Jan
29
Submitted by webmaster on Fri, 01/29/2010 - 12:53
glennbrave | February 21, 2010
Shosholoza Brand Promotional
-snip-
Regrettably, to date, my comment is the only one posted on this video's viewer comment thread.
Here is that comment:
azizip17-Thanks for posting this video! I love to watch gumboot dancing & I love the song Shosholoza.So this video is a great find for me. According to various online sources, the word "Shosholoza" means "go forward". There's a wiki page that gives info about this song.
Best wishes to this Shosholoza gumboot dancing group! I've added this video to my online collection of YouTube music/dance video gems. Google Jambalayah. I also posted it on my facebook page. Thanks again!
-an African American sista
Here's the link to that Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shosholoza
Excerpts of that article are found in the comment below.
Contact
Email: jambalayah17@yahoo.com
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1 comment
Shosholoza is a traditional Southern African folk song. The song was traditionally sung by all-male work gangs in a call and response style..
The word Shosholoza means go forward or make way for the next man, and is also reminiscent of the sound made by the steam train (stimela)...
The song was originally sung by Ndebele migrant workers travelling home from South Africa, hence the lyrics. The Ndebele live predominantly in Zimbabwe (at the time known as Rhodesia), and whilst Ndebele and Zulu are very similar, the song is Zimbabwean in origin...
The lyrics of the song vary, as do the transcriptions. Here is one example:
Shosholozah
Shosholozah
Ku lezontabah
Stimela siphum' eSouth Africa
Shosholozah
Shosholozah
Ku lezontabah
Stimela siphum' eSouth Africa
Wen' uyabalekah
Wen' uyabalekah
Ku lezontabah
Stimela siphum' eSouth Africa
A rough translation:
Go forward
Go forward
on those mountains
train from South Africa.
Go forward
Go forward
You are running away
You are running away
on those mountains
train from South Africa.
In the older traditional styles, the words translate to "train from Rhodesia"....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shosholoza