Music
Kulonyaka (Year of Dedication) –
Human Condition
The Human Condition recorded Kulonyaka in 1986. After a brief hiatus, while Jerry Mitnick (bass) and Gene Hicks (keyboards & fiddle) went to Norway to work as musicians, Bev Grant met up with Chipo Wakatama (from Zimbabwe) and Frank Negrón from Puerto Rico and reconstituted the group with a focus on world music, performing songs from South Africa, Haiti and Latin America, and singing in several different languages. Jerry returned to Brooklyn and joined up with them and the band was joined by Charles Mena (from Nicaragua) on drums. The band played in many different communities, functioning as a bridge between cultures, carrying the message of struggle and ultimately expanding into a 10 piece band with five lead vocalists backed up by drums, percussion, and horns as well as guitar and bass. The band finally folded in 1991. Kulonyaka was recorded independently with money raised by the band from their supporters.
Song list — Kulonyaka
- Kulonyaka — Mike Semele
- El Salvador — Beverly Grant, Chris Ijima, Frank Negrón
- Daddy — Jerry Mitnick
- Inez — Beverly Grant
- We're All the Same — Beverly Grant
- Dark Cloud — Beverly Grant
- Opportunity — Beverly Grant
- Ki Sa Pou-n Fe (What's to be done) (Atís Independan)
- Bob and Weave — Jerry Mitnick
- Limpopo (Afican National Congress Liberation Song)
- Together We Can Move Mountains — Beverly Grant
Listen online — Kulonyaka
Lyrics - Kulonyaka
By Mike Semele
Kulonyaka sisimisele
Uku wagwaza lama bhunu
Ngo mkhonto we sizwe
A sikhatali, nam sibulawa
Sizo lilwe le ilizwe
Lon' elasenzatsi
Hlanga nani nina MaAfrika
Sizo wangoba simunye
Wona lama bhunu
This year again we are determined
To fight the Boer with the Spear of the Nation
Executions do not scare us. Nor can they deter us
We shall fight of our land, Our South Africa
Unite fellow Afrikans
United we shall defeat the enemy