The South African National Anthem

One recurrent institution in our family life is the South African national anthem. I don't mean some 19th century Dutch hymn about de Vaterland, or whatever... I'm talking about the new South African national anthem, sung primarily in Xhosa (although they also have verses in Zulu, English, Afrikaans, and Sesotho - but we only know the Xhosa words).

It's like this: From my end of things, I heard it a couple of times in the 80's, and thought it was really beautiful (which it is), and decided much later to learn it, in the Age of Internet, when you can look this stuff up. It was written in the 1800's by a Xhosa Methodist schoolteacher from a missionary school (he was also the choirmaster), and it's a hymn, with the sublime and solemn power that some hymns really capture. The title, "Nkosi Sikelel'i Afrika", means "God Bless Africa," and it really feels like a prayer. The Xhosa sing it in three-part harmony - not some contrived European import, but their own three-part-harmony, which, while very agreeable to the Western ear, is part of their own heritage.

So I taught it to myself, and I would sing it, routinely, while changing Ian's diapers when he was a baby (you kinda' want to have something to occupy your mind at those moments, so I usually sing something I like). Ian actually picked up the song from our little Pampers sessions, and then he started singing it around Amy.

Here's where it gets interesting: Amy recognized the song when Ian would sing it, because, back in her own card-carrying-liberal college years, she was involved in the divestiture movement on her campus (the song was an anthem for the African National Congress even before the end of apartheid).

But Amy didn't know I knew the piece, so, as she later recounted, "I found myself wondering, how does Ian know the South African national anthem?"

In any case, we all like it, so Amy, Ian, Daniel and I sing it from time to time - espeically in the car.

Recently, we were out and about, and I found a piano and started playing the anthem on it, and Daniel announced, "Mommy, the piano is singing Nkosi Sikeleli."

(November 9, 2008)