Senzeni Na?

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Senzeni Na? (also spelled Senzenina, English: What Have We Done?)[1] is a South African anti‐apartheid folk song. The Xhosa and Zulu language song is commonly sung at funerals, demonstrations and in churches.[2]

Key Lyrics

IsiXhosa/IsiZulu original[3]

Senzeni na?

Sono sethu, ubumnyama?

Sono sethu yinyaniso?

Sibulawayo

Mayibuye i Africa


English translation:

What have we done?

Our sin is that we are black?

Our sin is the truth

They are killing us

Let Africa return

Origins

The song has been around at least since the 1950s, and it reached the height of its popularity during the 1980s while the origins of the song are unclear. [4]

The song was among several songs of a more mournful nature that became popular among anti-apartheid activists in the 1960s. The song repeats the line "What have we done" a number of times, which musician Sibongile Khumalo has described as giving the listener a sense of desolation.[5]

Reference

  1. http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/2006/11/01/cols/hcols.htm. Jimmy Matyu. 1 November 2006. The Herald Online. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  2. http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/library-resources/online%20books/culture-anotherSA/towards-survey.htm. Cosmo Pieterse. June 1989. Olive Branch Press. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  3. Senzeni na?. Bangor Community Choir. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  4. http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/2006/11/01/cols/hcols.htm. Jimmy Matyu. 1 November 2006. The Herald Online. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  5. Schumann, Anne.The Beat that Beat Apartheid: The Role of Music in the Resistance against Apartheid in South Africa. 2008. Wiener Zeitschrift für kritische Afrikastudien. Retrieved January 21, 2021.