Biko - Yihla Moja ?

[Gordon Cameron]

Sorry to hassle folk again. Thanks for the pointers that several people gave me to
the full lyrics to Peter Gabriel's `Biko'.

However, I'm curious about the following :

September '77
Port Elizabeth weather fine
It was business as usual
In police room 619
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja <------------------
-The man is dead |
|
|
Any idea what this line means (or if it's right) - sorry if this is a
ridiculously naive question !

Thanks,
-Gordon.

--
e|p Gordon Cameron | Phone:+44 31 650 5024(Rm. 2259)
c|c Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre | Email: gor...@epcc.ed.ac.uk
oOo The University of Edinburgh oOo | 'So far so good, so now so what'

[Paul A Pearson]

I had always thought that he was saying "Kill a martyr". Just my naive
interpretation.

-Allen
--
______________________________________________________________
Allen Pearson email: pea...@rtsg.mot.com
Software Engineer Motorola Cellular Infrastructure Group

[Gregory Taylor]

Gordon Cameron wants to know about the line "Yila Moja" which appears
in the chorus of Peter Gabriel's "Biko." Someone helpfully replies:

> In the book _Biko_ by Donald Woods, there is something called "African
>Anthem", which has the following line and the translation underneath:
> Woza Moya! [Yihla] Moya!
> Come Spirit! [Descend] Spirit!

You know the taped snippet which starts [and ends] the tune? The German
language borrows a different section from the same performance, but you
no doubt get the idea. The line comes from that song; the real and
proper name of the song is "Nkosi Sikelel' i- Afrika", by Enoch
Sontonga. It's the anthem of the African National Congress. [thus, calling
it the "African Anthem" *might* bother the Zulus, I expect]. You'll also
hear a section of it in the soundtrack to the film "Cry Freedom." The
line comes from the first verse:

Nkosi sikelel' i-Afrika
Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo
Yizwa Imithandazo yethu
Nkosi sikelela -- Nkosi sikelela
Nkosi sikelel' i_Afrika
Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo
Yizwa Imithandazo yethu
Nkosi sikelela -- Thina Lusapho Iwayo
Woza Moya
Yijla Moya, oyingcwele [sometimes sung as a repeat of Woza Moya]
Nkosi sikelela
Thina Lusapho Iwayo

If you listen really carefully, I'll bet you can even find the lines
they're singing from this verse in the opening of the tune.

Hope this helps. Asante, bwana.
--
I've never had much real control over things. The music of pianos, for example,
is the dead world where I loved the machine of my small freedoms, one of the
crowd in his best clothes despite the weather, the Eastern snow like the
distinct sound of pianos over the airfield. The music lifts and swells.