Oral Poetry from Africa
Sobhuza I (1780–1836) who ruled Swaziland from 1815 until his death, was also called Somholo, ‘the wonder’, because just before his birth his father Nduvungunye was struck by lightning. It was he who led his people away from the turmoil of the wars associated with the rise of Shaka Zulu, settling them in what is now central Swaziland.
Let him alone, the son of Langa.
Let him go upstream the Crocodile river…
Sobhuza II (1899–1982), one of the most remarkable Africans of the last century, was king of Swaziland for 61 years. Educated at the Lovedale Institution in South Africa and an early member of the African National Congress, he was at the same time a passionate traditionalist, pledged as he once put it “to extricate Africa from this idea of one man one vote”…
Three Zulu songs, very commonly sung by members of the bridegroom’s family, welcoming the bride in teasing terms to her new home.
You have reached the place of weariness,
You have arrived and you will get weary!
