Ntate Ea Mohau

Ntate Ea Mohau is an attractive congregational hymn. The text of its three verses is based on Hymn no. 152 in the Lesotho hymnal, Lifela tsa Zione (Songs of Zion). Moerane composed new music to the words of Rev. Samuel Rolland, a 19th-century missionary to Lesotho, retaining the simplicity of style and regular two-bar phrasing of the original music by S.W. Martin but modernising its harmonic and melodic language fairly radically. The work retains a hymn-like structure of short phrases and regular cadencing, but the rhythms are syncopated and the melodic range quite wide. In order to help choirs learn this song, a free mp3 of the lyrics spoken by Mpho Ndebele is downloadable when the song is purchased along with a rehearsal mp3 of the song at a slow tempo.
Duration: 2’00”

The audio sample below was generated from the Sibelius file of the score and the image on the right shows the first page of the score.