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Home , Malaika, Mine Again, Miriam Makeba, This Is a Love Song

OF HOME

Njabulo Madlala baritone William Vann FOREWORD

Songs of home is a reflection of a journey from the townships of to the world of classical music and . It is inspired by the South African songbook and showcases songs my grandmother sang, songs I heard and took to bed with me every night, songs I heard from , Sibongile Khumalo and Dietrich Fischer- Dieskau. This CD showcases the intense beauty of music. The unique harmonies and rhythms of Africa meeting those of Schubert, Schumann and Strauss. The click sounds spoken by the Zulu and of South Africa meeting English composers Vaughan Williams, Howells and Quilter. This is a life’s journey without boundaries. Thank you to David Bowerman and Champs Hill records for giving me this opportunity to record my first CD. William Vann, I cannot thank you enough for everything you are as a friend and colleague. May you just grow from strength to strength. My wonderful teacher of many years Robert Dean, thank you. Everyone from family to friends, teachers and colleagues, thank you for bringing the light and being continual inspirations in your own unique ways. My deepest gratitude and respect to my mother and grandmother who raised me, believed in me and supported me. Above all, they gave me the kind of love that keeps me to this day. They filled the house with music and love. May this music bring all the abundance your spirit yearns for. Thank you - Ngiyabonga! TRACK LISTING PROGRAMME NOTES

This recital by the young South African tenor Njabulo Madlala demonstrates his artistry in some jewels of the European Lieder and song repertoire and also his deep 1 THULA SIZWE Trad. 03’31 commitment to traditional African songs. 2 Fadhili William 03’38 3 LAKUTSHON’ ILANGA Mackay Davache 02’24 Du bist wie eine Blume (You are like a flower) comes from Robert Schumann’s song- 4 THULA BABA… THULA SANA Trad. 04’10 cycle Myrthen, composed between January and April 1840 to the poetry of Heinrich 5 ALLERSEELEN Richard Strauss 03’17 Heine and several other leading German (and English) poets. Schumann presented the 6 HEIMLICHE AUFFORDERUNG Richard Strauss 03’39 cycle to his wife Clara as a gift on their wedding day in September of that year. 7 MORGEN! Richard Strauss 04’04 8 LIEBESBOTSCHAFT Franz Schubert 02’51 Traditionally, German brides wore wreaths of orange blossoms on their heads, but 9 WANDRERS NACHTLIED II Franz Schubert 02’24 Schumann felt Clara deserved a more symbolic wreath of myrtle (evergreen) leaves and 10 THULA GUGU LAMI Trad. 03’28 white flowers, which together were traditionally associated with Venus. Schumann said 11 BELSAZAR Robert Schumann 05’24 Myrthen was not so much a cycle as a ‘diary’ of the love between a man and a woman 12 DU BIST WIE EINE BLUME Robert Schumann 01’48 and their struggles with the trials of life. In this context, Heine’s Du bist wie eine 13 THULA S’THANDWA SAMI Trad. 02’34 Blume receives Schumann’s most rapt and stately treatment. The repeated chords of the 14 GO, LOVELY ROSE Roger Quilter 02’56 15 O MISTRESS MINE Roger Quilter 01’42 accompaniment provide a grave, majestic background to the singer’s declamation of the 16 LINDEN LEA Ralph Vaughan Williams 02’38 text in a free kind of recitative. The song’s key is A flat major, often associated with 17 LET BEAUTY AWAKE Ralph Vaughan Williams 01’59 wedding ceremonies, and perhaps to be regarded as the ‘tonic’ of Myrthen, whose first 18 KING DAVID Herbert Howells 04’54 and last songs are also in that key. 19 DEEP RIVER Trad. 02’38 20 BAXABENE OXAMU Trad. 01’42 A very different and much larger Heine setting from 1840 is Belsazar , an extended 21 QONGQOTHWANE Trad. 02’52 narrative – composed on a single day, 7 February – of which Schumann was so proud 22 SHOSHOLOZA Trad. 03’00 that he published it as a separate opus all on its own. This is not so much, as in so 23 NKOSI SIKELEL’ IAFRIKA Trad. 02’53 many of his Heine settings, an exploration of the poet’s irony as a re-enactment of a Total playing time: 71’39 dramatic Biblical story, achieving a colour and dramatic pacing that are almost operatic. Heine’s account of Belshazzar’s feast finds Schumann responsive to every

Produced & Engineered by David Lefeber nuance and musical opportunity in the text. It begins near midnight in the quiet Edited by David Lefeber streets of Babylon, then moves to the riotous depiction of the feasting and dancing in Recorded on 25th - 27th November 2012 in the Music Room, Champs Hill, West Sussex, UK the king’s palace. At the climax of the revelry Belshazzar’s hubris leads him to utter Cover, tray and biography photographs of Njabulo by Val Adamson Track list page and reverse inlay photographs by Jillian Edelstein blasphemies against Jehovah, and a sudden shocked hush falls on the court: here Translations by Richard Stokes from The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005) Schumann’s music becomes frighteningly sparse. As the divine hand appears and writes God’s judgement against Belshazzar in letters of fire, the piano’s bass line makes a Executive Producer for Champs Hill Records: Alexander Van Ingen Label Manager for Champs Hill Records: John Dickinson sinister chromatic descent. The song ends with the chilling narration of Belshazzar’s College of Music’. According to Vaughan Williams himself the song came to him and was death, the piano confined to staccato chords separated by silences, and the voice written down in a single afternoon. Vaughan Williams takes a poem by the Dorset poet ending the song unaccompanied. William Barnes (originally in Dorset dialect) and turns it into a song of such directness Franz Schubert composed two songs entitled Wandrers Nachtlied (Wanderer’s Night and simplicity it feels as if it had always existed, as a folk song: though the subtitle he Song), both of them to poems of Goethe. The later and by far the better-known of gave it (‘a Dorset Folk Song’) is positively misleading as well as typically self-effacing. these settings, to the poem ‘Über allen Gipfeln, bist Ruh’, describing the beauty and Another early song, Let Beauty Awake forms part of Vaughan Williams’s song-cycle serenity of a sunset, dates from 1824, and Schubert requires only 14 very slow bars to Songs of Travel , composed in 1902-4 to poems of Robert Louis Stevenson. As a set the poem’s eight lines. The piano part hints at an opening hymn, at the peaceful ‘journeying’ cycle, Songs of Travel has obvious affinities with the song-cycles of motion of the woodland in beguiling figurations, and at a distant horn-call echoing Schubert, especially Winterreise. Essentially this is a set of love-songs in which the among the silent mountains. wanderer-narrator accepts philosophically the mixture of joys and sorrows that lie in Liebesbotschaft (Love’s Greeting) is from the last group of songs that Schubert wait for him along the road. It is also a cycle for domestic performance, in the home, composed, to texts by Heine, Rellstab and Seidl. They were published some months that is all about breaking out of the humdrum, cloistered life. Stevenson had written after his early death by Tobias Haslinger, who gave the collection the title some of his poems with existing tunes in mind (‘The Vagabond’ is actually said to be Schwanengesang (Swan Song) though it is not a song-cycle as such and Schubert ‘to an air of Schubert’), but Vaughan Williams fashioned new melodies for them all. The probably intended the songs to be sung separately. Liebesbotschaft is one of seven highly effective word-setting, respecting and embellishing Stevenson’s prosody, shows settings of Rellstab in the collection. According to Beethoven’s friend and amanuensis how much he had learned from his teacher Hubert Parry, whose many English Lyrics had Anton Schindler, Rellstab had hoped that Beethoven would set his poems, and after set new standards in the setting of English poetry. Let Beauty Awake , essentially a Beethoven’s death Schindler passed them on to Schubert, who decided to set them in hymn to beauty, is the second song in the cycle and unfolds a long, raptly lyrical line Beethoven’s memory. In Liebesbotschaft the water imagery of Rellstab’s opening lines over rippling piano arpeggios. prompts Schubert to allude to the music of his 1823 song-cycle Die schöne Müllerin in Charles Villiers Stanford once spoke of another of his students, Herbert Howells, as ‘my the purling demisemiquaver right-hand figure that clearly depicts the rushing brook. son in music’, though his music displays stronger affinities with that of Vaughan The voice part is a characteristically wonderful Schubertian melody, which, together Williams. King David , one of his most famous songs, was completed on 7 August 1919 with a subtle yet profoundly poetic harmonic scheme, reflects every nuance of the poem and dedicated to the tenor John Coates. This is one of many settings Howells made of yet seems as natural as a folk song. poetry by his friend Walter de la Mare, but Howells considered this one extended song, The ideal of the folk song also inspired Vaughan Williams’s most popular song, Linden which is more like a scena , with its subtle and emotionally effective harmonic Lea , which was actually his first work to be printed. It appeared in the first number of progression from E flat minor to E major, to be one of his finest works. Every stage of a new magazine devoted to the art of singing, The Vocalist , in April 1902, as by ‘E. the narrative is depicted with a flair equal to Schumann’s in Belsazar . The nightingale’s Vaughan Williams’, with a note by the editor that it ‘came to our notice on the strong song, heard only in the upper register of the piano, is a haunting inspiration, while the recommendation of Professor Stanford, whose pupil the composer was at the Royal singer needs to project a great range of vocal colour. The composer, pianist and poet Roger Quilter was one of the supreme artists among a pair of lovers meeting among a group of merry-makers, that Mackay was more famous English song-composers in the early years of the 20th century, partly due to his intense for publishing wild anarchist tracts than for his verse. Strauss’s setting, with its study of German Lieder while still a student (he was one of the ‘Frankfurt Gang’ along bravura piano part, has a fine swinging impetus. From the same group of Mackay with Percy Grainger and Cyril Scott) and also his study of contemporary French song- settings comes the ever-popular Morgen! Even though the voice never has the writers, especially Gabriel Fauré. Though he cultivated song as a kind of sublimated magnificent main tune – announced at the outset by the piano alone – but light music, he did so with elegance and fine technique and his songs are in danger counterpoints it in a mood of profound rapture, the song contains such a wealth of these days of being underrated. melodic invention and warmth of harmony that it is a classic of the late-Romantic Lied. O Mistress Mine , from Quilter’s first set of Three Shakespeare Songs , Op.6, was published Against this selection of songs from the European art-song tradition, Njabulo Madlala in 1905 and has always been admired as one of his finest songs for perfection of word- has counterpointed a range of traditional and popular African songs. He has said that setting and the interdependence of voice and accompaniment. Go, Lovely Rose , from a the strongest force in his family while he was growing up was his grandmother, a set of Five English Love Lyrics published separately between 1922 and 1928, sets a poem domestic worker and intense lover of music. ‘She was the singer in our family. She was by the 17th-century Royalist poet and political trimmer Edmund Waller. Quilter’s setting the one always to be found singing and humming Zulu folk songs and lullabies in the is sometimes criticized for its sentimentality, and sometimes hailed as Quilter’s house, while doing just about anything. She was a very quiet woman, who spoke very masterpiece, perhaps because sentimentality was an innate quality of his art. In any little, but found peace and solace in her music. Her prayer was also in song. I went to event, the open, heartfelt quality of the main melody should subdue criticism by its bed listening to her singing. There was something so special in her voice; I used to get patent sincerity. goose bumps each time I thought about it. She could easily have been a professional In song-writing, as in orchestral music, Richard Strauss hit his stride early. He wrote singer, her voice was really that good.’ The songs on this CD were all sung by Njabulo’s some superb examples in his teens, and by his mid-twenties was already an assured grandmother and mother. Thula Sizwe (Be still my country) is an -era Zulu master of the Lied. (Success in opera would take rather longer.) The set of Eight Songs lullaby, as is Thula s’thandwa sami (Sleep, my love). The more complex Thula baba... to poems by the Tyrolese poet Hermann von Gilm, which Richard Strauss issued in his Thula sana (Hush, sleep little baby) is also a lullaby, in which a mother sings to her late teens as his opus 10, is generally held to be his first truly representative child as they await the return from work of the baby’s father. Malaika (Angel, I love achievement in the field of Lieder-writing. Certainly it contains several songs that soon you) is one of the most widely known of all Swahili songs. Since the Swahili words for established themselves in the repertoire and that remain popular even today. an angel, malaika , can also mean a baby or small child, so part of this song also is Allerseelen , the last and best-loved of the set, is a radiant love song whose memories of used as a lullaby throughout East Africa. Shosholoza (Go forward) is a Ndebele folk May-time love are set in the context of the graveside flowers of the celebration of All song that was popularized in South Africa (in fact, it is sometimes referred to as South Souls’ Day (which falls on 2 November). Africa’s second national anthem) though it is believed to have originated in Zimbabwe. It was originally sung by Ndebele-speaking migrant workers who travelled by train to Heimliche Aufforderung , one of a set of four songs written in May 1894, sets a poem by labour in South Africa’s diamond and gold mines, and was taken up by Zulu workers as the Greenock-born poet John Henry Mackay, who spent most of his life in . He well. The song was sung by working miners in time with the beat as they were enjoyed quite a vogue at this period and one could never guess from this poem, about swinging their axes to dig. It was also taken up in South Africa’s prisons. Nelson NJABULO MADLALA - baritone Mandela sang Shosholoza during his imprisonment on Robben Island, to make the work feel lighter, and described it as ‘a song that compares the apartheid struggle to the Baritone Njabulo Madlala is the winner of the 2010 Kathleen Ferrier Award. He is also motion of an oncoming train’. the winner of the Singers Section at the 2012 Royal Overseas League Competition, of the 2012 Lorna Viol Memorial Prize and the Royal Overseas League Trophy for the Most Baxabene oxamu and Qongqothwane are traditional Xhosa songs and also examples of Outstanding Musician From Overseas, the Sir John Manduell Award for an Outstanding ‘Click Songs’ that allowed children to practice the various clicking sounds of the Xhosa South African Musician, The Kenneth Loveland Gift prize, the Opera Azuriales Award language (represented in transcription by the letters q and x). While Baxabene oxamu is and of the 2012 Worshipful Company of Musicians Award. Njabulo Madlala was born a nonsense rhyme of made-up words, Qongqothwane (‘Knock-knock’ beetle) is usually and grew up in Durban, South Africa. sung at weddings to bring good fortune. The particular type of beetle makes a knocking sound by tapping the ground with its abdomen, and the Xhosa believe it brings good Inspired earlier on in his life by the voice of his grandmother who worked as a cleaner, luck and the end of the dry season. Njabulo went on to study as an undergraduate (Bachelors of Music Degree) and post- graduate (Masters of Music Degree) at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in Deep River is a well-known spiritual of African-American origin, and was one of the London and the Welsh Cardiff International Academy of Voice under singing teachers spirituals used by Michael Tippett in his modern oratorio A Child of Our Time because Robert Dean and Dennis O’Neill. Njabulo has been a Britten Pears Young Artist, a he felt that spirituals had an equal force to the church chorales used in Bach’s Samling Foundation Course Young Artist led by Sir Thomas Allen and a young artist at oratorios. The idea of crossing over the river Jordan symbolizes the release of the the Ravinia International Festival in the USA. Njabulo is hugely grateful for the help Israelites from captivity, and thus also the freeing of African-Americans from slavery. without which his studies abroad would not have been possible from The Sir Peter Lakutshon’ ilanga (When the sun goes down) is one of the best-known songs by Moores Foundation (UK), The Oppenheimer Memorial Trust (SA), Countess of Munster Makwenkwe ‘Mackay’ Davashe, who died in in 1972. As a saxophonist, Trust (UK), Music Benevolent Fund (UK), Diemersfontein Excellence Out of Africa Trust bandleader and he was for over 30 years one of South Africa’s most (SA) and the National Arts Council of South Africa. prominent musicians and an inspiration to many singers. This is a love song in Since graduating, his engagements have included the title role in Mozart’s Don which the singer searches for his love in houses, hospitals and prisons. Giovanni with Mid Wales Opera touring England and Wales, Don Fernando in Finally Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika (‘God Bless Africa’ in Xhosa) was a symbol of the anti- Beethoven’s Fidelio , Bello in La Fanciulla del West and Schaunard La Bohème, both apartheid movement and the official anthem for the African National Congress in the Puccini, for Opera Holland Park, Moralès in Bizet’s Carmen for Dorset Opera, Peachum apartheid era. It became a pan-African liberation anthem and was later adopted as the The Threepenny Opera at the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Rangwan in Delius’s national anthem of Zambia, Tanzania, Namibia and Zimbabwe after independence, as Koanga at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Fisherman Bird of Night for ROH2, Don Giulio in well as becoming a portion of the multilingual national anthem of South Africa after Rossini’s L’ajo nell’imbarazzo at the Barga International Festival in Italy, Porgy in Porgy the fall of the apartheid regime. It was originally composed in 1897 by Enoch and Bess at the Cheltenham Festival and Mel in Tippett’s The Knot Garden at the Sontonga, a teacher at a Methodist mission school in , as a hymn to the Montepulciano Festival in Italy. Opera Highlights include on tour for Scottish Opera, tune ‘Aberystwyth’ by the Welsh composer Joseph Parry. Malcolm MacDonald WILLIAM VANN - piano

Scarpia Tosca for Grange Park Opera ‘Rising Stars’, Master of the Thames Boat Heart of William Vann was a chorister at King’s College, Cambridge, and a music scholar at Darkness for ROH2, Beethoven Choral Symphony with the Royal Philharmonic Bedford School before reading law and taking up a choral scholarship at Gonville Orchestra, Messiah with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Elijah at the Snape Maltings. and Caius College, Cambridge, where he was taught the piano by Peter Uppard. He He sang The Kammersinger Intermezzo Strauss at the 2012 Buxton Festival and then studied as a pianist at the Royal Academy appeared in Gathering Wave at the 2012 Three Choirs Festival. of Music with Malcolm Martineau and Colin On the concert and lieder platform Njabulo has appeared as part of the Oxford Lieder Stone, graduating with distinction. He has been Festival and participated in the Steans Young Artists Programme at Chicago’s Ravinia awarded numerous prestigious prizes for piano Festival. Concert highlights have included J.S. Bach Ich habe genug with the Ten Tors accompaniment including the Gerald Moore Orchestra and Mahler Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen for the London Philharmonic award, the Royal Overseas League Orchestra’s Foyles First series conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. With the KwaZulu Natal Accompanists’ Award, the Great Elm Awards Philharmonic Orchestra he has appeared under Arjan Tien and Richard Cock. More Accompanist Prize, the Serena Nevill Prize and the Sir Henry Richardson Scholarship. He is concerts have included recitals with Llyr Williams at the 2012 Gower Festival, d o

supported by the Geoffrey Parsons Memorial o

Christopher Duigan in Cape Town and Durban, James Baillieu at the Lake District w l l

Trust and held the Hodgson Fellowship in piano A Music Festival, with Simon Lepper at the Buxton Festival, William Vann at the m

accompaniment at the RAM. He is also the o Wigmore Hall Monday Series, Julius Drake at the 2013 Manan Festival and with Roger T

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founder of the London English Song Festival h Vignoles at the Lugo Festival in Spain and Cambridge Festivals. His broadcasts include p a r

based at the Forge, Camden, where he has g

In Tune for BBC Radio 3 and RAI in Italy. o t

performed with a wide array of artists including o h Other engagements include the title role of Aeneas in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at the James Gilchrist. P Wimbledon Festival, Mozart Requiem with the English Chamber Orchestra at Cadogan Hall, the London Mozart Players ( A Night in Venice ) and the Royal Philharmonic Major performances have included appearances at Wigmore Hall with Sir Thomas Orchestra, Belshazzar’s Feast with the Philharmonia at the Three Choirs Festival in Allen, Njabulo Madlala, Samuel Evans, Jennifer France, Kitty Whately and Johnny Gloucester and with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall. Herford (the latter in the 2013 Kathleen Ferrier Competition), recitals in the Aldeburgh Festival, Oxford Lieder Festival and City of London Festival and www.njabulomadlala.com concerts at Sage, Gateshead, St John’s, Smith Square and abroad in South Africa, Nigeria, Ireland and . He has given guest recitals for the Lennox Berkeley, Elgar, Finzi, Gurney and John Ireland Societies and performed the music of Judith Weir at the RAM in the presence of the composer. In addition to his performances 1 THULA SIZWE BE STILL MY COUNTRY of standard song repertoire, he has also either commissioned or given the first Thula Sizwe. Ungabokhala Be still my country, do not cry. performances of new English songs and song cycles by several English composers, UJehova wakho uzokunqobela Your Jehova will conquer for you including Christian Alexander, Joseph Atkins, Martin Eastwood, Johnny Herford, Inkululeko, UJehova wakho Freedom is nearly here David Nield and Graham Ross (the last two at Wigmore Hall). Uzokunqobela Freedom, Jehova will conquer for you He is a Samling Scholar, a Yeoman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, a Trad. Trans. Njabulo Madlala Young Songmaker and a Britten-Pears Young Artist. He also works as a conductor 2 MALAIKA MY ANGEL and repetiteur and is the Director of Music at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, the Malaika, nakupenda Malaika Angel, I love you angel assistant conductor and chorus master at Bury Court Opera and a coach on the Malaika, nakupenda Malaika Angel, I love you angel Oxenfoord Summer School. William can be found online at www.williamvann.com Ningekuoa mali we I would marry you my fortune and www.londonenglishsongfestival.org . Ningekuoa dada I would marry you sister Nashindwa na mali sina we Was I not defeated by the lack of fortune Ningekuoa Malaika I would marry you angel Nashindwa na mali sina we Was I not defeated by the lack of fortune Ningekuoa Malaika I would marry you angel Pesa zasumbua roho yangu Money is troubling my soul Pesa zasumbua roho yangu Money is troubling my soul Nami nifanyeje, kijana mwenzio, And I, your young lover, what can I do Nashindwa na mali sina we, Was I not defeated by the lack of fortune Ningekuoa Malaika. I would marry you angel Nashindwa na mali sina we, Was I not defeated by the lack of fortune Ningekuoa Malaika. I would marry you angel Kidege, hukuwaza kidege. Little bird, I dream of you little bird Kidege, hukuwaza kidege. Little bird, I dream of you little bird Ningekuoa mali we I would marry you my fortune Ningekuoa dada I would marry you sister Nashindwa na mali sina we Was I not defeated by the lack of fortune Ningekuoa Malaika I would marry you angel Nashindwa na mali sina we Was I not defeated by the lack of fortune Ningekuoa Malaika I would marry you angel Trad. Trans. Njabulo Madlala 3 LAKUTSHON‘ ILANGA WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN 5 ALLERSEELEN ALL SOULS’ DAY Lakutshon’ ilanga When the sun goes down Stell’ auf den Tisch die duftenden Reseden, Set on the table the fragrant mignonettes, Zakubuyi’ nkomo When the cows return from grassing Die letzten roten Astern trag’ herhei Bring in the last red asters, Ndakucinga Ngawe I will be thinking of you Und laß uns wieder von der Liebe reden And let us talk of love again Lakutshon’ ilanga When the sun goes down Wie einst im Mai. As once in May. Yakuvel’ inyanga The moon will appear Gib mir die Hand, daß ich sie heimlich drücke, Give me your hand to press in secret, Phesheya kolwandle Over the sea Und wenn man’s sieht, mir ist es einerlei, And if people see, I do not care, Zakubuyi ‘ntaka The birds return Gib mir nur einen deiner süßen Blicke Give me but one of your sweet glances Lakutshoni ‘langa When the sun goes down Wie einst im Mai. As once in May. Ndohamba ndikufuna I will go looking for you Es blüht und duftet heut’ auf jedem Grabe, Each grave today has flowers and is fragrant, Ezindlini In people’s homes Ein Tag im Jahr ist ja den Toten frei; One day each year is devoted to the dead; Nasezitratweni I will pound the pavements Komm’ an mein Herz, daß ich dich wieder habe, Come to my heart and so be mine again, Ez’bhedlela, etrongweni Scouring the hospital wards and prisons Wie einst im Mai. As once in May. Until I find you Ndide ndikufumane Hermann von Gilm zu Rosenegg (1812–1864) Trans. Richard Stokes Lakutshoni ‘langa When the sun goes down 6 HEIMLICHE AUFFORDERUNG SECRET INVITATION Zakubuyi ‘nkomo When the cows return from grassing Ndakucinga ngawe I will be thinking of you Auf, hebe die funkelnde Schaale Come, raise to your lips Lakutshoni langa When the sun goes down empor zum Mund, the sparkling goblet, And drink at this joyful feast Trad. Trans. Njabulo Madlala Und trinke beim Freudenmale dein Herz gesund. your heart to health. 4 THULA BABA... THULA SANA HUSH SLEEP LITTLE BABY Und wenn du sie hebst, so winke And when you raise it, give Thula thul, thula baba, Hush, hush, hush-a-bye little man, mir heimlich zu, me a secret sign, thula sana, be quiet baby Dann lächle ich, und dann trinke Then I shall smile and drink, Thul’ubab uzobuya, ekuseni. Be quiet Daddy will be back in the morning. ich still wie du … as quietly as you … Thula thul, thula baba, Hush, hush, hush-a-bye little man, Und still gleich mir betrachte And quietly like me, look thula sana, be quiet baby um uns das Heer around at the hordes Thul’ubab uzobuya, ekuseni. Be quiet Daddy will be back in the morning. Der trunkenen Schwätzer – verachte Of drunken gossips – do not Thula thul, thula baba, There’s a star that will shine and draw sie nicht zu sehr. despise them too much. thula sana, him home Thul’ubab uzobuya, ekuseni. It will illuminate his path home. Nein, hebe die blinkende Schaale, No, raise the glittering goblet, Thula thula thula baba, Hush, hush-a-bye baby gefüllt mit Wein, filled with wine, Thula thula thula sana. Hush, hush-a-bye baby. Und laß beim lärmenden Mahle And let them be happy at the noisy feast. Trad. Trans. Njabulo Madlala sie glücklich sein. Doch hast du das Mahl genossen, But once you have savoured the meal, 8 LIEBESBOTSCHAFT LOVE’S MESSAGE quenched your thirst, den Durst gestillt, Rauschendes Bächlein, Murmuring brooklet, Leave the loud company Dann verlasse der lauten Genossen So silbern und hell, So silver and bright, of happy revellers, festfreudiges Bild, Eilst zur Geliebten Is it to my love Und wandle hinaus in den Garten And come out into the garden So munter und schnell? You rush with such glee? zum Rosenstrauch, – to the rose-bush, – Ach, trautes Bächlein, Ah, be my messenger, Dort will ich dich dann erwarten There I shall wait for you Mein Bote sei Du; Beloved brook; nach altem Brauch, As I’ve always done, Bringe die Grüße Bring her greetings Des Fernen ihr zu. From her distant love. Und will an die Brust dir sinken And I shall sink on your breast, eh’ du’s gehofft, before you could hope, All’ ihre Blumen All the flowers Und deine Küsse trinken, And drink your kisses, Im Garten gepflegt, She tends in her garden, wie ehmals oft, As often before, Die sie so lieblich And wears with such grace Am Busen trägt, On her breast, And twine in your hair Und flechten in deine Haare Und ihre Rosen And her roses the glorious roses – der Rose Pracht – In purpurner Glut, In their crimson glow – Ah! come, o wondrous, O komm, du wunderbare, Bächlein, erquicke Brooklet, refresh them longed-for night! ersehnte Nacht! Mit kühlender Flut. With your cooling waves. John Henry Mackay (1864–1933) Trans. Richard Stokes Wann sie am Ufer, When on your bank, 7 MORGEN! TOMORROW! In Träume versenkt, Lost in dreams, Meiner gedenkend She inclines her head Und morgen wird die Sonne wieder scheinen And tomorrow the sun will shine again Das Köpfchen hängt; As she thinks of me – Und auf dem Wege, den ich gehen werde, And on the path that I shall take, Tröste die Süße Comfort my sweetest Wird uns, die Glücklichen, sie wieder einen, It will unite us, happy ones, again, Mit freundlichem Blick, With a kindly look, Inmitten dieser sonnenatmenden Erde … Amid this same sun-breathing earth … Denn der Geliebte For her lover Und zu dem Strand, dem weiten, wogenblauen, And to the shore, broad, blue-waved, Kehrt bald zurück. Will soon return. Werden wir still und langsam niedersteigen, We shall quietly and slowly descend, Neigt sich die Sonne And when the sun sets Stumm werden wir uns in die Augen schauen, Speechless we shall gaze into each other’s eyes, Mit rötlichem Schein, In a reddish glow, Und auf uns sinkt des Glückes stummes And the speechless silence of bliss shall fall on us Wiege das Liebchen Rock my sweetheart Schweigen … … In Schlummer ein. Into slumber. John Henry Mackay Trans. Richard Stokes Rausche sie murmelnd Murmur her In süße Ruh, Into sweet repose, Flüstre ihr Träume Whisper her Der Liebe zu. Dreams of love. Ludwig Rellstab (1799–1860) Trans. Richard Stokes 9 WANDRERS NACHTLIED II WANDERER’S NIGHTSONG II 11 BELSAZAR BELSHAZZAR Über allen Gipfeln Over every mountain-top Die Mitternacht zog näher schon; The midnight hour was drawing on; Ist Ruh’, Lies peace, In stummer Ruh’ lag Babylon. In hushed repose lay Babylon. In allen Wipfeln In every tree-top Nur oben in des Königs Schloß, But high in the castle of the king Spürest Du You scarcely feel Da flackert’s, da lärmt des Königs Troß. Torches flare, the king’s men clamour. Kaum einen Hauch; A breath of wind; Die Vöglein schweigen im Walde. The little birds are hushed in the wood. Dort oben in dem Königssaal Up there in the royal hall Warte nur, balde Wait, soon you too Belsazar hielt sein Königsmahl. Belshazzar was holding his royal feast. Ruhest du auch. Will be at peace. Die Knechte saßen in schimmernden Reihn, The vassals sat in shimmering rows, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) Trans. Richard Stokes Und leerten die Becher mit funkelndem Wein. And emptied the beakers of sparkling wine. 10 THULA GUGU LAMI HUSH TREASURE Es klirrten die Becher, es jauchzten die Knecht’; The vassals make merry, the goblets ring; Noise pleasing to that obdurate king. Thula gugu, thula s’thandwa Hush treasure, hush my love So klang es dem störrigen Könige recht. Thula gugu lami Hush baby go to sleep Des Königs Wangen leuchten Glut; The king’s cheeks glow like coals; Thula gugu lami Hush baby go to sleep Im Wein erwuchs ihm kecker Mut. His impudence grew as he quaffed the wine. Thula baba, thula gugu Hush treasure, hush my love Und blindlings reißt der Mut ihn fort; And arrogance carries him blindly away; Thula s’thandwa sam Hush baby go to sleep Und er lästert die Gottheit mit sündigem Wort. And he blasphemes God with sinful words. Thula gugu lami Hush baby go to sleep Und er brüstet sich frech, und lästert wild; And he brags insolently, blasphemes wildly; Akulale uphumule Sleep and rest Die Knechtenschar ihm Beifall brüllt. The crowd of vassals roar him on. Thula sana lwami Be quiet my beauty The king called out with pride in his eyes; Thula gugu lami Be quiet my angel Der König rief mit stolzem Blick; Der Diener eilt und kehrt zurück. The servant hurries out and quickly returns. Slaap nou, slaap sag, Sleep now, sleep softly He bore many vessels of gold on his head; Slaap nou, slaap sag. Sleep now, sleep softly Er trug viel gülden Gerät auf dem Haupt; Plundered from Jehovah’s temple. Waarom huil jy kindjie? Why do you cry little one? Das war aus dem Tempel Jehovas geraubt. Wie beseer jou vriendjie? Who has hurt you little friend? Und der König ergriff mit frevler Hand The king grabs hold of a sacred cup With impious hand, and fills it up. Thula gugu, thula s’thandwa Hush treasure, hush my love Einen heiligen Becher, gefüllt bis am Rand. Thula gugu lami Hush baby go to sleep Und er leert ihn hastig bis auf den Grund And he drains it hastily down to the dregs, Thula gugu lami Hush baby go to sleep Und rufet laut mit schäumendem Mund: And shouts aloud through foaming lips: Trad. Trans. Njabulo Madlala Jehova! dir künd’ ich auf ewig Hohn, – Jehovah, I offer you eternal scorn – Ich bin der König von Babylon! I am the king of Babylon! Doch kaum das grause Wort verklang, Those terrible words had hardly been said, 13 THULA S’THANDWA SAMI SLEEP MY LOVE Than the king was filled with secret fear. Dem König ward’s heimlich im Busen bang. Thula s’thandwa sami, thula gugu lami Hush my love, hush my treasure Das gellende Lachen verstummte zumal; The shrill laughter was suddenly silent; Thula s’thandwa senhliziyo yami Hush love of my heart Es wurde leichenstill im Saal. It became deathly still in the hall. Thula s’thandwa sami, thulake gugulami Hush my love, hush my treasure Thula s’thandwa senhliziyo yam Hush love of my heart Und sieh! und sieh! an weißer Wand And see! And see! On the white wall Da kam’s hervor wie Menschenhand; A shape appeared like a human hand; Musuhluph’ umama nje Don’t trouble your mother too much Zam’ ulalekahle Sleep peacefully, And wrote and wrote on the white wall Und schrieb und schrieb an weißer Wand Uzofika khona nje Your daddy will be home soon Letters of fire, and wrote and went. Buchstaben von Feuer, und schrieb und schwand. Zam’ ulalekahle Until then, sleep peacefully The king sat there with staring eyes, Der König stieren Blicks da saß, Thula s’thandwa sami, thula gugulami Hush my love, hush my treasure With trembling knees and pale as death. Mit schlotternden Knien und totenblaß. Thula s’thandwa senhliziyo yami Hush love of my heart Die Knechtenschar saß kalt durchgraut, The host of vassals sat stricken with horror, Trad. Trans. Njabulo Madlala Und saß gar still, gab keinen Laut. And sat quite still, and made no sound. 14 GO, LOVELY ROSE Die Magier kamen, doch keiner verstand The soothsayers came, not one of them all Zu deuten die Flammenschrift an der Wand. Could interpret the letters of fire on the wall. Go, lovely Rose! Tell her, that wastes her time and me, Belsazar ward aber in selbiger Nacht Belshazzar however in that same night That now she knows, Von seinen Knechten umgebracht. Was slain by his own vassals. When I resemble her to thee, Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) Trans. Richard Stokes How sweet and fair she seems to be. 12 DU BIST WIE EINE BLUME YOU ARE LIKE A FLOWER Tell her that’s young, And shuns to have her graces spied You are like a flower, Du bist wie eine Blume, That hadst thou sprung So sweet and fair and pure; So hold und schön und rein; In deserts, where no men abide, I look at you, and sadness Ich schau’ dich an, und Wehmut Thou must have uncommended died. Schleicht mir in’s Herz hinein. Steals into my heart. Small is the worth I feel as if I should lay Mir ist, als ob die Hände Of beauty from the light retir’d; My hands upon your head, Auf’s Haupt dir legen sollt’, Bid her come forth, Praying that God preserve you Betend, daß Gott dich erhalte Suffer herself to be desir’d, So pure and fair and sweet. So rein und schön und hold. And not blush so to be admir’d. Heinrich Heine Trans. Richard Stokes Then die! -- that she 16 LINDEN LEA 17 LET BEAUTY AWAKE King David lifted his sad eyes The common fate of all things rare Within the woodlands, flow’ry gladed, Let Beauty awake in the morn from Into the dark-boughed tree May read in thee: By the oak trees’ mossy moot, beautiful dreams, "Tell me, thou little bird that singest, How small a part of time they share The shining grass blades, timber-shaded, Beauty awake from rest! Who taught my grief to thee?" That are so wondrous sweet and fair! Now do quiver underfoot; Let Beauty awake But the bird in no-wise heeded; And birds do whistle overhead, For Beauty’s sake And the king in the cool of the moon Yet though thou fade, And water’s bubbling in its bed; In the hour when the birds awake in the brake Hearkened to the nightingale’s From thy dead leaves let fragrance rise; And there, for me, the apple tree And the stars are bright in the west! sorrowfulness, And teach the maid Do lean down low in Linden Lea. Till all his own was gone. That goodness time’s rude hand defies; Let Beauty awake in the eve from the slumber That virtue lives when beauty dies. When leaves, that lately were a-springing, of day, Walter de la Mare (1873 –1956) Now do fade within the copse, Awake in the crimson eve! Edmund Waller (1606 –1687) And painted birds do hush their singing, In the day’s dusk end 19 DEEP RIVER 15 O MISTRESS MINE Up upon the timber tops; When the shades ascend, Deep River, And brown-leaved fruits a-turning red, Let her wake to the kiss of a tender friend, My home is over Jordan. O mistress mine, where are you roaming? In cloudless sunshine overhead, To render again and receive! Deep River, Lord. O stay and hear, your true love’s coming With fruit for me, the apple tree I want to cross over into campground. That can sing both high and low. Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 –1894) Do lean down low in Linden Lea. Deep River. Trip no further, pretty sweeting; 18 KING DAVID My home is over Jordan. Let other folk make money faster Journeys end in lovers’ meeting, Deep River, Lord, In the air of dark-roomed towns; King David was a sorrowful man: Ev’ry wise man’s son doth know. I want to cross over into campground. I don’t dread a peevish master, No cause for his sorrow had he; Oh, don’t you want to go, What is love? ‘Tis not hereafter; Though no man may heed my frowns. And he called for the music of a hundred harps, To the Gospel feast; Present mirth hath present laughter; I be free to go abroad, To ease his melancholy. That Promised Land, What’s to come is still unsure: Or take again my homeward road They played till they all fell silent: Where all is peace? To where, for me, the apple tree In delay there lies no plenty; Played and play sweet did they; Oh, deep River, Lord, Do lean down low in Linden Lea. Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty; But the sorrow that haunted the heart of I want to cross over into campground. William Barnes (1801 –1886) King David Youth’s a stuff will not endure. Trad. They could not charm away. William Shakespeare (1564 –1616) He rose; and in his garden Walked by the moon alone, A nightingale hidden in a cypress tree, Jargoned on and on. 20 BAXABENE OXAMU A DISPUTE 22 SHOSHOLOZA GO FORWARD Baxabene oxamu Lizards have a dispute Shosholoza Go forward Bexabene ngengxoxo They have a dispute over a discussion Kulezo ntaba on those mountains Bexakwe yinxu baxaka They are stuck in a puzzle Stimela siphume ‘South Africa train from South africa Ayike legqitha igqele laqinge qhude ni Then came a man who got stuck with a cheat Shosholoza Go forward Beliqhatha baba They have robbed him with a piece of Kulezo ntaba On those mountains ngeqotho leqhude springbok meat Stimela siphume ‘South Africa train from South africa You are running away Trad. Trans. Njabulo Madlala Wen’ uyabaleka Kulezo ntaba On those mountains 21 QONGQOTHWANE ‘KNOCK-KNOCK’ BEETLE Stimela siphume ‘South Africa train from South Africa Igqirha lendlela nguqongqothwane The witchdoctor of the road is the beetle Trad. Trans. Njabulo Madlala Igqirha lendlela kuthwa The witchdoctor of the road is nguqongqothwane said to be the beetle 23 NKOSI SIKELEL’ IAFRIKA GOD PROTECT AFRICA Woza Moya Descend, O Spirit Ebeqabel’ egqithapha He has passed by up the Nkosi Sikelela, God protect Africa uquongqothwane steep hill, the beetle Woza Moya Descend, O Spirit Ebeqabel’ egqithapha He has passed by up the Nkosi Sikelela, God protect Africa uquongqothwane steep hill, the beetle Nkosi Sikelela, Descend, O Holy Spirit Igqirha lendlela nguqongqothwane The witchdoctor of the road is the beetle Nkosi Sikelela baba Father God protect Africa Igqirha lendlela kuthwa The witchdoctor of the road Nkosi Sikelela usapho lwayo Her family nguqongqothwane is said to be the beetle Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika, Lord, bless Africa; Ebeqabel’ egqithapha He has passed by up the Maluphakanyisw’ uphondo lwayo May her horn rise high up; ugongqothwane steep hill, the beetle Yizwa imithandazo yethu Hear Thou our prayers And bless us. Ebeqabel’ egqithapha He has passed by up the Nkosi sikelela, Descend, O Holy Spirit ugongqothwane steep hill, the beetle Nkosi sikelela Father God protect Africa Thina usapho lwayo. Her family Igqirha lendlela nguqongqothwane The witchdoctor of the road is the beetle Igqirha lendlela kuthwa The witchdoctor of the road is said to be Ma kube njalo! Ma kube njalo! May it be so, may it be so nguqongqothwane the beetle Kude kube ngunaphakade. Forever and ever, Amen Forever and ever, Amen Trad. Trans. Njabulo Madlala Kude kube ngunaphakade! Trad. Trans. Njabulo Madlala