Saturday 1 May 2021

Freedom

Today we have a Zulu song, Uhuru, which gives its title to the post. I translated it to English on 29/4/21, mostly between 1:38 and 1:55, and the chorus and bracketed parts between 16:03 and 16:28 the next afternoon. As per the comment at lyricstranslate, I altered the lyrics a bit based on the video w.r.t. the version there. I also have a couple puzzling spots in this song, most importantly this one I asked on Quora about, which suggests a change is in order where I translated «Treat him like a handbag». We'll see when that happens. OK, 30/4/21 22:44 I think of «Help him carry his stuff», let's see if I can think of something that lets me keep the "bag" part. I guess I'll change the whole tercet «He trusts that somebody else will / Carry him around and / Treat him like a handbag». Change effected 22:47. The line «You make others look at us in foreign places» apparently started out ending with «in foreign lānds -> countries» at 16:20 on 29/4/21, and was changed to «In other places». The hybrid version below appeared on LT in the 29/04/2021 - 16:27 revision (I guess this is an approximation problem? I mean, the hybrid must come after the two versions, so I guess my 16:28 was a 16:27 and over 30s which was followed by another time like that which LT approximates to 16:27 instead?). Obviously, the previous revisions (16:13 and 16:14) had no translations for that line (nor for the one two above), while the following two (21:53 and the current 22:47) had the hybrid still. Let's see it!


Oh bhek' umunt' omnyam'
Ukhangeza izandl'
Indlela ay'nak' khanya
Z'nkinga zakhe azipheli
Ubhek' umsebenzi
Mathub' akaveli

Incindezelelo
Incindezelelo

* Kuyabanini sihlupheka
Zingane zethu ziyaswela
Not yet Uhuru,
Not yet Uhuru

*

Oh bhek' umunt'omnyam'
Ukhangeza izandl'
Indlela ay'nak' khanya
Yen' uthembelek' omuny'
Ukuba akuphathe
Amphathise okwes'khwama

Incindezelelo
(N'yabukisa ngathi kwamany' amazwe)
Incindezelelo
(Sazikhohlwa ukuba singobani thina)

*

*
Oh, look now at that black man,
Holding out his two hands
On a road with no light.
He is always full of problems
Work's all that's on his mind
But no chance he's finding.

Oppressive oppression
Oppressive oppression

*Till when is it that we must suffer?
Our children always needing something…
Not yet Uhuru,
We are not free yet.

*

Oh, look now at that black man,
Holding out his two hands
On a road with no light.
He trusts someone else will carry
Him around and stuff
For him like a bag carry

Oppressive oppression
(You make others look at us in foreign places.)
Oppressive oppression
(We've entirely forgotten who we are…)

*

*

No comments:

Post a Comment