By and by - Ipharadisi

Ipharadisi, ikhaya labafile
Kulapho sophumla khona

Ipharadisi where all the dead are living
May we one day join them all there.

By and by, when the morning comes
All the saints of God are gathered home
We will tell the story how we've overcome
And we'll understand it better by and by

Trials dark on every hand
And we may not understand
All the ways that God would lead us

to that blessed promised land
But he'll guide us with his eyes
And we'll follow 'til we die
And we'll understand it better by and by

By and by, when the morning comes
All the saints of God are gathered home
We will tell the story how we've overcome
And we'll understand it better by and by

Temptation, hidden snares
Often take us unawares
And our hearts are made to bleed
For a thoughtless word or deed
And we wonder why the test
When we try to do our best
But we will understand it better by and by

Music and Lyrics: C.A. Tindley

"Ipharadisi" belongs to the "amakwaya" genre of South Africa; short, repetitive and catchy choruses often sung á capella in churches and schools. The rhythm is distinctly African, but the tonality and scales are influenced by the Western music. Sometimes you can - as in this case - guess what Western hymn or song it stems from. Here, C.A. Tindley's "We will understand it better by and by" seem to be the origin.

In this arrangement we sing both versions together, which adds still another dimension to the beautiful and complex dance between the European and African influences that the amakwaya songs have made. We'll understand it better by and by.

In zulu "ph" is pronounced as "p" in "paradise".

You will find the original and simpler arrangement of "Ipharadisi" here!