.

What Have We Done?
(English Translation)

What have we done?
Our sin is that we are black
Our sin is the truth
They are killing us
Let Africa return.

We found that this song is considered to be in both the Zulu and Xhosa languages. Trying to figure out which language it was in, I looked up the words to this song, and found some of them in a Zulu dictionary and some in a Xhosa dictionary. On further research I found in the Encyclopedia Britannica: “The Zulu and Xhosa languages are similar enough to be considered dialects of one language, but speakers of Zulu and Xhosa consider them to be separate languages.” (FYI They are both Southeastern Bantu languages.)

Many thanks to Élodie Chebat for contributing and singing this beautiful song!

Mama Lisa

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Posted in African Children's Songs, Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Folk Songs, Languages, MP3's, Mama Lisa, Recordings of Songs, Senzenina, South Africa, Traditional Songs, Xhosa, Zimbabwe, Zulu | 3 Comments »

RIP Miriam Makeba – She Was a Wonderful South African Singer

Thursday, November 13th, 2008

Miriam Makeba sadly passed away this month. She was 76 years old.

Makeba was a wonderful singer from South Africa. She was born in Johannesburg in 1932. She started singing in a choir as a child and by the age of 22 she was a professional singer.

In 1959, she appeared in the anti-apartheid film Come Back, Africa. That launched her career as an international singer.

Makeba sang many different types of songs. Some of her most interesting music focused on Xhosa and Zulu songs.

Here you can hear her singing one of her most popular songs called The Click Song. It’s traditionally sung in parts of South Africa when people get married.

(I don’t know how long the YouTube video will remain embedded, please let me know if you see the video as a broken link. If it is, go out and find a recording – it’s well worth it!)

-Mama Lisa

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Posted in African Children's Songs, Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Jazz, Languages, Mama Lisa, Miriam Makeba, South Africa, South African Children's Songs, Xhosa, YouTube | 2 Comments »

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