pancocojams: Seven YouTube Examples Of The South African Song "Mbube" (also known as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" & "Wimoweh"))

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides information about the South African song "Mbube" (also known as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and "Wimoweh").

This post also showcases seven YouTube examples of "Mbube" (also known as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and "Wimoweh").

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Solomon Linda for writing and recording this song and thanks to all those who are featured in these examples and all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publishers of these examples on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "MBUBE"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_Sleeps_Tonight
..."History

"Mbube" (Zulu for "lion") was written in the 1920s by Solomon Linda,[2] a South African singer of Zulu origin, who later worked for the Gallo Record Company in Johannesburg as a cleaner and record packer. He spent his weekends performing with the Evening Birds, a musical ensemble, and it was at Gallo Records, under the direction of producer Griffiths Motsieloa, that Linda and his fellow musicians recorded several songs, including "Mbube", which incorporated a call-response pattern common among many Sub-Saharan African ethnic groups, including the Zulu.

According to journalist Rian Malan:
"Mbube" wasn't the most remarkable tune, but there was something compelling about the underlying chant, a dense meshing of low male voices above which Solomon yodelled and howled for two exhilarating minutes, improvising occasionally. The third take was the best, achieving immortality when Solly took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and improvised the melody that the world now associates with these words:

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight.^[1]

Issued by Gallo as a 78-rpm phonograph record in 1939,[3] and marketed to black audiences, "Mbube" became a hit and Linda a star throughout South Africa. By 1948, the song had sold over 100,000 copies in Africa and among black South African immigrants in Great Britain. Linda also lent its name to a style of African a cappella music that evolved into isicathamiya (also called mbube), popularized by Ladysmith Black Mambazo.[4]

In 1949, Alan Lomax, then working as folk music director for Decca Records, brought Solomon Linda's 78 recording to the attention of his friend Pete Seeger of the folk group The Weavers. In November 1951, after having performed the song for at least a year in their concerts, The Weavers recorded an adapted version with brass and string orchestra and chorus and released it as a 78 single titled "Wimoweh", a mishearing of the original song's chorus of "Uyimbube", Zulu: You are a lion. Their version contained the chanting chorus "Wimoweh" and Linda's improvised melodic line. The Weavers credited the song as "Traditional", with arrangement by "Paul Campbell", later found to be a pseudonym used by the Weavers in order to claim royalties.[5] It reached Billboard's top ten and became a staple of The Weavers' live repertoire, achieving further exposure on their best-selling The Weavers at Carnegie Hall LP album, recorded in 1955 and issued in 1957. The song was also covered extensively by other folk revival groups such as The Kingston Trio, and exotica singer Yma Sumac. However, Miriam Makeba, in 1960, recorded the same song as "Mbube", with the writing credit given to "J. Linda".[5]"...
-snip-
Continue reading that Wikipedia article for more information about this song and click https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/the-lion-sleeps-tonight.html for the article entitled "The Lion Sleeps Tonight — written by a Zulu migrant worker, made famous by Disney" As the song hit the big-time, its composer’s daughters had to fight for their father’s writing credit

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SOME RECORDED EXAMPLES OF "MBUBE" ("THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT" & "WIMOWEH")

These examples are presented in chronological order based on their publishing date on YouTube.

Example #1: Solomon Linda&The Evening ( The First Version ) – Mbube

FLORENCOM, Nov 7, 2007

All the versions in/Todas las versiones en: http://www.florencom.es

Solomon Linda And The Evening Birds Original Version, The Lion Sleeps Tonight (El león duerme esta noche) 1939

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Example #2: Ladysmith Black Mambazo - The Lion Sleeps Tonight

FLORENCOM, Dec 17, 2007

All the versions in/Todas las versiones en: http://www.florencom.es

Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Gift of the Tortoise [record album]

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Example #3: Soweto Gospel Choir - The Lion Sleeps Tonight

FLORENCOM, Dec 17, 2007

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Example #4: The Weavers-Wimoweh

PercivaldurhamSep 16, 2010

Pete Seeger takes the lead.

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Example #5: Timon & Pumbaa: The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Song)

Tandpfan, Jan 29, 2012

…Timon and Pumbaa sing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", unaware that a real lion (Simba) is wide awake

The Lion King [movie]
Rating: G
Released: 1994

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Example #6: The Tokens - The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh) (Audio)

Tokenvideos, Oct 29, 2013

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Example #7: Miriam Makeba - Mbube (Taken from Live At Berns Salonger, Stockholm, Sweden, 1966)

Miriam Makeba Official Channel, Feb 3, 2015

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Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Seven YouTube Examples Of The South African Song "Mbube" (also known as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" & "Wimoweh"))

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