Soweto Sounds: Umqombothi

OK, so Umqombothi technically isn’t a Soweto Gospel Choir song; but it’s such a fun song that I love (with clicks!), and wanted to share on SGF.  And there is a SGC connection!

In November of 2003, the Soweto Gospel Choir took part in the 46664 Concert held in Cape Town.  Lots of big names headlined the event, and the Choir spent a large portion of the concert on stage backing up the various acts.

One song they participated in was with Yvonne Chaka Chaka and her infamous Umqombothi song.

Umqombothi, in Xhosa, is a beer commonly found in South Africa made from maize, maize malt, sorghum malt, yeast and water.

The audio below comes directly from the concert dvd with the Choir backing up Yvonne–so much fun!

Lyrics:

I work hard every day
To make my beer
(Umqombothi)
Wake up early every morning
To please my people with African beer
(Umqombothi)

I make sure the fire burns
To make my beer
(Umqombothi)
My special beer Umqombothi
(Umqombothi)
Is African beer

Chorus x2
We MaDlamini (Everybody)
Uph’umqombothi (Come and drink my)
We MaDlamini (magic beer)
Uph’umqombothi

I work hard to make them happy
Every weekend (Umqombothi)
Makes them party to the rhythm
Makes them dance, this magic beer (Umqombothi)

I wanna make you happy (Umqombothi)
I wanna make you smile (Umqombothi)
I wanna make you dance (Umqombothi), dance

I’ll make sure there’s a party
Where they drink my special beer
Umqombothi is magic beer
Umqombothi is African beer

Chorus x4
We MaDlamini (Everybody)
Uph’umqombothi (Come and drink my)
We MaDlamini (magic beer)
Uph’umqombothi

Come on I wanna make you happy
I wanna make you smile lets boogie together
Umqombothi (Umqombothi)

I work hard every day
To please my people with African beer

Chorus repeat
We MaDlamini (Everybody)
Uph’umqombothi (Come and drink my)
We MaDlamini (magic beer)
Uph’umqombothi

Listen:

[audio:umqombothi.mp3]

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