Ugandan Song "Sifuni Mungu" (Information, Videos, & Lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents information about, videos of, and lyrics for the Christian song "O Sifuni Mungu".

The content of this post is presented for historical, religious, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

OVERVIEW OF THE SONG "O SIFUNI MUNGU"
"O Sifuni Mungu" is a Christian song with KiSwahili & English lyrics and an uptempo African style tune. "O Sifuni Mungu's" lyrics & music were composed in the mid 1980s by Asukulu 'Yunu Mukalay, David Maddux, Marty McCall, and Mmunga Mwenebulongo Mulongoy, and the song was arranged by Roger Emerson.

"O Sifuni Mungu" is an adaptation of the hymn "All Creatures Of Our God And King" which was composed in the 13th century by St. Francis of Assisi.

One of the composers of "O Sifuni Mungu", Marty McCall is a member of the American Christian accapella trio "First Call" and in the mid 1980s* that White American group was the first to record "O Sifuni Mungu."

The Uganda, East Africa group "African Children's Choir" recorded "O Sifuni Mungu" in the 1980s* and in so doing, greatly popularized that song.

"O Sifuni Mungu" is widely performed by school choral groups and other choral groups in the United States and elsewhere in the world.

The song "O Sifuni Mungu" is often given the English title "All Creatures Of Our God And King". However, the English translation of the KiSwahili words "O Sifuni Mungu" is actually "Praise the Lord".

*I've not been able to identify the exact year that First Call recorded "O Sifuni Mungu". I also don't know the exact year that The African Children's Choir first recorded their very popular version of "O Sifuni Mungu". I'd appreciate any information that readers of this post might have about those dates.

VIDEOS OF O SIFUNI MUNGU
Example #1: Sifuni Mungu (video version) - First Call



interpreter2006,Uploaded on Mar 9, 2007

In 1992 First Call released a pair of videos on vocal styles. One of those videos contained this jazzed-up version of "O Sifuni Mungu." It's simply amazing!
-snip-
From http://kevin_haynes.tripod.com/first_call_page.html
"The group First Call was originally formed in the mid-1980's. It consisted then of Marty McCall, Bonnie Keen, and Melodie (or Mel) Tunney. The three members had done a lot of BGV (background vocals) for Contemporary Christian artists, most notably Sandi Patti. They decided to market themselves as a ready-made vocal group for projects."...
-snip-
Here are two comments from this video's viewer comment thread:
jchard6, 2010
"as a native swahili speaker i find most groups that sing this just slaughter the pronunciation, but these guys are great! awesome job!"

interpreter2006, 2010
"Thanks for commenting! The man you see in the video co-wrote this song with a friend of his who spoke Swahili. I imagine that friend coached these three so that they could pronounce it all correctly! :)"
-snip-
Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFgyF25iyF4 for a sound file with lyrics of First Call's original version of "O Sifuni Mungu".

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Example #2: Teach me to Dance (O'sifuni mungu)



ColtonTheCat, Uploaded on Oct 11, 2009

Watch the Choir in action, singing O'sifuni mungu in front of 2200 people at the Orpheum in Vancouver BC, Canada...
-snip-
The "African Children's Choir" was formed by Ray Barnett in Uganda in 1984. "Teach Me To Dance" is the title of the African Children's Choir's latest Cd & DVD.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Children's_Choir

"The African Children's Choir is a large choir made up of children ages 7 to 12 from several African nations. Since its inception, the choir has included children from Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana. Many of the children have lost one or both parents to AIDS and other poverty-related diseases, and all of them are victims of extreme poverty."
-snip-
Click http://www.singers.com/group/African-Childrens-Choir/ for more information about the African Children's Choir and for a Cd list of that group's recordings.

Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpsijxAjQRE for a sound file of the African Children's Choir's first recording of "O Sifuni Mungu".

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LYRICS: O SIFUNI MUNGU
(words and music: Marty McCall, David Maddux, Mmunga Mwenebulongo, and Asukulu 'Yunu Mukalay, an adaptation of "All Creatures Of Our God And King" by St. Francis Assisi)

Viumbe vyote vya mungu wetu
Na mfalme wetu
Viumbe vyote vya mungu wetu
Na mfalme wetu
Pazeni sauti ili nasi mwimbe
Pazeni sauti ili nasi mwimbe
Watu wote
Viumbe vyote
Awaye yote
Sifu mungu
Watu wote
Viumbe vyote
Awaye yote
Sifu mungu
All creatures of our God and King (O sifuni mungu)
Lift up your voice and with us sing (O sifuni mungu)
Thou burning sun with golden beam (imbeni, imbeni)
Thou silver moon with softer gleam (pazeni, sauti, imbeni)
Viumbe vyote vya mungu wetu
Na mfalme wetu
Viumbe vyote vya mungu wetu
Na mfalme wetu
Pazeni sauti ili nasi mwimbe
Pazeni sauti ili nasi mwimbe
All men (Watu wote)
All creatures (Viumbe vyote)
Everybody (Awaye yote)
Praise the Lord (Sifu mungu)
All men (Watu wote)
All creatures (Viumbe vyote)
Everybody (Awaye yote)
Praise the Lord (Sifu mungu)
Thou rushing wind that art so strong (O sifuni mungu)
Ye clouds that sail in heaven along (O sifuni mungu)
Thou rising morn in praise rejoice (imbeni, imbeni)
Ye lights of evening find a voice (Pazeni sauti imbeni)
Viumbe vyote vya mungu wetu
Na mfalme wetu
Viumbe vyote vya mungu wetu
Na mfalme wetu
Pazeni sauti ili nasi mwimbe
Pazeni sauti ili nasi mwimbe
All men (watu wote)
All creatures (viumbe vyote)
Everybody (awaye yote)
Praise the Lord (sifu mungu)
All men (watu wote)
All creatures (viumbe vyote)
Everybody (awaye yote)
Praise the Lord (sifu mungu)
Thou flowing water pure and clear (hm,hm,hm,hm)
Make music for thy Lord to hear! (hm,hm,hm,hm)
Thou fire, so masterful and bright (imbeni!)
That givest man both warmth and light (imbeni)
Viumbe vyote vya mungu wetu
Viumbe vyote vya mungu wetu
Pazeni sauti
Pazeni sauti
Tusifu mungu
Let all things their Creator bless (O sifuni mungu)
And worship Him in humbleness (O sifuni mungu)
Oh praise the Father, praise the Son (imbeni, imbeni)
And praise the Spirit, three in one (pazeni sauti imbeni)
Viumbe vyote vya mungu wetu
Na mfalme wetu
Viumbe vyote vya mungu wetu
Na mfalme wetu
Pazeni sauti ili nasi mwimbe
Pazeni sauti ili nasi mwimbe
All men (watu wote)
All creatures (viumbe vyote)
Everybody (awaye yote)
Praise the Lord (sifu mungu)
All men (watu wote)
All creatures (viumbe vyote)
Everybody (awaye yote)
Praise the Lord (sifu mungu)
O sifuni mungu (imbeni)
O sifuni mungu (imbeni)
O sifuni mungu (imbeni)
Tusifu mungu
O sifuni mungu (imbeni)
O sifuni mungu (imbeni)
O sifuni mungu (imbeni)
Tusifu mungu,
Tusifu mungu,
Tusifu mungu,
Pazeni sauti na wote imbeni
O sifuni mungu!

From http://lyricstranslate.com/en/forum/o-sifuni-mungu posted by Guest, 02/06/2009

RELATED LINKS
Click http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/a/c/acoogak.htm for information about and lyrics of the song ""All Creatures Of Our God And King".

Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc6QkhChlEg for a sound file of the song "All Creatures Of Our God And King."

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to the composers & performers of both of these religious songs. Thanks also to all those who I quoted in this post.

Also, thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.