How to play "Uyahalalela / Uyakhazimula / We Praise Your Name"

This Uyahalalela piano tutorial covers the full Benjamin Dube medley: Uyahalalela, Uyakhazimula and We Praise Your Name, played in A major at around 108 BPM. Three songs, one key, and a steady climb from reverence into high praise. The chords are friendly. The real lesson is managing the energy so the band and the church climb with you.

Three songs, one journey

The medley opens gently with Uyahalalela, lifts into Uyakhazimula, and finishes with the joyful We Praise Your Name. It’s a natural fit for the turn of a service, when the worship leader wants to move the room from stillness to celebration without stopping the music.

At 108 BPM, the tempo is moderate. That’s important, because the change you’ll hear isn’t really about speed. It’s about touch, density and rhythm. Same pulse, very different feel.

A major: your home for the whole medley

A major has three sharps: F♯, C♯ and G♯. The chords you’ll use most:

• 1: A (A, C♯, E)
• 2m: Bm (B, D, F♯)
• 4: D (D, F♯, A)
• 5: E (E, G♯, B)
• 6m: F♯m (F♯, A, C♯)

Set up a warm piano layered with a soft pad. In the opening section, ride the pad a little higher. By the last song, pull it back and let the piano’s attack do the work.

How the harmony behaves

We don’t have a full chart for this medley yet, so I’m not going to print a bar-by-bar progression. The three songs sit in the familiar South African worship family: the 1, 4 and 5 carry the weight, and the 6m and 2m add colour, especially in the gentler opening. Listen with the video above for where each song ends and the next begins. That moment is where most players get caught out.

Uyahalalela piano tutorial: section by section

Part 1: Uyahalalela, keep it still

Play sustained chords and let them ring. Open the right hand: A as E, A, C♯, E rather than a tight triad. Try a sus2 on the 1 (A, B, E) and let it resolve to A when the melody lands. The left hand holds a single root or a root and fifth. Less is more here.

Part 2: Uyakhazimula, start to build

Now thicken the sound. Octaves in the left hand, full triads in the right. This is a good place for one gospel move: before going to the 2m (Bm), play B7 (B, D♯, F♯, A) instead. That’s the 2 as a dominant, a 2⁷, and it pulls strongly towards the 5. Use it as B7 to E to A at the end of a phrase for a real sense of arrival.

Part 3: We Praise Your Name, switch to praise

Change your touch completely. Shorter chords, played on the offbeats, with the left hand bouncing root to octave. Keep the same chords as before; it’s the rhythm that tells the church it’s time to celebrate. Lock in with the drummer’s hi-hat and don’t drift ahead.

Linking the songs smoothly

Because all three songs share the key of A, you don’t need a modulation. What you need is a clean cadence. At the end of each song, give the 5 a full bar (try Esus4 resolving to E), then land on A and let the next song start from there. If the leader extends a section, just loop the last line until they move.

If your leader starts the medley in a different key, numbers will carry you. In G, the family is G, Am, C, D and Em. Gig Mode gives you the letters on the spot, and the Nashville Number System explains why this works.

Practice plan (20 minutes)

1. 5 minutes: open voicings and sus2 shapes for Part 1. Work them out in the Chord Voicing Lab if you want to see the notes.
2. 5 minutes: the B7, E, A cadence, slowly, until it’s smooth.
3. 5 minutes: offbeat stabs for Part 3 with a metronome at 108.
4. 5 minutes: the whole medley with the video above, focusing on the hand-offs.

FAQ

What key is the Uyahalalela medley in?

A major, all the way through in our video.

Which songs are in the medley?

Uyahalalela, Uyakhazimula and We Praise Your Name.

Is it hard to play?

The chords are simple. The challenge is changing your touch between sections without changing the tempo.

For another song built on a short praise loop, try You Are Good.