Lalela Zulu: 100 Zulu Lyrics

"Lalela Zulu,” by Mr. Hugh Tracey, the Honorary Secretary of the African Music Society, is the first fruits of the work of this Society, and we are very proud to offer it to the public. Here are 100 Zulu lyrics presented both in the original language and in most delightful translation and with very appropriate and lively illustrations by Eric Byrd. Though the music and the dancing are missing we have in these lyrics a vivid cross-section of the emotional reactions of the African songmaker to life's joys and sorrows. There is interest here for all, while for the anthropologist or other student of African life and thought the lyrics form most valuable social documents. In these songs the Zulu are expressing for themselves the emotions that the experiences of life bring to them. As such they form a very authentic and first-hand contribution to the study of our African people. Some of the lyrics go back to the days of independent tribal life, to the days even of Chaka. Here are reflected the wars among the tribes and the homesickness of those who have been forced from their own homelands into other tribal areas. Here too are lyrics connected with incidents in both the great European wars. There are also more personal songs which yet reflect universal human feelings. There are songs of those who must part, the parent and the child, the lover and the beloved. There is indeed a rich range of emotional response to life and especially to life in the new world opened up by European civilisation. There is much here that will delight and strike a sympathetic chord. There is much also that should cause the European, especially, to pause and ponder, for there is sorrow here and pain and intimations of much loneliness in the white man's world. *Name inscription on first page; Pages yellowed*