We are marching in the light of God

Like the previous hymn this rousing S African song also arose, even more directly, from a spiritual struggle for political freedom. If liberation from American slavery is even a small part of 890, the march against apartheid (separate development, or ‘apart-hate’) is the dominant factor in 891. When the freed ‘Jubilee Singers’ from Nashville’s Fisk University were welcomed by C H Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in the 1870s, their rhythmic songs made a performance to be enjoyed; the beauty of this song a century later is that it can be sung by a united congregation, black, white and brown. The Swedish music group ‘Fjedur’ brought it back, with many others, from a visit to 1980’s black S Africans; Anders Nyberg edited and translated Siyahamba (or Siyahamb’ ekukhanyen’ kwenkos) into the English which is now widespread and which paradoxically has made it international, from the 1984 Church of Sweden Mission book Freedom is coming onwards. The African words are in the Nguni dialect, a mix of Zulu and Xhosa; the meaning is much more than the actual words, since ‘they are driven by the optimism of people who possess nothing, and therefore have nothing to lose … Many find their ground for optimism in the biblical experience of captivity and deliverance’: Companion to Rejoice and Sing. It is vital not to emasculate the vigour of the song by a ‘drawing room’ or ‘churchy’ mode of singing and playing. Both Andrew Maries and the Iona ‘Wild Goose’ editors have contributed to the shape of the composition as given here, but the main credit is due to the countless and anonymous S Africans from whose painful experiences the song has grown. The tune has been named both SIYAHAMBA and more commonly, as here, WE ARE MARCHING.

(in Praise! Composers’ index only), b Totton, Southampton 1949. Totton Grammar Sch, York Univ (BA, ARCM). A Music Director who in the 1970s and early 80s served as one of the creative and influential team with David C K Watson (1933-84) at the church of St Michael-le-Belfrey, York. More recently he has worked with the Keynote Trust as a music consultant and then Director; he has a similar role with the RSCM and is Consultant for Worship and Music in the Exeter Diocese of the CofE. In music education, workshops, conferences, publishing etc he has collaborated with David Peacock and Michael Perry (both qv) among others, including his input to the Music in Worship Foundation. He wrote Using the Bible in Worship (Bible Society, 1982) and One Heart, One Voice (1985) and compiled the recent handbook Making Music Work in Worship. As well as his widely-adopted arrangement of Janet Lunt’s communion song Broken for me>/b>, he is known mainly as a composer; one of his best-known tunes is in HTC, Church Family Worship (1988, with one other) etc; 3 are in Sing Glory and 2 in the 2004 CH, all of them also featuring in several other books.
In 2009 he wrote: ‘Music is a language which communicates on a deep and often subliminal level, with a unique ability to trigger powerful emotions and convey significant messages. This is why it can be such an emotive element within church life and worship…. We are surrounded by a music-obsessed society where many define themselves by identifying with particular musical genres as part of fashion and life-style choices. If we have a desire to reach out to this society then we in the Church will need to become much more aware of the musical messages that we are communicating about ourselves, whenever and however we use music’ (‘Mission-Shaped Music’, Church Music Quarterly June 2009).
Andrew Maries lives at Cullompton, Devon. Text no.891*. Tunes 140=436, 323=843, 523, 647=841.