Solomon Linda And The Evening Birds - "Mbube" (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)

 …“With regard to Soloman Linda's Mbube {The Lion Sleeps Tonight},
a very interesting book that I'm reading "African Stars: Studies in Black African Performance" {Veit Erlmann;Chicago, University of Chicago Press,1991} gives a fascinating account of the composition of this song. I quote from the book:

"In 1939...He [Soloman Popolo Linda]decided to take a job offer as packer at Gallo's newly opened record pressing plant in Roodepoort [South Africa]. His choir soon attracted the attention of Gallo's talent scout Griffith Motsieloa, and before long one of Linda's songs,
"Mbube {Lion}(Gallo GE 829, reissued on Rounder 5052, A5) topped the list of the country's best selling recordings for the African listenership. Like most isicathamiya tunes, "Mbube" was based on a wedding song which Linda and his friends had picked up from young girls in Msinga [a very poor section of Natal, South Africa] and whose words commemorated the killing of a lion cub by the young Soloman and his herdsboy friends.

While neither the words of "Mbube" nor its anchorage in a wedding song were particularly original, in the view of [Linda's group] Evening Bird member Gilbert Madonda, it was Linda's performance style in conjunction with other innovations that revolutionized migrant workers choral performance styles [referred to as "isicathamiya" and also known as "boloha" or "umbholoho"]".

end of quote

There was a reference in that book of the music being called "imbube" or something similar which probably came from Linda's song title. Sorry, I can't find the exact quote…

-snip-

"Isicathamiya" is an urban music that dates from 1891. The music was performed by & associated with Black African migrant laborers. However, isicathamiya's four part choral songs are very much indebted to Zulu wedding songs and their accompanying choreography. In the United States, Ladysmith Black Mambazo is perhaps the most well known isicathamiya group. The name of that group translates as "The Black axe from Ladysmith".

If you are at all interested in African music, try to find "African Stars". It's a good read!!

Also, for a very good children's CD on African music, I would recommend Ladysmith Black Mambazo's Gift of the Tortoise: A Musical Journey through South Africa.[Music for Little People, ISBN 1-56628-035-4]. "Mbube" is one of the songs included in that CD. Printed lyrics are also included. For all the other tunes, the Zulu words are given followed by their English translations. However, in the case of Mbube, the only Zulu words given are the refrain "Mbube mamayo". This may be because the version we are most familiar with strays so far away from Linda's original words which may not be considered politically correct now what with the lion being killed now thanks to the Lion King play and movie and probably even before. But I would have loved to have read the Zulu translation of even this nicey nice revised version. Oh well.