Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Delarey Song - with English subtitles



The popular and controversial song about the Anglo-Boer War, that has caused a public outcry in South Africa.

As the British tried to do a hundred years ago, the black majority government is now trying to suppress the Afrikaner nation's culture - and in fact all traces of their history.

Public funding is being withdrawn from Afrikaner monuments, even though Afrikaners contribute more than their share to tax income. Millions are being spent on changing the names of towns, streets etc. while little is done to maintain infrastructure.

The new generation of Afrikaners had nothing to do with Apartheid, yet they are faced with a bleak future, suffering under racial discrimination in the form of affirmative action.

Although this excludes them from jobs and promotion beyond a certain level, it also stimulates entrepreneurship and innovative thinking.

The Afrikaner nation will rise again to take its place in the country their forefathers helped to build and develop.

PRIMARASHNI GOWER DESCRIBES HER EXPERIENCE:
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=321940&area=/insight/insight__national/

English Transcript (translation) / Lyrics of the "de la Rey" song:

On a mountain in the night
we lie in the darkness and wait
In the mud and blood
I lie cold,
grain bag and rain cling to me.

And my house and my farm,
burned to ashes
so that they could catch us

But those flames and that fire
burn now deep, deep within me.

De la Rey, De la Rey,
will you come to lead the Boers?
De la Rey, De la Rey

General, General, as one man
we'll fall in around you
General De la Rey

And the Khakis (Brits) that laugh
-- [just] a handfull of us
against their whole great might --

With the cliffs to our backs,
they think it's all over [with us]

But the heart of the Boer lies deeper and wider,
that they'll still find [out]

At a gallop he comes,
the Lion of the West Transvaal
De la Rey, De la Rey,

will you come to lead the Boers?
De la Rey, De la Rey
General, General, as one man
we'll fall in around you

General De la Rey
De la Rey, De la Rey,
will you come to lead the Boers?
De la Rey, De la Rey

General, General, as one man
we'll fall in around you
General De la Rey

Because my wife and my child,
lie in a Hell-camp* and perish
And the Khakis' vengence **
is poured over
a nation that will rise up again

De la Rey, De la Rey,
will you come to lead the Boers?
De la Rey, De la Rey

General, General, as one man
we'll fall in around you
General De la Rey
De la Rey, De la Rey,
will you come for the Boers?
[We're ready ...]

* Concentration camp
** Perhaps this could be translated as "And the Khakis vent their spleen on a nation
that will rise once again."

Translation by Deirdre Fields

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