"The lion was going round and round, and the lion was happy," she said. Linda's youngest surviving daughter, said it had been inspired by her father's childhood as a herder protecting cattle in the untamed hinterlands. Linda's group, the Original Evening Birds, into a recording studio where they produced a startling hit called "Mbube," Zulu for "The Lion." Elizabeth Nsele, Mr. He sang soprano over a four-part harmony, a vocal style that was soon widely imitated.īy 1939, a talent scout had ushered Mr. After moving to Johannesburg in his mid-20's, he quickly conquered the weekend music scene at the township beer halls and squalid hostels that housed much of the city's black labor force. Linda never learned to read or write, but in song he was supremely eloquent. Were he still alive, Solomon Linda might turn it into one heck of a ballad.īorn in 1909 in the Zulu heartland of South Africa, Mr. It is fraught with racism and exploitation and, in the end, 40-plus years after his death, brings a measure of justice. JOHANNESBURG - As Solomon Linda first recorded it in 1939, it was a tender melody, almost childish in its simplicity - three chords, a couple of words and some baritones chanting in the background.īut the saga of the song now known worldwide as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" is anything but a lullaby.
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