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Mbube – The Lion
The story behind the original South African song Mbube, by Solomon Linda’s Original Evening Birds, which was turned into the worldwide hit known as the Lion Sleeps Tonight
‘Mbube’ or the Lion by Solomon Linda’s Original Evening Birds is a track that grew from a half-improvised two minute song recorded in Johannesburg in the 1930s and then, through a series of cultural misappropriations, was rewritten into a worldwide hit – Wimoweh or The Lion Sleeps Tonight. It later became part of Disney’s huge international Lion King phenomenon. But did any of the money make it back to Linda and his family?
Produced by Rami Tzabar for BBC World Service.
Image: Record label artwork, BBC
Last on
Mon 18 Mar 201904:50GMT
BBC World Service South Asia
Broadcasts
- Sat 16 Mar 201905:50GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & South Asia
- Sun 17 Mar 201915:50GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa
- Sun 17 Mar 201922:50GMTBBC World Service Online, Americas and the Caribbean, UK DAB/Freeview, News Internet & Europe and the Middle East only
- Mon 18 Mar 201904:50GMTBBC World Service South Asia
