Join Patrick as he explores the rich history and cultural significance of Zimbabwe through its national anthem, "Bless Our Flag of Zimbabwe." The episode delves into the life of Solomon Matswairo, the anthem's lyricist, and Fred Chengundega, who composed the music, highlighting their contributions to Zimbabwe's identity and independence. Listeners will learn about the historical context surrounding the anthem, including the colonial struggles faced by Zimbabweans, the natural beauty of the land, and the aspirations for unity and prosperity. Patrick shares insights into the anthem's themes, which celebrate national pride, the sacrifices of freedom fighters, and a hopeful vision for the future. Throughout the journey, listeners are invited to appreciate the anthem not just as a song, but as a powerful reflection of a nation's resilience and hope.

CAN credentialed: Creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org

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2. https://www.law.co.zw/download/national-anthem-act/ 
3. https://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text/312646 
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5. https://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/26606/thesis_dlodlo_s.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y 
6. https://www.pindula.co.zw/Fred_Changundega/ 
7. https://earground.com/composer-of-zimbabwes-national-anthem-music-lecturer-freddy-changundega-speaks-out/
8. https://www.showbiz.co.zw/meet-fred-changundega-of-zcc-mbungo-the-maestro-behind-the-hits-ndire-ndire-and-samere/
9. https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA212035387&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=02564718&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7Ee5c5a9d1&aty=open-web-entry 
10. Palley, Claire (1966). The Constitutional History and Law of Southern Rhodesia, 1888-1965: with special reference to imperial control. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198216315.
11. https://dbpedia.org/page/National_Anthem_of_Zimbabwe 
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18. Chimhundu, Herbert (1992). "Early Missionaries and the Ethnolinguistic Factor during the 'Invention of Tribalism' in Zimbabwe". The Journal of African History. 33 (1): 87–109.
19. https://www.herald.co.zw/tribute-to-great-writer-pof-mutsvairo/ 
20. Ranger, Terence (1977). "The People in African Resistance: A Review". Journal of Southern African Studies. 4 (1): 125–146.
21. Williams, Angela A. (1998). "Mother Tongue: Interviews with Musaemura B. Zimunya and Solomon Mutswairo". The Journal of African Travel-Writing (4): 36–44.
22. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Solomon-M-Mutswairo 
23. https://academicjournals.org/journal/AJBM/article-full-text-pdf/B1B917618089 
24. https://www.sundaynews.co.zw/ndlovu-national-anthem-producer-dies/#google_vignette 
25. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/18125980802298666 
26. Hensman, Howard. Cecil Rhodes: A Study of a Career.
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28. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/11/newsid_2658000/2658445.stm 
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Hello and welcome to the Anthems Podcast. I'm Patrick and I'm here to tell you the story of a song that helps to tell the story of a nation.

Today we are taking a 6,820 mile blast across the planet, which is equal to a 10,976 kilometer jaunt across the globe. It's also almost exactly the same distance as it is around the moon's equator. Seriously, it's like a half of a percent difference.

If we were traveling at the same speed as something orbiting the moon, we'd be going at a very brisk 1.6 kilometers per second, or 3,600 miles an hour. At that speed, it would only take us 31 minutes to get back to Africa and our destination, the Republic of Zimbabwe.

We're back in Africa because a couple reasons. For one, I must frequently return to the continent because there are so many countries there and I'm gonna cover all of them eventually.

In fact, at one a month, it'll be like another 14 years before I get there. So, long term goals. My daughter chose the country because she wasn't sure if there were other countries that started with the letter Z.

Well, there are. It's another one right in Africa. Zambia, and directly north of where we are. And physically twice as big as Zimbabwe.

But we're in a country that holds the distinction of being alphabetically last, which is fun because that's one of the first things that you get to learn regarding the story of Simuzai Mireza Way. Do we Zimbabwe or raise our flag of Zimbabwe?

When I started the reading for this episode, I did actually know some stuff about Zimbabwe, but none of it was like really good stuff.

Most of my knowledge is previous knowledge was centered around the rise to power and the continuing presence of Robert Mugabe and the colonial interference of Cecil Rhodes. We'll hear a little bit more about these two during the episode. But we're also gonna learn things that don't make us disappointed in humanity.

Like the fact that Zimbabwe contains the largest man made lake in the world. Named Lake Kariba.

It's a flooded out gorge with an ecosystem rich enough to support Nile crocodiles and hippopotamuses, which is a word that looks wrong when written plural and feels awkward to say.

So it has been nice to brighten my outlook on this country and I hope that the next 2 minutes and 30 seconds or so of music do a little something to brighten your outlook on this podcast. Enjoy. My initial reaction is that I like it. And it's another one that has made the playlist.

This is a proper anthem and it checks off many boxes for me.

It's common for this song to be sung in three languages in three verses like this because all three of these languages are official versions of the anthem. It's a very anthem sounding song and I prefer it done by a choir or maybe just a group of enthusiastic people singing together.

One of the intentions of an anthem is to bring people together, isn't it? So let's find out where the people of Zimbabwe have been brought together to sing.

Probably the easiest way to find it on a map is to locate Madagascar. Madagascar is the big island just to the east of the southern half of Africa. Then you go two countries to the west and that's Zimbabwe.

The neighbors are as. To the east we have Mozambique, South Africa.

To the south, Zambia again is the northern border and we round out the compass with Botswana to the west. The northern border is defined entirely by the Zambezi river, which has that flooded out gorge I mentioned earlier.

I can't hear you moving past my bad puns with a geography thing. And this one is super cool. It's not a new to me term, but it's Victoria Falls and it's one of the coolest places on the planet.

It's pretty fun because the waterfall led me down a short little rabbit hole that had me finding out that the height of Victoria Falls is about the same as the world's tallest tree, the Saturn V rocket, the diameter of the London Eye, which I've been on the wingspan of the largest airplane, something called the Stratolaunch, and an American football field with the end zones on it. It's a weird list of things to be about the same size. Reality is odd.

So the first mention on the record of at least part of the region being called Zimbabwe is from the 13th century in the common era. It's a Shona kingdom which has left the largest stone structure in pre colonial southern Africa known as the Great Zimbabwe.

Yes, pre colonial does mean what you think. And this story is well influenced by a colonial agenda that didn't align with the real needs and desires of the people that already live there.

Initially, the people on the Zimbabwe plateau were able to kick the Portuguese out in the beginning of the 17th century. Things were not entirely settled in the region when the British Empire showed up at the end of the 19th century.

Sure, but they were at least in the hands of the people that lived there and not in the hands of people who were just there to resource hunt. So we're gonna properly enter the timeline with a guy that I'm not a fan of, Mr. Cecil Rhodes.

He wanted to expand the British Empire into Africa as much as possible because it was making him crazy rich with diamond money and he thought that white people from England were the superior race. You can call it cultural racism or minimal racism like some scholars do, but it's just the regular kind as far as I'm concerned.

Old timey, ignorant bigotry aside, it is nearly impossible to overstate this guy's impact on the region and the continent in general.

At that point, the existing people were converted into Rhodes administrative subjects and British migration en masse began.

The territory was further opened up to white settlement and given a governmental structure that ensured the people in charge were people from Europe. So basic colonialism that over the course of the next century fell completely apart.

But before that World War I happened and as a British colony, Southern Rhodesia immediately entered the war. When England did, the main goal in Southern Africa was to capture the German controlled South West Africa, which is modern day Nambia.

It's nice that I didn't have to wade into World War I too deep. And it turns out that we are at a point in time when one of the anthem's key players enters the tale. Mr.

Matsuero became the first writer in residence at the University of Zimbabwe, and a few years later he took up a lecturing position there.

Throughout his academic career he wrote a lot of stuff, including the first novel in Shona that was banned in Rhodesia for its political implications. And Matsuaro also wrote the lyrics to the national anthem.

I've been reading a lot of history lately and obtaining that status is almost always followed by more steps down the path to full independence, because even self governance with supervision gives you a taste of freedom. The trip there was not all great events though, and colonial injustices for sure continued.

Rhodesian forces again participated with honor when Britain entered World War II, and again they were used mostly to counter Axis forces in Italian East Africa.

All I've discovered was that he apparently got into music at a young age. His family fostered his interest.

At some point he joined the ZCC Mbungo Choir and from what I understand is still a member because Fred is still with us right now.

He has used his skills and talents to great benefit for the choir and under his direction they become quite well known and have a bunch of music that's transcended gospel and entered Zimbabwe's popular music scene.

He's also been very involved in teaching the younger generation as they come into the choir with a well known approach that mentors the kids in life as well as harmony. He also composed the music for the national anthem Bless Our Flag of Zimbabwe. We'll hear more about Fred and the anthem in a little bit.

I gotta catch the timeline up to a free Zimbabwe. Recall that Britain tried to consolidate the two Rhodesias in another area and that this didn't sit well with anybody involved.

The idea endured about a decade of growing African nationalism and an increasingly organized general descent.

Ian Smith at the helm. This guy's got an interesting story.

But the contribution of the fighter pilot turned farmer turned politician and first leader in Rhodesia that was born and raised in the country to this story is that he wasn't interested in working with those other countries majority black government. So that's all we really need to know about him.

This kicked off a civil war that we're going to skip entirely, pretty much entirely, in favor of mentioning one more sort of terrible person.

On April 18, the official event commemorating the independence had a mix of leaders and luminaries that was as diverse as Mahatma Gandhi, Prince Charles, now the King of England, and Bob Marley, who wrote a song and flew in to perform it.

There were societal improvements over the course of the next 10 years, namely education and public services, but there was also a campaign against the opposition that exterminated tens of thousands of people. I did tell you that Mugabe was a terrible guy, and honestly I thought he'd figure more into the story.

He did, because sometimes anthems have a lot to do with the story of independence in the country, and he had a lot to do with that.

Chengdunga said he was satisfied because the man was known as a prolific writer and upon reading the poem, called it a perfect piece for the task.

These requirements I do have and they're well suited.

The music was to be dignified in tempo, simple, easily sung, and encourage public participation, with the composer willing to surrender copyright to the state. That's standard anthem stuff.

Fred had recently obtained his master's, so he felt like he was at a peak in capability and decided that not many could be better than him at this task. Inspiration struck on the train and the melody came to him while staring out the window. He snapped awake and jotted it in his notes.

After full composition, he submitted it and the field was narrowed down to Chengandanga's piece and one other.

Both were recorded and played on the radio for some time so that people could make up their minds and as we know, they chose the version using Fred's musical composition and he was awarded some 7,500 Zimbabwe dollars. And with that we have the anthem and I will go on to talk about the song itself.

Musically speaking, we are given a stately and melodic composition with a classical feel that emphasizes dignity and patriotism. The anthem blends together traditional African rhythmic considerations with Western hymn like qualities.

The song has our faithful anthem time signature, so we're again hearing a 44 with a moderate tempo so it can be solemn and grand at the same time. As asked by the government. The song has a simple melody so as many people as possible are able to sing along and it invites group participation.

The melody kicks off with a leap forward and moves stepwise in major intervals with the occasional leap. It's really good actually, and it kind of gives an upward soar in a piece that tries to convey optimism, strength and positivity.

I don't know enough, at least not yet, about African music to hear it myself, but I have read that the song retains an identity through melodic phrasing and rhythmic inflection.

As you heard earlier, I shared a version of the anthem sung by a choir and the music was originally written for a choir, but it gets a military band treatment and like every other kind of treatment, because anthems do that. I will be reading this anthem in English, but note that the original was written in Shona. As I said way back in the beginning of the episode.

The official translations of the anthem are in English, Shona and Ndebele. Those are the most commonly spoken languages in Zimbabwe, coming in at 89, 87 and 13% respectively.

The song is sung in many languages, though, because there are 16 official ones in the country, with many others spoken Here we have three verses of five lines apiece, with the last line of each verse being the same refrain. It might be a hook.

I'm not sure what the correct term for that ends in a poem Here I'll read the entire thing out again and then discuss each verse in turn.

O lift high, high our flag of Zimbabwe Born of the fire of revolution and of the precious blood of our heroes let's defend it against all foes Blessed be the land of Zimbabwe Behold Zimbabwe, so richly adorned with mountains and rivers beautiful Let rain abound and fields yield the seed May all be fed and workers rewarded.

Blessed be the land of Zimbabwe O God, bless the land of Zimbabwe, the land of our heritage from the Zambezi to the Limpopo May our leaders be just and exemplary Blessed be the land of Zimbabwe the first verse centers almost entirely around the flag of Zimbabwe, a physical symbol representing the country's hard won freedom. The very first line is a clear declaration of national pride in independence.

The flag has become a beacon of victory and a reminder of sacrifice in a nation that has suffered years of colonial rule but now stands tall in independence.

The anthem acknowledges the sacrifices of countless freedom fighters who were hurt or killed in those struggles.

So all very on point anthem stuff and a verse that tries to inspire a sense of duty to defend a hard won liberty and enshrine the sacrifices made by the people. The second verse shifts the focus from the celebration of freedom and national identity to reverence for the beauty and natural wealth of Zimbabwe.

A couple of minutes on Google will tell you that saying the country is wondrously adorned when talking about its mountains and rivers is quite an understatement. Another of the planet's best looking places.

Talking about the physical land as a source of national pride is a fitting thing to do in an anthem, and this verse offers it up as a gift. Framed as a reflection of the nation's abundance, the words call for rains and fertile fields to aid in the nation's agricultural prosperity.

The writing speaks to the agrarian life not just as a way to feed the people, but also as an important part of national identity. Saying may all be fed and the workers rewarded functions to position agriculture as a crucial contributor to the well being of those people.

This is the only explicitly religious line in the piece, and as far as some of the songs we encounter, this is essentially not a religious anthem at all, a small surprise in a country where today and when the anthem was written as well, there's something like 84% Christian. The anthem goes on to pull the full geographic extent of the country into the blessing by naming the rivers that make the northern southern border.

The poet is also stressing the importance of good leadership while hoping for a just and exemplary people.

The song recognizes that the future of Zimbabwe rests not only with its natural resources, beauty and historical legacy, but also with the quality of governance along with the decisions made in the halls of power.

You're going to have to read about that leadership and make a judgment on your own, though, because that's past the part of the story that I get to tell you. It's a good closing verse with the call for unity, leadership and progress, though.

Overall, the national anthem of Zimbabwe reflects the country's cultural heritage, a history of struggle and a strong sense of patriotism. The anthem is a blend of pride, reverence for the land, and a call for unity, prosperity and peace. Overall, blessed be the land of Zimbabwe.

He is a patriotic hymn that blends gratitude for the country's natural beauty with pride in its historic struggle and hope for a prosperous, united future.

The lyrics encourage Zimbabweans to honor the past, cherish the present, and look forward to a brighter tomorrow through collective effort, responsible leadership, and the blessings of the divine. It is both a reminder of the sacrifice of the past and a call to protect the gains of independence.

As always, I've learned so much in my reading for this episode and I've discovered a story that makes me want to know more about a place I'd like to go to someday, and now for something completely different. I'm just kidding. It's the credits. The writing, recording and production for the show are done by me.

I also wrote and played the theme music and then I used it with my permission unless otherwise noted.

I have reached out to the choir via email, but as of this recording, I've yet to hear back from them. And if you know how to get a hold of this group, please let me know.

You should follow me on Facebook because when I post, it's about the show and you've heard yet another one of those.

For now, I try to get the episodes shared on whatever platform I can with the hashtag anthemspod, so it'd be cool if you hashtagged a post like that too. Maybe it'll start a chain reaction on social media that somehow gets more dogs and cats adopted out of rescues. Self fulfilling prophecy. Go.

Or better still, leave me a review wherever you can so you can be part of the reason that more people hear me. Or give me a rating on your podcast app, because that really does help.

Maybe you'll be at an upcoming board meeting for the nonprofit you work for, and you'll pique someone's interest by mentioning a fun fact that you learned in this very episode. But even if all you do is listen to one more of them, then I am quite grateful to you. So thank you. Until next time. Sa.