History
Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika was originally composed as a hymn in 1897 by Enoch Sontonga, a teacher at a Methodist mission school in Johannesburg, using the tune 'Aberystwyth' originally composed by Joseph Parry in 1879. The words of the first stanza were originally written in Xhosa as a hymn. In 1927 seven additional Xhosa stanzas were added by the poet Samuel Mqhayi.
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