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Oliver Tambo (South Africa; Xhosa)

from Boston Harmony Spring '16, Amherst Concert by Patty Cuyler

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about

In 2013 "Oliver Tambo" was one of the songs spontaneously sung by thousands attending Nelson Mandela's public funeral. Struggle songs are a huge part of South Africa's apartheid history. Anti-apartheid activists often sang about men like Mandela who were languishing on Robben Island, and those who were in exile. Sometimes the songs were mournful; others were like war cries.

Oliver Tambo was sung in protest marches in the streets of South Africa in the run-up to Nelson Mandela's release in 1990, when Oliver Tambo was leading the ANC in exile and PW Botha was president of the apartheid regime. The song captures the intensity and violence of the late1980s, with sounds of gunfire and the toyi-toyi, elements which were commonplace in street demonstrations after the anti-apartheid movement became more militant following the Soweto uprising of 1976.

The toyi-toyi—attributed to the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZANLA) forces in the 1970s—is characterized by violent foot stomping and spontaneous chanting. The toyi-toyi builds in intensity as it progresses. The enormity of the sounds that erupted from the hundreds, sometimes thousands, of participants was used to intimidate government troops. As one activist put it, “The toyi-toyi was our weapon. We did not have the technology of warfare, the tear gas and tanks, but we had this weapon”.

The toyi-toyi continues to be used as a tool in street protests expressing grievances against current South African government policies, even as the performance of the more violent of the old anti-apartheid songs has sparked national controversy, resulting in the court banning as "hate speech" the singing of one anti-apartheid song in 2010.

lyrics

Oliver Tambo, speak to Botha
to free Mandela
Oliver Tambo!

Oliver Tambo, speak to Botha
to free Mandela
Mandela, to return to us!

[sound of barking dogs]
[sound of gunfire]

credits

from Boston Harmony Spring '16, Amherst Concert, released May 1, 2016
An arrangement made by the Dutch a cappella ensemble Papaya of a protest song form the fight against apartheid from the late 1980s.

Danish vocal group Papaya singing this version: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAzQjbX2-YQ

Papaya with Mzansi Youth Choir:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8z6AZXyDLM

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Patty Cuyler Chicago, Illinois

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