Lyrics: Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Music: Axel Christian Schullz
Voicing: SA with piano (can also be sung in unison)
Range: C4 – D5 (F major) – D4 – E5 (G major)
Difficulty: Easy — short, repetitive, learnable by ear
Scores (PDF): F major · G major
Listen
About the piece
Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Groovy and immediate — children take to it quickly. There are no clicks and no difficult consonant groups in this text, which makes it a realistic first step into the language for a class.
Pronunciation
Spoken guide (MP3), read slowly.
WON-keh oo-MOON-too oo-neh-loon-GEH-loh lem-PEE-loh, len-koo-loo-LEH-koh neh-loh-koo-PEH-pah.
Stressed syllables in bold — in isiZulu this is almost always the second-to-last syllable, and it is slightly lengthened.
Vowels are pure and never reduced: a as in father, e as in bed, i = ee, o as in for (no diphthong), u = oo. Final vowels are always fully sounded.
ph is an aspirated p, as in pen — never f. So –phepha is “PEH-pah”, not “FEH-fah”.
Text and pronunciation: how it was checked
The isiZulu text has been checked three times, independently: by the Goethe-Institut in South Africa, who reviewed a recording and confirmed the pronunciation; by an isiZulu first-language speaker in 2023, who heard the piece without prior knowledge of the text and translated it into English immediately; and in Berlin in 2026 by a South African composer I worked with, who confirmed both text and pronunciation. The recording linked here is not one of those formally reviewed. I am glad to be corrected by first-language speakers.
Free to copy, share and perform. Please credit the composer.