{——————————————————————————^•…`|ENGLISH|´…•^—————————————————————————}

“Nkulunkulu Mnikati wetibusiso temaSwati” (English: “O Lord is our God, Eswatini”) is the national anthem of Eswatini. It was composed by David Kenneth Rycroft, and the lyrics were written by Andrease Enoke Fanyana Simelane. It was adopted in 1968 upon independence from Britain.

Before Swaziland’s (the former name for Eswatini) independence had arrived on 6 September 1968, an Anthem Committee was set up, and a “National Anthem Competition” was held by the committee. There were two categories; the first one was held locally to determine the lyrics in siSwati, and the second was held to find the best musical settings, which was advertised in London, with prizes including application to Swaziland’s Ministry of Local Administration.

The lyrics were narrowed down to only two submissions while the musical settings to four submission, which they decided to select the setting first before finalizing the lyrics. After several live performances performed by a local choir, Rycroft’s setting was chosen as the melody for the anthem, alongside Simelane’s text as the words for the anthem. It was played in Radio Swaziland every day until independence day to give the public a chance to learn the anthem.


{——————————————————————————^•…`|SWAZI|´…•^—————————————————————————}

-UNAVAILABLE-