Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika

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"Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" ("God Bless Africa" in the Xhosa language) is a hymn composed in 1897 by Enoch Sontonga, a teacher at a Methodist mission school in Johannesburg, South Africa. The hymn is the national anthem of Tanzania and Zambia. It was the anthem of ANC since 1925, and part of South Africa's national anthem since 1994. It is also the former anthem of Zimbabwe and Namibia.

The words of the first stanza were originally written in Xhosa as a hymn. In 1927 seven additional Xhosa stanzas were added by the poet Samuel Mqhayi. Solomon Plaatje, one of South Africa's greatest writers and a founding member of the ANC, was the first to have the song recorded. This was in London in 1923. A Sotho version was published in 1942 by Moses Mphahlele. Rev. John L. Dube 's Ohlange Zulu Choir popularised the hymn at concerts in Johannesburg, and it became a popular church hymn that was also adopted as the anthem at political meetings. It has also been recorded by artists like Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the Mahotella Queens.