![]() Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images ![]() Touring acts from the US “minstrel show” movement would occasionally include South Africa in their itinerary, performing to largely segregated white and Black audiences.įrom ‘ uyimbube’ to ‘wimoweh’ … Pete Seeger and the Weavers in 1954. Religious schools that conscripted Black South Africans frequently trained students to sing American spirituals in English. Three decades later the song would become a centrepiece of Disney’s animated classic The Lion King.īefore being known as mbube, the genre was known to some as ingoma mbusuke, or “night music”, a domestic musical style that was heavily affected by colonial influences: missionaries and white singing troupes are credited as the first to introduce four-part vocal harmony on the continent. After spreading deeper into the US, another set of musicians, doo wop group the Tokens, added English lyrics, creating the 1961 US No 1 hit The Lion Sleeps Tonight, although Linda’s name was absent from the credits. In the hands of four white voices from New York City, the looped chorus of “ uyimbube” (“You are a lion” in Zulu) became “wimoweh”, and the title of their cover. In 1951, US folk singer Pete Seeger was handed a copy and decided to record a version with his band, the Weavers. ![]() But the song’s long, complicated history was just beginning. In 40s South Africa, Linda became a star. ![]()
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