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.
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
This artilce was posted on Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 at 4:00 pm and is filed under 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. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
June 2nd, 2009 at 6:10 pm
This beautiful song is also featured (at a funeral) in the movie “The Power of One.”
July 24th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Também no filme Sombras do Passado (com Hilary Swank) ela aparece como áudio incidental durante a exumação dos ossos de um negro assassinado pela polícia do apartheid.
July 24th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
This song also appears as incidental sound in the movie Shadows of the Past (for star Hilary Swank) during exhumation of the skeleton of a member of the ANC killed by the apartheid police.
January 9th, 2010 at 6:41 am
I was taught this song in my Primary School choir when I was 12yrs old. Our teacher had been to Kenya and the song touched him so much he taught us the song when he returned. Now at 25yrs old I’m singing it to my baby to get him to sleep! I thought I’d best look up the meaning of the song and I’m so glad I did…I had no idea how meaningful it really was. Thank you for the full lyrics and translation.
April 9th, 2010 at 8:06 am
Thanks. I have been singing this song for over 35 years and never really new the lyrics except for Senzenina. Understanding the meaning behind the lyrics makes even a bigger impact on me. I am gong to use the song in a play and hopefully give the full impact it has had on me onto my audience. Amandla!
June 19th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
It is also the opening song for “In my country (Country of my skull)”, a 2004 movie featuring Samuel L. Jackson and Juliette Binoche.
June 30th, 2010 at 9:54 am
Thank for this post! i’m thirtytwo and just discovered african music listening to the record “an evening with Bellafonte and Makeba”. Actually i’m looking for lyrics meaning of a song called “Kwazulu – In the land of zulus”. Could maybe someone please help me?
Peace. Marco
October 31st, 2011 at 3:57 pm
[...] I read the print on the wall, I hear the harmonised voices of the familiar “Senzenina” from within the gallery. Goldblatt is purposeful about stepping outside of the immediacy of [...]
January 18th, 2012 at 12:40 pm
WE USE TO SING THIS IN ANGLICAN SERVICES IN THE 70′S AND 80′S, AND THE SINGING WAS FILLED WITH THE DEEP LONGING FOR THE TIME WHEN WE WILL BE FREE.