Hello everybody on HIVE, and especially the AFRITUNES Community. My name is Jasper, and I'm writing (and singing) to you from Cape Town, South Africa! Welcome to Week 110 of AFRITUNES.
I love South Africa and some of the special flavours of music we get here, and I look forward to doing a few posts on AFRITUNES to bring you music from South Africa, or to show you my original songs that have South African inspiration…
Today, I’d like to sing the song “Impi” by Juluka, the band that was started by the white “Honourary Zulu” Johnny Clegg and his friend Sipho Mchunu.
This song is about a battle that happened during the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879, where a regiment of Zulu Warriors armed with short spears and cattle-hide shields were able to defeat a British regiment armed with modern (for the time) Martini Henry rifles and even a few cannons.
The song makes reference to “Chelmsford”, who was the real British General that was defeated. “Mageba” was one of the original Zulu chiefs over 100 years before, and so “Children of Mageba” is a poetic way to describe the entire Zulu tribe. “Zulu” means sky, and so “People of the Sky” is another poetic way to describe the entire tribe!
The song Impi is a war song about a horrific real event in South Africa’s history! Luckily, we now only use the song’s rousing theme to rile up our “warriors” on the sports fields representing South Africa at soccer or rugby!
Lyrics for "Impi” by Juluka
Chorus
(isiZulu) Impi! wo 'nans' impi iyeza
Obani bengathinta amabhubesi?
(Rough English translation)
War! Here the army is coming
Who can stand up to the lions?
Verses
All along the river Chelmsford's army lay asleep
Come to crush the Children of Mageba
Come to exact the Realm's price for peace
And in the morning as they saddled up to ride
Their eyes shone with the fire and the steel
The General told them of the task that lay ahead
To bring the People of the Sky to heel
Mud and sweat on polished leather
Warm rain seeping to the bone
They rode through the season's wet weather
Straining for a glimpse of the foe
Hopeless battalion destined to die
Broken by the Benders of Kings
Vainglorious General and Victorian pride
Would cost him and eight hundred men their lives
They came to the side of the mountain
Scouts rode out to spy the land
Even as the Realm's soldiers lay resting
Mageba's forces were at hand
And by the evening the vultures were wheeling
Above the ruins where the fallen lay
An ancient song as old as the ashes
Echoed as Mageba's warriors marched away
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Johnny Clegg
▶️ 3Speak