The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #38641   Message #2036917
Posted By: GUEST
27-Apr-07 - 05:09 AM
Thread Name: Origins: Shosholoza
Subject: RE: Origins: Shosholoza
Sorry, you'er all off the mark a bit. This song was first sung by the African labourers (farming and industry) in then Rhodesia as an anti-white song. The translation of the words tells the white man to run away from Rhodesia using the fastest way possible back then... the steam train. It is essentially... and anti colonial (white) song. I remember listening to the farm worker sing this song on my dad's farm in the early seventies when I was a boy and on asking my dad what it meant, he explained the above. As I spoke the sindebele language quite well, on carefully listening to the words, it all made sense. It's ironic that now South Africa uses this song as it's sporting war cry.