"Use your God-given gifts to serve others." 1 Peter 4: 10
Ladysmith Black Mambazo are a South African male choral group singing in the local vocal styles of isicathamiya and mbube. Set up by Joseph Shabalala in 1960, Ladysmith Black Mambazo became one of South Africa's most famous music groups.
The National Anthem of South Africa was adopted in 1997.
It is a song which is made up of two different songs: the 19th century hymn 'Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika' and the Afrikaans song 'Die Stem van Sjuid-Afrika which was used as the South African national anthem during the apartheid era.
The lyrics employ the five most widely spoken of South Africa's eleven official languages – Xhosa (first stanza, first two lines), Zulu (first stanza, last two lines), Sesotho (second stanza), Afrikaans (third stanza), and English (final stanza). The lyrics are sung in these languages regardless of the native language of the singer.
The anthem is often called "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika", but this has never been its official title, which is simply "National Anthem of South Africa".
This has been chosen as asong to listen to this week in memory of Desmond Tutu who passed away last week. He was the first black African to become the Archbishop of Capetown (1986 - 96)