ShoShoLoza

I  thought  that, with  all  the  fuss  and  excitement  we  have  seen  over  the  last  couple  of  days  with  regards  to  the  Springboks  and  The  Rugby  World  cup, I  would  post  the  song  Shosholoza  since  it  appears  to  be  quite  strongly  associated  with  the  Springbok  team.

The song gained further popularity after South Africa won the 1995 Rugby World Cup, and is a favourite at sport events in South Africa.

The  following  information  is  largely  taken  from  the  entry  in  Wikipedia :

Shosholoza is a Ndebele folk song that originated in Zimbabwe but was popularized in South Africa. The song was sung by all-male migrant workers that travelled by steam train from their homes in Zimbabwe to work  in South Africa's diamond and gold mines. The sound "sho sho" uses onomatopoeia and is reminiscent of the sound made by a steam train. Stimela  is the Zulu word for steam train. Zulu workers on the mines later took up the song to generate rhythm during group tasks and to alleviate boredom and stress. The original author of the song is unknown.
The song is so popular in South African culture that it is often referred to as South Africa's second national  anthem.
Shosholoza
Shosholoza
Ku lezontaba
Stimela siphum' South Africa
Shosholoza
Shosholoza
Ku lezontaba
Stimela siphum' South Africa
Wen' uyabaleka
Wen' uyabaleka
Ku lezontaba
Stimela siphum' South Africa

 

The  lyrics, roughly  translated, mean :

Go forward
Go forward
on those mountains
Steam train from South Africa
Go forward
Go forward
      on those mountains
Steam train from South Africa
You are running away
You are running away
on those mountains
Steam train from South Africa

 

Personally  my  favourite  version  of  the  song  is  the  version  by  Dan  Moyane, however, I  cannot  find  an  audio  file of  it  on  the  internet.

I  am  not  a  sports  fan, I  don't  even  know  how  you  play  rugby, so  I  cannot  really  appreciate  the  video  (especially the  2  shots  of  dead  animals), however, this  is  a  very  nice  version  of 

Shosholoza & Nkosi Sikelel'i Afrika

(click above to listen) 

Here  is  a  link  to  the  Peter  Gabriel  version  of  the  song  (click  on  the  image) :