Translate

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

The Languages Used In South African Singer Bucie's Song "Easy To Love"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases the official video of South African singer Bucie's song "Easy To Love", featuring Heavy K. Information about Bucie is also given in this post.

This post also presents selected comments from this video's discussion thread which focus on the languages used in that song.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/02/comments-about-skin-color-in-youtube.html for another pancocjams post that features this video. That post provides a compilation of the comments about skin color that were posted to this video's discussion thread to date. Those comments provide information about attitudes in South Africa about "light skinned" and "dark skinned" people Black people.

****
The content of this post is presented for linguistic, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Bucie and Heavy K for their musical skills. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.

****
This post is part of ongoing pancocojams series on linguistics. I'm particularly interested in African American Vernacular English, Jamaican Patois, African Creole languages, and the combinations of those languages/dialects with traditional African languages in YouTube music, and/or in YouTube discussion threads.

Click the tabs below to find other pancocojams posts in this series.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT BUCIE
From https://bucie.wordpress.com/about/
..."Loaded with the vocal capabilities, sumptuous looks and captivating moves, [Bucie] has really transformed into a new jewel of South African music industry.

Born as Busisiwe Nolubabalo Nqwiliso in 1987 in Kimberly, Bucie
was like any other teenage girls of her age growing up in her home
town Klerksdorp who attended high school and loved to sing for fun
together with some friends and led the local church choir and
participated in a number of arts programs. It all began to change
drastically after she was introduced to Thandukwazi “Demor”
Sikhosana”, a South African music producer who is also the co-owner
of Demor Music.

Demor, the then music lecturer at Central Johannesburg College,
where Bucie was a music student, was looking for a female artist to
sign to a newly formed record Label (Demor Music) where Bucie later
bought shares and now co-owns. A friend of hers recommended her
to Demor and after a quick audition in one of the school’s offices, The producer knew he had found more than just the voice he was looking for - ... Demor, says ...
“It was a combination of beauty,talent, amazing vocal ability and
personality. From that I could just see a superstar,”

...Bucie’s second offering entitled “Turn Me on” earned Bucie her international success following class collaboration with Black Coffee released and licensed to a German based Label GOGO MUSIC, withremixes by renowned House music producers and remixers such as Ralf Gum, Raw Artistic Soul with no1 selling single on Track source.

2010 saw Demor Music collaborating with Soulistic music once more
as Bucie and Black Coffee brought their magic again with their smash world wide hit Superman which topped the charts, and earned the duo award nominations such as SAMA, MTV BASE, METRO and
2011 Winter Music Conference Awards (Miami)"

****
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucie
"Bucie (born Busisiwe Nolubabalo Nqwiliso, 10 March 1987)[1] is a South African R&B and House singer. Her 2014 "Easy To Love" single peaked at number 9 on South Africa's official music chart.[2]"
-snip-
Click
https://sahouse.wordpress.com/tag/heavy-k/for information about Heavy K.

****
SHOWCASE VIDEO - Bucie feat Heavy K - Easy to Love( Official Video)

.

DEMORMUSICTV, Published on Feb 26, 2014

****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT1GMoi0hGo

These comments focus on which language or languages are used in Bucie's song "Easy To Love". I've included all the comments on this subject to date that are found in that discussion thread.

These comments are presented in chronological order with the oldest comments given first except for replies. These comments may not be in consecutive order.

Four asterisks after a particular comment marks the end of a particular sub-thread of comments with replies.

I've assigned numbers for referencing purposes only.

1. Sherifat Adeniyi, 2014
"what language is this in? Afrikaans or Zulu or another?"

**
Reply
2. Neo Jafta, 2014
"Zulu"

**
Reply
3. Laura Lira, 2014
"That's Xhosa"

**
Reply
4. bandile21, 2014
"It's a mixture of Zulu and Xhosa. The chorus is in Zulu and English obviously"

**
Reply
5. Malusi Mqadi, 2014
"Zulu"

**
Reply
6. KAMVA TREVOR SONGO Zenani, 2014
"Xhosa"

**
Reply
7. manayesh, 2014
"zulu. 'I' in xhosa is 'ndi' and she says 'ngi' which is zulu for 'I'."

**
Reply
8. Sulezi Makalima, 2014
+Malusi Mqadi
"Xhosa"

**
9. Reply
Malusi Mqadi, 2014
"+Sherifat Adeniyi and how do you say it in Zulu?"

**
10. Whoonga Goat, 2014
"she's theting not khuluming"

**
Reply
11. The Prince, 2015
"Afrikaans"*

**
Reply
12. Whoonga Goat, 2015
"+The Prince lol"*

**
Reply
13. The Prince, 2015
"+Rex Normal Lol I see people arguing whether it's Xhosa or Zulu. I hate to break it to them but the song is in Afrikaans. Problemo solved"*

**
Reply
14. Shirley Mlotywa, 2015
"+The Prince loooooooool prince you killing me yooooo dude:*

**
Reply
15. Sherifat Adeniyi, 2015
"Now I'm confused haha is it Afrikaans, Xhosa or Zulu"?

**
Reply
16. Shirley Mlotywa, 2015
"Zulu dear"

**
Reply
17. Sherifat Adeniyi, 2015
"thank you"

**
Reply
18. Lwando (Earl), 2015
"+Sherifat Adeniyi its Xhosa, they're arguing because Xhosa and Zulu are mostly similar. I really can't hear Zulu word here."

**
Reply
19. Phakamani Samukelo, 2015
"isiZulu baba amaXhosa athanda kaab ukuy'fak eyntwen maaan"

**
Reply
20. Lwando (Earl), 2015
"so Phakamani in Zulu niyathetha?"

**
Reply
21. Whoonga Goat, 2015
"+Lwando Giyama in his imagination maybe lol"

**
Reply
22. Lwando (Earl), 2015
"+God Goon hahaha lol..listening is s skill hey, qha some people lack it."

**
The Prince, 2015
23. "+Phakamani Samukelo Ignorance is bliss"
-snip-
*Click http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/sidebar.php?id=65-258-3 for historical background that explains why Prince wasn't being serious about his comment that Bucie was singing in Afrikaans. The link given after #37 also provides clues as to why other commenters thought that Prince's comment was funny.

****
24. Ruth Wambui, 2014
"awwwwwhhh so so Loving the pretty Bucie....though I only understand the chorus...kwazi kwa lulu"

**
Reply
25. Arthur “kabe25” - Kunshani
""kwaze kwalula ukuthanda"...... Zulu for "its now so easy to love you" ........."

**
26. magicalparadise, August 2015
"What language is Bucie singing in? Such a lovely song."

**
Reply
27. Joy Sitholé, September 2015 6 months ago
"Mixture of Zulu and Xhosa (very similar)"

**
Reply
28. magicalparadise , September 2015
"thanks for info!"

****
29. magicalparadise, September 2015
"What language is Bucie singing in? Such a lovely song!"
-snip-
This question was posted two times by the same commenter.

**
Reply
30. Whoonga Goat, September 2015
"+magicalparadise Xhosa"

**
Reply
31. magicalparadise, September 2015
"+God Goon okay!" *

**
Reply
32. TheLoxionKasie, December 2015
"+Ntombizanele Bless* She's singing in both languages. You know South Africans jump back and forth between languages when they speak, so act like you know."

**
Reply
33. magicalparadise, December 2015
"+Ntombizanele Bless*
appreciate the feedback. I'm learning more about the traditional language of South Africa via Z.A house music."

**
Reply
34. magicalparadise, 2015
"+TheLoxionKasie thanks for the reply."

**
35. TheLoxionKasie, 2015
"+Ntombizanele Bless* In short, we should believe you cause you say so? No, sisi, it doesn't work like that. Bucie is Xhosa, but this song is in both Xhosa and Zulu. If you want, I can tell you which parts are in Zulu, but am sure you know that already :P

Indlel'ohambha ngayo (borderline/both)
Othetha ngayo (Xhosa)
Ohleka ngayo (borderline/both)
Mmm, uncumo lwakho (Xhosa)
He's my African man
nob' unobeka idayimane phambi kwami (Xhosa)
uth'angikhethe (Zulu)
Ndihambha nawe oh ndihambha name (Xhosa)

Indoda ecikiziweyo, ezithembileyo (Xhosa)
Ehlonipha masiko with no compromise (Funky Zulu)**
Sonke siyazi (Zulu)
Now that's a turn on
Nob' unobeka iferari phambi kwami (Xhosa) uth'angikhethe (Zulu)
Ndihambha nawe oh ndihamba name (Xhosa)"

**
Reply
36. magicalparadise, January 2016
"+TheLoxionKasie Excellent! thanks for the breakdown! Linguistics is fascinating!"

**
Reply
37. TheLoxionKasie, January 2016
"+Ntombizanele Bless* LOL so, it is now 99% Xhosa and no longer 100% Xhosa? So if "hlonipha amasiko" is ALSO Xhosa, on what grounds is it not Zulu? Why on earth would someone sing in Xhosa and then suddenly forget to stick to the language when it comes to one specific word? makes no sense. You have already admitted that the song is not 100% Xhosa. So, you are reaching. This is a song made in a mix of languages in true Gauteng style. Xhosa and Zulu are the two languages in the song. And no, she doesn't say "uthi andikhethe". If she were speaking Xhosa in that line, she would have said "Uthi mandikhethe". But she isn't. Zulu is the line, with thanks."
-snip-
*God Goon and Ntombizanele Bless both appear to be screen names for Whoonga Goat. Another possibility is that the comments posted by Ntombizanele Bless have been deleted. That appears to be the case given some of the comments in #37. In any event, from these replies, Ntombizanele Bless appears to have written that "Easy To Love" was sung in Xhosa.

**
"Funky Zulu" probably refers to the South African Creole language "Iscamtho". Click http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Be-proud-of-your-township-lingo-says-expert-20150807 Be proud of your township lingo, says expert" for an interesting 2015 article bout Iscamtho.

****
nosipho Ntuli, November 2015
38. SOUTH AFRICA .......SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PROUD ISIZULU IS LANGUAGE OF LOVE.....

**
Reply
39. Siya Sima , January 2016
"+nosipho Ntuli And so is twin Xhosa. Listen to this song sung in both Xhosa and Zulu. Hay kodwa la mawele asithi yhu!!"

**
Reply
40. Siya Sima, January 2016
"+nosipho Ntuli  Zulu and Xhosa; sibling rivalry yhu, iyatshisa manyan :)"

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

No comments:

Post a Comment