If you have a story to tell, curate engagement or translate...
Who we are
Our Mission
Ubuntu
Arts
Literature & Ubuntu Interventions
Who we are
IThala leAfrika helps businesses and individuals who want to create immersive, Afrocentric experiences that promote well-being and celebrate African heritage. We offer live music, therapeutic workshops, and custom sonic experiences that preserve indigenous knowledge and cultural traditions which enable the digitalisation of Africa’s oral traditions.
This allows for developing, documenting, accessibility and teaching as well as translation of African languages using modern archiving technology like audio books. If you have a story to tell, curating wellness engagements or translation and community engagement project, look no further and engage with us.
Our Mission
IThala leAfrika’s mission is to create a sustainable impact on individual and community wellness, cultural preservation, and artistic excellence. Through its three pillars—Ubuntu, Arts, and Literature—the company aims to empower people, nurture talent, and preserve the diverse cultural heritage of Africa for future generations.
Ubuntu
The Ubuntu pillar emphasizes holistic wellness and socio-economic development. This leg of IThala leAfrika is committed to the well-being of its staff and the broader community through therapeutic intervention workshops where music plays a central role.
These workshops are designed to offer mental health support, personal development, and community building. Additionally, Ubuntu focuses on empowering the youth by providing opportunities for skill development, leadership training, and social entrepreneurship. By integrating therapeutic practices with musical elements, collaborating with psychosocial experts, Ubuntu promotes healing, unity, and personal growth, contributing to the overall wellness of individuals and communities.
Arts
Under the Arts pillar, IThala leAfrika provides comprehensive music consultancy services. These services include arranging, composing, and performance, supporting artists in all their creative endeavors. The Arts leg also extends to the making and selling of traditional African instruments, song writing, and conducting music activation workshops.
These initiatives aim to nurture artistic talent, promote cultural heritage, and foster a thriving arts community. By facilitating a wide range of artistic activities, IThala leAfrika ensures the preservation and innovation of African musical traditions while providing artists with the tools and platforms they need to succeed.
The Literature pillar of IThala leAfrika is dedicated to the revitalization and preservation of indigenous knowledge through the written and spoken word. This leg focuses on writing, translating, editing, and transcribing content into various African languages. By producing print media and audio books, IThala leAfrika seeks to safeguard and promote indigenous languages and cultural narratives. This initiative not only preserves valuable cultural heritage but also makes it accessible to future generations, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of Africa’s rich literary traditions.
The Ubuntu wing of IThala leAfrika offers a comprehensive intervention strategy for community and business leaders, focusing on wellness, socio-economic development, and youth empowerment through music-integrated therapeutic workshops. The strategy involves an initial assessment to understand specific needs, customized workshop design, effective implementation, continuous monitoring and evaluation, and ongoing support. By enhancing mental health, strengthening leadership, and empowering youth, IThala leAfrika aims to foster sustainable positive impact and community building. This is a series of 10 intervention workshops that range between 1 to 3 hrs per session aimed at fostering guided conversations to strengthen the mental resilience of people in the work place.
At this institute we pride ourselves on traditional African language translation into English as well as from English to African languages. We work with experts in these languages who are knowledgeable about the language culture, rhythms and dialects of rare words to get an accurate meaning.
TRANSCRIPTION
RATES FOR CLEAR AUDIO (PER RECORDED MINUTE)
RATES FOR DIFFICULT AUDIO (PER RECORDED MINUTE)
TRANSLATION (ISIXHOSA, ENGLISH, ISIZULU)
STANDARD (3-5 DAYS)
$1.75 – R28.85
$2.50 – R41.17
R1.80 per word
RUSH (1-2 DAYS)
$2.25 – R37.05
$3.25 – R54.01
R2.50 per word
NEXT DAY SERVICE
$3.00 – R49.40
$4.00 – R65.87
R3.50 per word
SAME DAY SERVICE (SEE DETAILS)
$3.50 – R57.64
$4.50 – R74.10
R4.50 per word
Music arrangements and Scores
UQongqothwane - Clarendon High School for Girls
UQongqothwane is an isiXhosa children’s traditional song that weaves historical and cultural elements of the AmaXhosa Kingdom who pre-dominantly are from the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Miriam Makeba had made references to the deeper symbolism of the song which points way home into a better, brighter future, especially in times of struggle and unease. This arrangement starts with a rhetorical question directed at the people of the ochre (imbola), called “amaqaba”. When amaXhosa apply (ukuthambisa/ukuqaba) the red ochre (imbola ebomvu) they not only titivate to beautify themselves but also in celebration of various communal, cultural, and traditional ceremonies.
The choreography is an integral part of the song as music in many African cultures is accompanied by dance with rhythm which edifies the whole song. When the musicians point forward while singing, “nanga amaqaba” they employ a linguistic heritage of the isiXhosa language of the “q” click consonant which is an influence of the Nama and San language. In the western world uQongqothwane is also known as the click song for people who for some reason struggled to enunciate the click consonants in the song. For many decades the song has been sung in weddings for good fortune and pays homage to the revitalisation and preservation of the indigenous knowledge of the amaXhosa nation through song.
IsiXhosa
Yintoni na kulo mzi? Kulo mzi wamaqaba aqab’imbola Nanga la maqaba aqab’imbola Agqith’amagqirha ath’aqeqeshiwe, ezingqondweni Ela gqirha lagqitha laqabela phaya Igqirha lendlela nguQongqothwane Ebeqabel’egqith’apha UQongqothwane Wayequbu;’egqith’apha UQongqothwane
English
What is in this nation? In this nation of ochre users Here are the ochre users. Who do better than doctors trained, academically The seer passed and went up there. The seer of the road/life is the Beetle. He (the seer) passed by going up. The Beetle He used to pass by doing the qubula ritual. The Beetle
Ooxamu is an isiXhosa traditional rhyme song meant to exude the complex “x” clicks of the language. Though the lyrics hold no literal meaning (gibberish), kids in South Africa sing it to practice the various clicking sounds of the isiXhosa language. The “Vumani” is an element of African song which calls people to sing, unite and be merry. The arrangement has been adapted from Busi Mhlongo’s YouTube performance.
