Shosholoza

Album: Biko single (1980)
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Songfacts®:

  • Gabriel didn't release this song on an album; it appears on the B-side of the "Biko" single. The movie Dingaka gave him some ideas for the song "Biko."
  • "Shosholoza," also known as "Chocholoza" or "Shosholoza (Go In Peace)," is a traditional chant sung by South African Blacks when facing hardship; it means "go forward."

    Peter Gabriel heard it in the 1965 movie Dingaka in a version arranged by Basil Gray and Bertha Egnos. Originally just a chant, Gabriel added music. Gray and Egnos are credited as writers on his version.

Comments: 3

  • D from Warwickshire, EnglandThis song is actually from Rhodesia, present day Zimbabwe, it's a working song, sung by migrant workers on the gold mines in South Africa.

    It's a song sung by the mine labourers on the steam train going back to work in South Africa.
  • Lauren from Bensalem, Pai didn't know that Peter recorded this song on the b side of Biko. I didn't even know that was released as a single.
  • Danie from Centurion, South AfricaAlso became a hit here in South Africa with the Rugby World Cup in 1995 which we won :)
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