Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika

Hello! This is a temporary web page concerning proposed corrected and standardised AICSA lyrics (as compared to the various current AICSA versions) for the song "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" by Enoch Sontonga.

UPDATED (06/03/03):

• Minor changes to mup file.

UPDATED (27/02/03):

• Fixed PDF file.

UPDATED (21/02/03):

• Revised the second line ("-yisw' u-" is now "-yis-w'u-") to make it a little more instinctive to anglophones.
• Added notes on pronunciation (NB: Not in .nwc file).
• Changed time from 4/4 to alla breve.
• Revised formatting.
• Provided Postscript file.

Thanks to all those who provided feedback and suggested the above changes.

1st verse - from Xhosa version

     Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika
     Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo,
     Yizwa imithandazo yethu,
     Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo.

2nd verse - from Zulu version

     Woza Moya, Woza Moya,
     Woza Moya, Oyingcwele.
     Usisikelele, Thina lusapho lwayo.

3rd verse - from Sesotho version

     Morena boloka sechaba sa heso,
     O fedise dintwa la matshwenyeho,
     O se boloke, o se boloke,
     O se boloke, morena se boloke.
     Sechaba sa heso, sechaba sa Afrika.

Special thanks go to Michael Winikoff for kindly providing his mup source file for me to hack to pieces. You also might want to check out his Online Songbook Project, which has lots of nifty features.

If you want to hear what the tune sounds like, midi files of Nkosi, including for each individual voice part, are available on my (other) Nkosi page.

Files available for download:

• Noteworthy Composer (.nwc) file
• mup source file
• PDF file.
• Zipped Postscript file.

Other stuff:

• Lyrics by syllable (for cutting-and-pasting into music typesetting software)
• Original e-mail to choral-chat proposing the corrected lyrics (also contains references to other pieces)
• Follow-up email to choral-net explaining some of the background to the corrected lyrics