Joe, thanks to the threads you pointed me to I've now got some information about the song, though I welcome anything more people come up with. I dug through my old copies of Sing Out, and volume 31/number 4 contains the song and a little background. The notes in SO are apparently identical to those found on the album Travelin' on With the Weavers.

I then dug out my copy of the classic Pete Seeger record, We Shall Overcome, but uncharacteristically for Pete there is no helpful information about Tshotsholosa on the jacket. If my turntable worked I'd play Pete's version of it, but my longterm memory is that he just sings the song.

It is a South African freedom song, sung in Swahili, but the lyrics talk about a train from Rhodesia (or more recently Zimbabwe). Can someone explain this reference to another country for me?

Jeremiah McCaw was researching the song a couple of years ago. Are you there Jeremiah and do you have any more info?

Bob Biderman