A contemporary South African choral arrangement by Cape Town composer Bongani Magatyana. Bongani, who has written many songs meant to support HIV/AIDS sufferers, educate the public about the disease, and protest government policies restricting access to drugs to fight the epidemic, taught this song to several Village Harmony and Northern Harmony groups in 2014 and 2015.
lyrics
Oh Lord Almighty, we ask:
What have we done in this country?
We are really dying in this world
We die of this disease.
We have lost our loved ones
We have lost our youth
We are really dying in this world
We die of this disease.
Give us strength to fight, Lord Almighty
Give us strength to fight HIV/AIDS
We are really dying in this world
We die of this disease
We are losing our young ones
Give us strength
It is hard
credits
from Boston Harmony Spring '16, Amherst Concert,
released May 1, 2016
Bongani Magatyana is a professional singer/music director/composer/theatrical producer living in Gugulethu Township in Cape Town, South Africa. He was born in Cape Town in a township called Old Crossroads; his father was a self-taught choir conductor in the Old Apostolic Church. Bongani’s father taught him how to read and write tonic solfamusic notation at a very young age, and young Bongani dreamt of becoming a church choir conductor, too. Today he is conducts a 120-voice OAC choir himself, and his folk-inspired choral compositions—popular pieces for South Africa’s major choral competitions—are sung by choirs around South Africa and internationally. Currently Bongani teaches at the Zolani Centre in Langa Township, leads an educational musical theatre company, and continues to compose music in a variety of genres, bringing vibrant performances to communities across Cape Town.
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