Classical0:54Browse 1 Sheet
Sort:
Song library
Browse piano sheets by Enoch Sontanga on Zen Virtual Piano. Enoch Sontonga was a teacher and choirmaster who composed the first two stanzas of “Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika” in 1897. Born around 1873 in Uitenhage, in what is now the Eastern Cape, he belonged to the Xhosa-speaking Mpinga clan of the Tembu tribe. Teacher training took place at Lovedale Training College. In 1896 he was posted to a Methodist mission school at Nancefield, near Johannesburg. His training as a teacher and his post as a school choirmaster may suggest a working life that joined classroom teaching with choral leadership. Sontonga was the choirmaster at his school and also an amateur photographer. He had first meant the anthem for his school choir. Its first performance came in 1899, at the ordination service of Reverend Mboweni, who was the first Tsonga Methodist priest ordained. In 1901 John Langalibalele Dube founded the Ohlange Institute, and the choir at that institute popularised the anthem. A school choir was the anthem’s intended audience and the Ohlange choir popularised it, which may suggest that choral singing carried the song from one setting to another. The renowned IsiXhosa national poet Samuel E.K. Mqhayi added further verses to the anthem. “Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika” was first recorded on 16 October 1923 in London, with Sylvia Colenso, daughter of Bishop Colenso of Natal, accompanying on piano. Sontonga died on 18 April 1905, and President Nelson Mandela posthumously awarded him the Order of Meritorious Service (Gold Category). His granddaughter, Ida Rabotape, accepted the award. The 1923 London recording and the posthumous Gold Category award may point to a song and a composer whose recognition reached beyond his own lifetime.
Browse piano sheets by Enoch Sontanga on Zen Virtual Piano.
Enoch Sontonga was a teacher and choirmaster who composed the first two stanzas of “Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika” in 1897. Born around 1873 in Uitenhage, in what is now the Eastern Cape, he belonged to the Xhosa-speaking Mpinga clan of the Tembu tribe. Teacher training took place at Lovedale Training College. In 1896 he was posted to a Methodist mission school at Nancefield, near Johannesburg. His training as a teacher and his post as a school choirmaster may suggest a working life that joined classroom teaching with choral leadership.
Sontonga was the choirmaster at his school and also an amateur photographer. He had first meant the anthem for his school choir. Its first performance came in 1899, at the ordination service of Reverend Mboweni, who was the first Tsonga Methodist priest ordained. In 1901 John Langalibalele Dube founded the Ohlange Institute, and the choir at that institute popularised the anthem. A school choir was the anthem’s intended audience and the Ohlange choir popularised it, which may suggest that choral singing carried the song from one setting to another.
The renowned IsiXhosa national poet Samuel E.K. Mqhayi added further verses to the anthem. “Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika” was first recorded on 16 October 1923 in London, with Sylvia Colenso, daughter of Bishop Colenso of Natal, accompanying on piano. Sontonga died on 18 April 1905, and President Nelson Mandela posthumously awarded him the Order of Meritorious Service (Gold Category). His granddaughter, Ida Rabotape, accepted the award. The 1923 London recording and the posthumous Gold Category award may point to a song and a composer whose recognition reached beyond his own lifetime.
Search the library
Common questions
Enoch Sontonga was born around 1873 in Uitenhage, in what is now the Eastern Cape, and he trained as a teacher at Lovedale Training College.
Enoch Sontonga composed the first two stanzas of the anthem in 1897. It was first performed in 1899 at an ordination service for Reverend Mboweni.
The choir at the Ohlange Institute, founded by John Langalibalele Dube in 1901, popularised Enoch Sontonga’s anthem, and the poet Samuel E.K. Mqhayi added further verses.
Enoch Sontonga, who died on 18 April 1905, was posthumously awarded the Order of Meritorious Service (Gold Category) by President Nelson Mandela, and his granddaughter Ida Rabotape accepted it.