How Ntsikana brought the new religion of the gospel to his own
UNIVERSITY of Stellenbosch musicology students studying the history of the prophet Ntsikana (1780-1821) and black theology in southern Africa recently visited St George’s Cathedral in the heart of Cape Town.
On October 1, at 9.30am, the students rendered a musical item in the church service and sang the Great Hymn of Ntsikana. There was also a narrative informing congregants of who Ntsikana was.
This previously Afrikaans university has started to decolonise its curriculum by including the music of black theologians and African indigenous music alongside Western classical music.
It is important, however, that young people who learn and sing the music of Ntsikana and others have an audience beyond the Stellenbosch community.
Intsimbi ka Ntsikana/Ntsikana’s Bell
1. Ulo Tixo omkulu ngosezulwini;
He, is the Great God, Who is in heaven
2. Ungu Wena-wena Kaka lenyaniso. Thou art Thou, Shield of truth 3. Ungu Wena-*wena Nqaba yenyaniso.
Thou art Thou, Stronghold of truth
4. Ungu Wena-wena Hlati lenyaniso.
Thou art Thou, Thicket of truth
5. Ungu Wena-*wen’ uhlel’ enyangwaneni.
Thou art Thou Who dwellest in the highest 6. Ulo dal’ ubom, wadala pezulu. He, Who created life (below), created (life) above
7. Lo Mdal’ owadala wadala izulu.
That Creator Who created, created heaven
8. Lo Menzi wenkwenkwezi noZi lime la;
This maker of the stars, and the Pleiades
9. Yabinza inkuenkuezi, isixelela.
A star flashed forth, it was telling us
10. Lo Menzi wemfaman’ uzenza ngabom?
The Maker of the blind, does He not make them of purpose? 11. Lateta ixilongo lisibizile. The trumpet sounded, it has called us
12. Ulonqin’ izingela imzpefumlo. As for his chase He hunteth, for souls
13. Ulohlanganis’ imihlamb’ eyalanayo.
He, Who amalgamates flocks rejecting each other
14. Ulomkokeli wasikokela tina. He, the Leader, Who has led us
15. Ulengub’ irikul’ esiyambata tina.
He, Whose great mantle, we do put it on
16. Ozandla Zako zinamanxeba Wena.
Those hands of Thine, they are wounded
17. Onyawo Zako sinamanxeba Wena
Those feet of Thine, they are wounded. 18. Ugazi Lako limrolo yinina? Thy blood, why is it streaming? 19. Ugazi Lako lipalalele tina. Thy blood, it was shed for us 20. Lemali enkulu-na siyibizile? This great price, have we called for it?
21. Lomzi Wako-na-na siwubizile? This home of Thine, have (In Hodgson 1980) Narrative The singing of the Ntsikana Bell is a celebration of the heritage of black theology in South Africa. One has to go beyond the memories of KwaNoCollege, Healdtown, Lovedale and Lovedale Press, where the Holy Bible was first translated into Xhosa.
We are to critically reflect on the arrival of the settler communities, missionary education and the converting of the red ochre people.
Ntsikana ka Gaba (1780 to 1821) was born in Gcalekaland. Ntsikana moved from African traditional religion to Christianity in two stages. Stage one, following his conversion, incorporated a relationship to a “God” rather than the ancestors, without it being clear how much this was “God” as understood in the Xhosa tradition, and how much the concept at this stage owed to Christianity.
The second stage followed after the establishment of Williams’ Mission in Fort Beaufort, eBofolo. For years Ntsikana regularly visited the station to receive religious instruction and take part in worship, so gaining a deeper insight into the Christian tradition.
Oral tradition, however, maintains that he heard (Johannes) Van der Kemp preach when he was a boy of cattle-herding age and that he later listened to (James) Read during one of his preaching tours.
Certainly, the specific content of his teaching suggests contact with the missionaries. Ntsikana’s conversion experience is thought to have taken place in 1815, prior to (Reverend Joseph) Williams’ coming. The story goes that early one morning, as he was admiring his cattle in his kraal, he saw a bright ray of light from the rising sun strike the side of his favourite ox, Hulushe. But a young boy rounding up calves saw nothing peculiar.
There are said to have been further strange happenings later that day, when Ntsikana took his family to a dance at a neighbouring kraal. Three times, as he started to dance, a raging wind arose out of a clear blue sky, forcing all the dancers to stop. Tradition has it that he now became aware that the Holy Spirit had entered him, but the people thought him bewitched. He promptly took his family home and they were amazed when on the way he washed the red ochre from his body in the Gqora River. The next day, Ntsikana continued to act strangely (Hodgson 1980:35)
Further on, Hodgson (1980) discusses Ntsikana’s impact on Christianity in southern Africa. Ntsikana introduced a number of innovations clearly reflecting missionary influence such as the regular meeting of a non-kinship group for worship, the singing of hymns, prayer in the sense of communion with God, and teaching about sin and repentance. Ntsikana’s services were popular and he attracted many hearers among the amaNgqika, but his disciples were comparatively few.
Although Ntsikana probably had never heard a church bell rung he most likely heard the missionaries calling the people to worship by striking a piece of iron. Of interest is the bell stone, intsimbi, on the hill above the site where Ntsikana is reputed to have lived at Thwatwa (near Hertzog in the Seymour district), which he is said to have used to summon his followers to worship. The bell stone is rung by being struck with another stone. The sound resembles the ringing of a church bell and it can be heard over the same distance.
At the end of the singing of the “Bell”, Ntsikana is said to have gone into his hut followed by his congregation. He would then settle the assembly down with the singing of Dalibom – Life Creator (Hodgson 1980:37).
The text ele, ele, ele, ahom is the Bell in Ntsikana’s great hymn UloThixo Omkhulu. As a biblical text we are familiar with, ele, ele, ela maSabbata. Here the ele is accompanied with Ahom hom-na, which is sung in the 6/8 time signature. Herein we get the swinging pendulum effect in the time signature like that of the ringing bell.
We have to appreciate that an indigenous theology was born when Ntsikana added to the expression of the new religion, in ritual, the expression of the new religion in a language of faith.
The conceptual aspect was the Word of God and he articulated it in the form of preaching, prophecies, prayers, praise and singing. Ntsikana’s statement of Christian belief was in an African idiom and his teaching gained its impact by being related to the existential situation of his people.
The four hymns that Ntsikana penned, including the great hymn Ulo-Thixo Omkhulu, illustrate how he made wise use of imagery and symbolism relating to fighting, hunting and the pastoral life to convey the meaning of his message, so matching new concepts with such of the old as were common to their everyday experience (Hodgson 1980:36.)
Source: Hodgson, Janet (1980) The Great Hymn of the Xhosa prophet Ntsikana: an African expression of Christianity, 1815 – 1821 in Religion in southern Africa. 1 (2), 33 – 58.
Mnukwana is a lecturer in Music Education and Ethnomusicology.