"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - I Thessalonians 5:16-18
I learned a new song this weekend at a ladies' conference. It is based on the above verses. Here's the catch - the song was in Zulu! Do you want to learn it with me? Here's another catch - you can't sing it without dancing! Yup, you read correctly. But if I - who grew up in a church that did not condone dancing, let alone clapping in the service (and never mind the fact that I can't dance anyway!) - can do it, so can you!
Njalo, njalo, njalo, njalo
S'yathandiza
S'yanikela
S'yadumisa
Thina njalo
... which, according to my friend Josephine, translates as: "Always, always, always, always, always praying, always giving, always praising, always." I wish I could share the music with you. I'm sitting at my desk, wearing my coat and scarf, grooving in my chair as I type. You can't NOT dance when you hear this song!
5 comments:
hello!
you don't know me but i'm a 16-year old girl from finland.
i'm interested of your blog and i read some of your stories.
especially i noticed the NEW SONG-post (i fouind if throw google) and it put a smile on my face! i know also the song njalo and it has been sung in finland,too! i just love it.
could i have your email so i could tell where i've heard it and so on? but only if you want to.
with blessing,
susanna, finland.
Hello Susanna,
Welcome to my blog! I am curious to know how the njalo song made it to Finland! I don't usually give out my email address, though. Could you explain it here? Thanks, Annie
hi!
okay, it's just fine.
well, in finland when you're 15 you go to this confirmation camp that lasts 2 weeks. i think it's the same thing in usa? anyway, usually people go there in their home town chruch but some don't.
and i didn't.
in finland we have a main mission organization called "the finnish evangelical lutheran mission".
(http://www.mission.fi/in_english/)
it arranges these camps too in Orivesi (a little little town in the middle of Finland). there is a kind of camping side called "Päiväkumpu". the camps there are music-oriented and very much misson-oriented.t his combination means also that we sung a lot of african songs (that i LOVE). our preasts have been maaany years in mission in Kenya and the whole area of Päiväkumpu is very much the african-style.
there we have sung such songs as "hoya-ho" and "malizwe" just to mention few.
The finnish evangelical lutheran mission arranges also one music camp each summer, it's called "Cumina" and the participants sing christian songs and especially african songs. The cumina-group of 2008 tours all over finland for couple of weeks and tells people about Jesus.
so this tour endes in Päiväkumpu (as where it starts from too) in a big summer_ending_festival "Riihikirkkoleiri" (it's named after a small and old church in the area) that has about 200 campers each year!
well that camp is where i heard the song and i love it! and you're definitely right: you can't not dance when you hear it! i wish i could be someday samewhere in africa as a missionary and hear that song sung by african people!
i'm sorry for writing this kind of complicated and messy text but hope ull understand :)
thanks you,
susanna.
That's really cool, Susanna. I hope you get to visit African one day as well; it's an amazing place. Finland sounds pretty great, too.
Hey you!
Is there anyway you can put a link for a video to this?
We are also going to a church that boo-hoos dancing clapping and raising hands, listening to modern Christian music. etc...
but I'd love to hear it so I know how it's supposed to go!
You have my yahoo email right? email me so I can update if I need to. I'll still be able to access internet through a friend's house.
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