Kenneth E. Coakley <***@macomberreports.com> wrote:
: At the end of the song, you can once again hear South Africans singing, but
: this time in a very anguished way. They are saying:
: "What have we done! What have we done!" And based upon what the South
: African exchange student heard, he felt reasonably certain that if it wasn't
: recorded at Biko's actual funeral, then it was a real recording of some
: other very sad gathering.
Senzenina ("What have we done") is apparently a major theme appearing
during the Apartheid era. I was originally exposed to it through Biko,
and then again--in a full-chorus version--in the film "The Power of One",
also as a funeral dirge. Same tune, also sung over someone who was
tragically killed in an act of resistance against the Apartheid regime.
It also shows up in Amandala! a documentary on the fight against Apartheid.
Apparently it is a traditional tune, generally with just the word
Senzenina repeated over and over again, sometimes with other statements
interpolated. As one of the choirs which has recently performed it, it is
"Senzenina is a dignified complaint, an outcry against being forced to
suffer merely for having dark skin."
It sounds logical to assume that the version on Biko was taken from the
actual funeral . . .