Siyahamb' ekukhanyen' kwenkhos',

Siyahamb' ekukhanyen' kwenkhos',

We are marching in the light of God,

We are marching in the light of God,

Siyahamba, hamba,
Siyahamba, uu,
Siyahamb' ekukhanyen' kwen-,
Khanyen' kwenkhos'.

We are marching, marching,

We are marching,
We are marching in the light of,
The light of God,

Siyahamba was originally a South African hymn in the Zulu language, which translates to
we are walking or we are marching. During the 1990s it became popular at churches in
North America after it was rewritten by Andries Van Tonder. The original tune is a song about
freedom as during the early 20th century tribes in South Africa were being separated and
discriminated against as a result of British colonization. Interestingly the South Africans had
their freedom returned around the same time that this hymn was rewritten for Christian
churches. In fact, on every sunday this is sung by a Mandarin Baptist church in Los Angeles.
The cyclical form of the song made it easy to sing and listen to as well as enforce a sense of
unity, which was one of the reasons why it was so ideal for a North American church setting.
Siyahamba is also very popular with choir groups as it fills the atmosphere with a
tremendous feeling of joy. It was so popular that it was even included in the United
Methodist Hymnal, which is a songbook used by Catholic churches throughout North
America, as well as the Anglican Churchs Official Songs of Fellowship.
Boris Gorelik. Afrikaans, Rapport 26, 2015.