Malamala

"Tinsimu Ta Mhalamhala Ya Evangeli" is a hymnal of the Assemblies of God in Mozambique, the southern region, and South Africa, widely used by Tsonga speakers. It was compiled by one of the founders of the evangelical publishing house Emmanuel Press, Charles Austin Chawner (C.A.C.), a Canadian missionary in Mozambique and composer of most of the hymns. The first publication is presumed to have occurred in 1931 by Emmanuel Press, which remained the sole publisher until 2010, when the Bible School of the Assemblies of God in Mozambique received permission, through Rev. Dean Skinner, Executive Director of Emmanuel Press, to print and sell the hymnal in Mozambique. The school carried out the first revision before the inaugural printing in Mozambican territory. Emmanuel Press, in White River, South Africa, continues to provide approximately 5,000 copies per year to the Tsonga-speaking people in South Africa. This hymnal contains 133 hymns in Tsonga, 16 in Portuguese, and 5 in English; 43 choruses in Tsonga, 21 in Portuguese, and 13 in English. From the Christian Harp hymnal, hymns 42, 192, 15, 116, 1, 155, 144, 401, 357, 127, and 7 were transcribed into Mhalamhala. Hymn number 146 was composed for the inauguration of a house of prayer in the Maxaquene neighborhood, Maputo city, in 1939. Some hymns in Tsonga are translations of hymns in Portuguese and English, maintaining the melody and context. For example, hymn 63 "a nga kona Munghana Un'wana" has the same melody and context as hymn 8 "Cristo Jesus é fiel amigo" from the harp; hymn 72 "Ndzi Ti Nhiketa" with "I Will Surrender All" from the harp, which also have equivalent versions in English. Among the composers of the hymns in this hymnal, the missionary Charles Austin Chawner (C.A.C.), one of the pioneers of the Assemblies of God in Mozambique, stands out.