Hello everybody on Hive and especially the Hive Open Mic Community! My name is Jasper and I'm writing (and singing) to you from Cape Town South Africa!
This is Week 131 of the Hive Open Mic Challenge, and the theme for the week is "Orgullo Patrio" which means "National Pride"! What a lovely theme: I had no choice but to sing you South Africa's very beautiful and distinctive National Anthem "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" (God Bless Africa). Many people agree that it's one of the most beautiful and rousing National Anthems in the World.
What is very interesting about it is that it is in five completely different languages - isiXhosa, isiZulu, seSotho, Afrikaans and English! I will show you the lyrics and the translations down below.
I have a very fond memory of the National Anthem. I went to go watch our Springbok rugby team play against a special World 15 side that was comprised of some of the best players from the rest of the World. A famous local artist, Kurt Darren, stepped up to sing the National Anthem on the Sound System and the crowd sang along. Then, about half way through, the sound system failed, but the crowd carried on singing loudly right to the end. It was a very emotional moment of a whole crowd working in solidarity about something very important to us and it really moved the rugby players to try their best. I think I have found a video about that moment on another South African's Youtube channel where he also remembers the moment fondly here:
Lyrics - South African National Anthem
Verse 1 - isiXhosa and isiZulu
Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika
(God Bless Africa)
Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo,
(Raise high Her glory)
Yizwa imithandazo yethu,
(Hear our Prayers)
Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo
(God bless us, we her children)
Verse 2 - seSotho
Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso,
(God protect our nation)
O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho,
(End all wars and tribulations)
O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso,
(Protect us, protect our nation)
Setjhaba sa South Afrika - South Afrika.
(Our nation South Africa - South Africa)
Verse 3 - Afrikaans
Uit die blou van onse hemel,
(Ringing out from our blue heavens)
Uit die diepte van ons see,
(From the depth of our seas)
Oor ons ewige gebergtes,
(Over our everlasting mountains)
Waar die kranse antwoord gee,
(Where the echoing crags resound)
Verse 4 - English
Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom,
In South Africa our land.
SOURCE: https://www.gov.za/about-sa/national-symbols/national-anthem
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