"Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" (Afrikaans: [di 'st?m fan soei?t 'afrik?:]) or "The Call of South Africa" was the national anthem of South Africa from 1957 to 1994, and shared co-national anthem status with "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" until 1997, when a new hybrid song incorporating elements of both songs was adopted as the country's new national anthem.
Video Die Stem van Suid-Afrika
History
In May 1918, C.J. Langenhoven wrote an Afrikaans poem called "Die Stem", for which music was composed by the Reverend Marthinus Lourens de Villiers in 1921. It was widely used by the South African Broadcasting Corporation in the 1920s, which played it at the close of daily broadcasts, along with "God Save The King". It was sung publicly for the first time on 31 May 1928. It was sung in English as well as Afrikaans from 1952, with both versions having official status, while "God Save The Queen" did not cease to have official status until 1957. The poem originally had only three verses, but the government asked the author to add a fourth verse with a religious theme.
The anthem is lugubrious in tone, speaking throughout of commitment to the Vaderland (English: Fatherland) and to God. However, the anthem was generally disliked by black South Africans, who saw it as triumphalist and associated it with the apartheid regime where one verse shows dedication to Afrikaners and another to the Voortrekkers. As the dismantling of apartheid began in the early 1990s, South African teams were readmitted to international sporting events, which presented a problem as to the choice of national identity South Africa had to present. Agreements were made with the African National Congress that "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" would not be sung at rugby matches, but at a rugby union test match against New Zealand in 1992, the crowd spontaneously sang "Die Stem" during the minute of silence, and sang "Die Stem" again after the New Zealand national anthem was sung. At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona that year, Schiller's "Ode to Joy", as set to Beethoven's music, was used instead, along with a neutral Olympic flag.
"Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" retained official status after the advent of full multi-racial democracy which followed the 1994 general election. The anthem shared equal status with "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika", which had long been a traditional hymn used by the ANC. In 1995, "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" was sung by a black choir at the Rugby World Cup final match, as it had been done at the 1994 South African presidential inauguration in Pretoria, first in Afrikaans and then in English.
The practice of singing two different anthems had been a cumbersome arrangement during the transition to post-apartheid South Africa. Only the first verse of "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" was sung at ceremonies in both official languages prior 1994, with some English medium schools in what was then Natal Province singing the first verse in Afrikaans and the second in English. During this period of two national anthems, the custom was to play "Die Stem" and "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" during occasions that required the playing of a national anthem. In 1997, following the adoption of a new constitution, a new composite anthem was introduced, which combined "Nkosi Sikelel 'iAfrika" and part of the "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" to form a new hybrid song.
Maps Die Stem van Suid-Afrika
Lyrics
See also
- List of historical national anthems
- National anthem of South Africa
- National anthem of the Orange Free State
- National anthem of the Transvaal
References
External links
- Instrumental MIDI rendition
Source of article : Wikipedia
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