God bless the world’s best anthem

South Africa’s anthem has been named the best in the world by The Economist. “Too many national anthems suffer from dreary harmonies and dull platitudes‚” it said this week. “The best‚ like South Africa’s‚ Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika [God Bless Africa]‚ create their own world entirely. Taken from a protest hymn‚ the lyrics combine Afrikaans‚ English‚ Xhosa‚ Zulu and Sesotho in an act of musical healing for the Rainbow Nation.” In 1994‚ Enoch Sontonga’s (pictured) hymn was amalgamated with CJ Langenhoven’s Die Stem (Call of South Africa) into the new anthem