Music 156: Harmony & Form Lab IV

 

Dictation: “Asimbonanga”

Listen to Johnny Clegg’s Asimbonanga.

This is a 1987 anti-apartheid song. “Asimbonanga” in Zulu means “We have not seen him/her”; the chorus is sung in turn after the names of anti-apartheid activists and lawyers who were in prison or murdered. Complete lyrics here.

Write down the short chorus (first heard at the beginning) in the key of F-sharp major. It should be five measures in a moderate 4/4 or slow 2/2.

Hint: it’s in “two and a half” vocal parts, that is, two independent parts (tenor and baritone) plus a hard-to-isolate bass part that roughly parallels the top line an octave lower.
It’s OK if you notate only the two independent lines (tenor and baritone).