Kwanzaa is a composition celebrating the seven day observance. An additional word, Harambee which means Let's pull together in Swahili, was added for the ending phrases. For complete information about the meaning and message you might want to navigate to the following URL http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/index.shtml.
This particular song was written for the award winning jazz vocalist Lynette Washington's holiday album Long, Long Ago (A Jazz Celebration of Christmas, Chanukah & Kwanzaa (the mp3 is included here). Originally written and arranged for solo vocalist, I re-arranged it for my college/community choir in 2015. It is arranged for SATB Choir with Jazz Combo (Piano, Bass, Drums, Conga). Additional percussion, a 2nd keyboard, for possible jazz soloing, or a possible solo instrumentalist, may be added at the conductor's discretion. The solo parts can also be extended to fit the conductor's interpretation. Moving in half step changes from D to Eb to E to F to F# to G, the improvisations are played using those note's dorian mode.