This post provides information about the Soweto Uprising (June 16, 1976) and information about the 1992 South African movie Sarafina.
This post also showcases several songs from that movie that were sung during the funeral scene. Selected comments from this YouTube video's discussion thread are also included in this post. Brief explanatory comments are included with some of these comments.
The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, inspirational, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all the students who were involved in what is now known as the Soweto Uprising. RIP to those who lost their lives in that struggle for freedom or who have since passed on.
Thanks also to Mbongeni Ngema, Stanley Myers, and Hugh Masekela who were responsible for the music in the Sarafina movie. Thanks to the actors and singers in this movie, and all who are associated with that movie. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. And thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SOWETO UPRISING
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarafina!_(film)
"Sarafina! is a 1992 South African film starring Leleti Khumalo, Whoopi Goldberg, Miriam Makeba, John Kani and Tertius Meintjies.
Plot
The plot centres on students involved in the Soweto Riots, in opposition to the implementation of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in schools....
Production
The film was shot on location in Soweto and Johannesburg, South Africa. Darrell Roodt directed, with the script by Mbongeni Ngema and William Nicholson. Leleti Khumalo reprised her role as Sarafina, with Whoopi Goldberg as Mary Masombuka and Miriam Makeba as Angelina. Companies involved included the British Broadcasting Corporation. In the United States, the MPAA, rated the film PG-13 for scenes of apartheid-driven violence. The extended version, released in 1993, was rated R for strong scenes of violence. For Whoopi Goldberg, this was a project she was determined to be a part of, and convinced the executives at Disney that if they agreed to make this film, she would agree to reprise her role as Dolores Van Cartier in Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit, which Disney was very keen to make since the original had brought in many millions worldwide."...
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SHOWCASE VIDEO: sarafina.the funeral song
sintiana Uploaded on Mar 24, 2010
Apartheid story and musical
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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S VIEWER DISCUSSION THREAD
With the exception of the transcription of the pastor's speech, these comments are given in chronological order with the oldest published comment given first, except for responses. However, these comments may not be in consecutive order.
I've assigned numbers to these comments for referencing purpose only
Transcription of the pastor's speech:
1. kanakaseoful, 2011
"They fear you because you are young they fear you because you are the future, how fearful they must be that they shoot you children? How powerful you must be, that they fear you so much? You are powerful because you are the generation that will be FREE the violence, the beatings, the torture the killings all this is the best pain of our freedom Nation, please God may I live to see it, but if I don’t I see it now on your faces, like the light of the rising sun and"
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2. kanakaseoful, 2011
"cont...My heart flips within me as if I too was young again, and I know Oh yes I know, FREEDOM IS COMING TOMORROW..May our children rest in peace, ashes to ashes, dust to dust."
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2010
3. 051495
EVERYTIME I hear this, EVERY time I see this, I get chills, and I feel the tense atmosphere of the apartheid struggle. at one point when I was younger I remember always crying and being overcome by the emotion of this scene. I'm congolese but I feel for my african brothers and sisters. I'm grateful for people like Nelson Mandela because God has blessed them to live against injustice and pain like this.
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4. 00Crazyness
"RIP to all those children that lost their lives in the soweto uprising, I pray and hope that they are granted access to heaven and I wish all their families the best in life. This is so touching and sad to think what our beautiful motherland has been through, all the blood shed, disease and suffering of our people, it makes me so teary but we will rise. All you africans doing good, help other africans that are not and dont forget your people back home!"
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5. vaheasiolaa
"ive been trying to search this song for a really long time now....thank you so much for posting it up.........this song always brings me to tears.........R.I.P 2 all africans that died 4 PEACE..........
XO
Wow. Thank you for posting this video."
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6. Venus Soleil-Stardust
"This movie rips pain and tears from my soul....the song is the most painful song I have ever heard, it touches me sooo deeply....LOVE THE MOVIE...anyone knows the name of the song?????"
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2011
7. salina awino
"am so proud to be african.....wen i look at what our ancestors had to go thru to gain freedom it just hurts.....respect to them!!!!!"
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8. Rita Panariello
"somone can tell me whtat are they saying in zulu lanuage???"
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Reply
9. Sibulele Mjali
"lol its Xhosa, not Zulu :) and they are singing: "ndihlupheke ndinjena, ndizilahlela kuweBaba!" which means..."troubled as I am, I throw myself unto you Father" :) And the girl at the end with the pipes is singing: "Oh Nkosi yami" which means "Oh My Lord" :)"
-snip-
"pipes" = powerful voice
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10. Sibulele Mjali
"ndihlupheke ndijejeje...ndizilahlela kuwe Baba! <3 Eish...uWendy had some pipes!"
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11. Nomsa Radebe"RIP Wendy Mseleku"
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12. mau sy
"dis movie just make think about myself and other african that could change africa and unite"
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2012
13. nthabi shabangu
"how soon do we forget? I ask this to the youth of today my fellow brother's and sister's."
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14. jenimah paul
"i can not imagntion the pain they went through every day to survoir and the pain they went through to get through the day."
-snip-
"survoir"= survive
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15. RocknRollDina3 years ago
"May our children rest in peace" such a sad line. Beautiful singing and movie and people.
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16. Nathan Pressley
"there is three songs,you know about the first song from what I said, The second song I think was compose just for the movie cause I can not find it any place. And the last song is Freedom is coming tomorrow.
-snip-
Nathan Pressley said that the title of the first song was "Lord Give Us Power".
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17. Nathan Pressley
"The composer's name is Mbongeni Ngema,and you can buy the longer version from Amazon."
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18. Sezz Roo
"does anyone know where i can get a hold of that song.. Rest In Love Matiba x"
-snip-
"Madiba"- Madiba: [muh-dee-buh] An affectionate name for former President Nelson Mandela, and the name of his clan.ttp://www.southafrica.info/travel/advice/saenglish.htm#.V2PoGJErLcs#ixzz4Bq1W64W8
Also, read this excerpt about names given to Nelson Mandela from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/nelson-mandela/10501587/Nelson-Mandela-Madiba-Tata-whats-in-a-name.html
"What’s in a name? Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is often known by other names...
"Madiba - the name of the clan of which Mandela is a member. A clan name is much more important than a surname as it refers to the ancestor from which a person is descended. Madiba was the name of a Thembu chief who ruled in the Transkei in the 18th century. It is considered very polite to use someone’s clan name.
Tata - in Xhosa, the language of the Madiba tribe, the word means “father”, but it is a term of endearment given to him by many South Africans regardless of their age."
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Reply
19.. Sibulele Mjali, 2014
"It's not this particular version and it's about 11min long but the full song is called Give Us Power by Mbongeni Ngema. :) it's on Spotify if you have it xx"
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20. Tshegofatso Makhafola
"The real title of the song is "Oh Lord, Give Us Power"
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21. Nathan Pressley
"The composer's name is Mbongeni Ngema,and you can buy the longer version from Amazon."
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2013
22. Frederick Silver
"Remember what they did!!!!always remember what they did"
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23. Muso Lenko
"We are proud of who we are today because of our fore bearers."
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24. nels
"Sometimes things change only to remain the same.. cry beloved Africa for your children total freedom must still come!"
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25. JesaStar
"Bless those who have fought their ENTIRE life for their basic human rights. Bless all of the righteous fighters... You fight in a worthy and amazingly essential way. Private in your strength and diversity, you are NOT alone. I am but one person, yet I represent thousands. I bow to you and your strength."
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26. kenya
"RIP Tata Madiba.....Forever you are and will be a hero. Your legacy lives.....Forever Tata Madiba!!!!!!!!!!"
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27. Tsholofelo Matsi
"wow.this brought tears to my eyes. RIP Tata. Freedom is here. and its all because of you and your friends oWalter Sisulu no Moses Mabida. South Africans, we are blessed for real. Lets not let our freedom slip through our hands. And as for Mbongeni Ngema, nobody else composes songs like you Madlokovu. May God continue to give you more and more creative juices."
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28. Marlon van rooyen
"Joh to think people went through all of this for our generation . Don't have words"
-snip-
"yoh" – an expression of surprise e.g., "Yoh, that was rude" "Yoh, you gave me a fright!", (Police-chief talking about the poor physique of his policemen) "They should look at our men and say "yoh!". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_South_African_slang_words
-snip-
My guess is that "yoh" is similar to the English word "wow".
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29. Dawn Els
"extremely painful history, all the innocent that got killed, oh God it is painful to have lived those days and saw this happening...."
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30. Sabelo Mzizi
"lala ngamandla Nelson Mandela!! Long live the ideals that you and the ancestors you have now joined have preached! Mayibuye i Africa!! Because of you and our ancestors our pride as Africans is endless!"
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31. Nozipho Khumalo
"The Great elephant has fallen, Rest in peace uyemyem"
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32. Seanokeng Lefebvre
"the best Musical out of Africa, about Africans, by Africans in South Africa during Apartheid. I love, I love, I love. Spirit!"
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33. Njabulo Zikhali
"We Black South Africans are SAINT'S, we managed to forgive white people after all the HELL they made us go through in our own land. I hope one day they realise it and start appreciating...."
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Reply
34. Delicia d, 2015
"Brother even in America we went through hell with them but we are still moving only God will judge them"
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2014
35. Nsovo Sambo
"Its sad that the song after the speech is not in the album... its so powerful..."
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36. Andile copy007
"I HOPE AND WISH MANY YOUTH OF OUR MZANSI CAN BE STRONG LIKE YOUTH OF 1976"
-snip-
Mzansi – South Africa (uMzantsi in Xhosa means "south") https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_South_African_slang_words
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37. brian kamau
"Everytime a watch the movie a have this feeling that makes me proud to be an african...our fore fathers fought for our freedom n its a shame that most african leaders want that to go dwn the drain..."
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38. Ferdinand Bett
"a hash reminder of our colonial masters cruelity... we must protect our freedom.."
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39. William Lock
"I watched this as a kid and loved the musical parts, I watched it recently as an adult and I understand the seriousness of the whole movie, overcoming oppression and how rich African history is. Sarafina is sooooo fine, when she pumps her fist I fall in love lol"
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40. Thapelo Roberts
"Guys come on please either we talk about this movie song and it's characters or keep quite, I'm South African and ashamed of my fellow South Africans who did that to our fellow Africans but now seriously we can't bring that painfull situation in every topic we are having come on guys and I apologize on my country's behalf that, now let us watch and listen to these beautiful voices. God bless Africa."
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2015
41. SEDI BOY
"RESPECT THOSE WHO SACRIFICED THEIR LIFE'S FOR WHAT YOU HAVE RIGHT NOW!!!!!!"
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42. Amina Nomfundo Timamu
"They fear you bcoz you are young.They fear you bcz you are the future oh God may I live to see this day but if I don't I see it clearly in your eyes......wow powerful words Pastor"
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faizal020
43. "16 June today !!! Happy Youth Day"
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Hermann bokke
44. "I enjoyed watching sarafina video it's nd every year on African child day."
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45. MVUYISI RAWU
"we appriciate the effort of students who tried to fyt fo us as current generation to have beta education bt even nw we r struggling to get proper education our president is Building houses of millions we r being shot by da police for protesting fo our education and we are tear gased... who do we blame nw da Apartheid regime bt it is no longer in existence bt we kip on referring to it... Zuma and his Anc failed us as tertiary students we say we want 0% fee increment"
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46. Collective Learnings
"the song is so touching!! It was so so sad watching this movies long years ago, seeing South Africans oppressed in their own land. I love that Pastor said, "You are the future for this nation" that's powerful ...YES!!!Oh Thank God, they are free !"
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2016
47. Siva Kuli
"One of the best movies. They sing with so much emotions n you can feel the pain as they sing It's so real!!!"
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48. Mary Polline
"Something Happens Deep within when I listen to this song...God Bless Motherland..Africa!"
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49. Simba Livingston
"Tears fall from my eyes even now when I here this song"
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50. Samuel Juma
"ooooh so painfull they were really heroes."
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51. Katlego Boitumelo Morake
"My heart is so grateful to those who faught for my rights they made me who I am todau"
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