Solomon Linda (1909-1962) and the Evening Birds in 1941. From left to right are: Solomon Linda (soprano), Gilbert Madondo (alto), Boy Sibiya (tenor), Samuel Mlangeni (bass) and Owen Skakane (bass).

Solomon Linda (1909 – 8 October 1962) was a South African Zulu musician, singer and composer who wrote the song "Mbube" which later became the pop hit "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", and gave its name to a style of isicathamiya a cappella popularized by Ladysmith Black Mambazo (Erlmann). Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2480x1814, 1989 KB) Solomon Linda and the Evening Birds in 1941. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2480x1814, 1989 KB) Solomon Linda and the Evening Birds in 1941. ... October 8 is the 281st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (282nd in leap years). ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The Lion Sleeps Tonight began as a 1939 African popular music hit Mbube that, in modified versions, also became a hit in the US and UK. Mbube (Zulu for lion) was first recorded by its writer, Solomon Linda, and his group, The Evening Birds, in 1939. ... The Lion Sleeps Tonight began as a 1939 African popular music hit Mbube that, in modified versions, also became a hit in the US and UK. Mbube (Zulu for lion) was first recorded by its writer, Solomon Linda, and his group, The Evening Birds, in 1939. ... Mbube is a form of South African vocal music, made famous by the South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. ... Isicathamiya is a singing style originated from the South African Zulus. ... A cappella music is vocal music or singing without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. ... Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a chorus from South Africa that is noted for singing a cappella isicathamiya and mbube music. ...

Early years

Solomon Popoli Linda was born near Pomeroy, in the impoverished Msinga rural area of Zululand and attended the Gordon Memorial mission school (Erlmann 1996:60). Influenced by the new syncopated music that had swept across South Africa from the US since the 1880s, he worked it into the Zulu songs he and his friends sang at weddings and feasts^{[citation needed]}. Zululand was the Zulu-dominated area of what is now northern KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. ... In music, syncopation is the stressing of a normally unstressed beat in a bar or the failure to sound a tone on an accented beat. ...

In 1931 Linda joined the stream of young African men who left their homesteads to find menial work in Johannesburg, by then a sprawling gold-mining town hungry for cheap labour. He worked in the furniture store of his uncles while singing in their choir, the Evening Birds, which disbanded in 1933. Linda started a new group that retained the Evening Birds name, and found employment at Johannesburg's Carlton Hotel (Erlmann 1996:61). City motto: Unity in Development Province Gauteng Mayor Amos Masondo Area  - % water 1,644 km² 0. ...

The group evolved from performances at weddings to choir competitions. Linda's musical popularity grew with the Evening Birds, who presented "a very cool urban act that wears pinstriped suits, bowler hats and dandy two-tone shoes" [1].

Mbube

After Linda started working at the Gallo Record Company's Roodepoort plant in 1939, the Evening Birds were spotted by company talent scout Griffith Motsieloa (Erlmann 1996:61). Italian immigrant Eric Gallo owned what at that time was sub-Saharan Africa's only recording studio. While recording a number of songs in the studio, Linda improvised "Mbube" (Lion). Gallo Record Company is the largest record label in Africa. ... See also: 1938 in music, other events of 1939, 1940 in music and the list of years in music. Events Publication of Music Here and Now, book by Ernst Krenek March 23 - Béla Bartóks Violin Concerto No. ...

"Mbube" was a major success for Linda and the Evening Birds, reportedly selling over 100,000 copies in South Africa by 1949. The recording was produced by Motsieloa at the Gallo studios. Linda sold the rights to Gallo Record Company for 10 shillings (less than $US 2) shortly after the recording was made, but under British laws then in effect, those rights should have reverted to Linda's heirs 25 years after his death in 1962.

In 1948 the Evening Birds disbanded, and a year later Linda married Regina. While raising a family he continued to perform. His song "Mbube" had made him a star in South Africa.

Linda is credited with a number of musical innovations that came to dominate the isicathamiya style. Instead of using one singer per voice part, the Evening Birds used a number of bass singers. He introduced the falsetto lead voice which incorporated female vocal texture into male singing. His group was the first to use striped suits to indicate that they urban sophisticates. At the same time, their bass singing retained musical elements that indicated an attachment to traditional ways of singing choral music (Erlmann 65-66). Isicathamiya is a singing style originated from the South African Zulus. ...

Some of Linda's music reflects the increasing humiliation that black South Africans were experiencing. For example, Yetulisgqoko (Take off your hat, Gallo GE 887) recalls treatment meted out by Pass Office officials, and ends with the words Sikhalela izwe lakithi ("We mourn for our country.") Such expressions of political realities were not unheard of in mbube songs (Erlmann 1996:70). Groups like the Alexandrians were attached to the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union in Johannesburg (Erlmann 69).

Alan Lomax

The original South African recording was later "discovered" in the early 1950s by American musicologist Alan Lomax, who passed it on to his friend, folk musician Pete Seeger of The Weavers. Seeger retitled it "Wimoweh" (an inaccurate phonetic rendering of the song's Zulu refrain, "uyembube") and it was popularized by The Weavers; they recorded a studio version in 1952 which became a Top 20 hit in the USA, as well as an influential live version recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1957, which turned the song into a folk music staple. The Weavers' version was subsequently covered by The Kingston Trio in 1959. Lomax playing guitar, sometime between 1938 and 1950 Alan Lomax (January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an important American folklorist and musicologist. ... Pete Seeger (1955) Peter Seeger (born May 3, 1919) almost universally known as Pete Seeger, is a folk singer and political activist. ... The Weavers were an immensely popular and influential folk music quartet from Greenwich Village, New York, United States. ... The Lion Sleeps Tonight was a 1939 African pop hit that, unexpectedly, also became quite popular in the US. The song was first recorded by its writer, Solomon Linda, and his group, The Evening Birds, in 1939 under the title Mbube. The songs Zulu lyrics told the story of... Zulu (isiZulu in Zulu), is a language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority (over 95%) of whom live in South Africa. ... The Weavers were an immensely popular and influential folk music quartet from Greenwich Village, New York, United States. ... Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street. ... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and for the common people. ... The Kingston Trios original lineup: Bob Shane, Dave Guard, Nick Reynolds The Kingston Trio is an American folk group. ...

The Weavers' Carnegie Hall version was also the inspiration for the 1961 version recorded by pop group The Tokens, for whom it was extensively re-written by George Weiss and retitled "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"; this is the version most people are now familiar with. (However, at the time, 1961/2, an up-tempo version by the Karl Denver Trio was the more successful in the UK). The Tokens were an American male doo-wop vocal group from Brooklyn, New York. ... George David Weiss (born April 9, 1921) was a Jewish-American songwriter. ... The Lion Sleeps Tonight began as a 1939 African popular music hit Mbube that, in modified versions, also became a hit in the US and UK. Mbube (Zulu for lion) was first recorded by its writer, Solomon Linda, and his group, The Evening Birds, in 1939. ... Karl Denver (born Angus Murdo McKenzie, 16 December 1931, in Springburn, Glasgow died 21 December 1998), was a British singer, who, with his Trio (Kevin Neil (born 25 July 1931, in Manchester, Lancashire; Gerry Cottrell (born Gerard Cottrell, 18 December 1933, in Manchester, Lancashire died Frid 24 November 2006, at...

Death

Despite the popularity and wide use of the song, Linda died in poverty in 1962 of renal failure. It took another 18 years to erect a tombstone at his grave.

Rediscovery

In 2000 South African journalist Rian Malan wrote a feature article for Rolling Stone magazine, highlighting Linda's story and estimating that the song had earned US $15 million for its use in The Lion King alone. Malan and the South African film maker Francois Verster cooperated to make a television documentary called "The Lion's Trail" which tells Solomon Linda's story and was screened by PBS. In 2004, with the backing of the South African government and Gallo Records, Linda's descendants brought a lawsuit in South Africa against the US company The Walt Disney Company for its use in The Lion King movie and musical without paying royalties to them.ddddddddddddddryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Rian Malan is a South African author, journalist and songwriter of Afrikaner descent. ... This article is about the magazine. ... François Verster (born 12 February 1969) is a South African film director and documentary maker. ... Not to be confused with Public Broadcasting Services in Malta. ... The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) is one of the largest media and entertainment corporations in the world. ... The Lion King is a 1994 animated feature film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. ...

Settlement

In February 2006 Linda's heirs reached a legal settlement with Abilene Music, who held the worldwide rights and had licensed the song to Disney. This settlement applies to worldwide rights, not just South African, since 1987. The money will go into a trust, to be administered by SA Music Rights CEO Nick Motsatsi. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the job of having the ultimate executive responsibility or authority within an organization or corporation. ...

References

• Elrmann, Veit. 1996. Nightsong: Performance, Power, and Practice in South Africa. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press.
• Rolling Stone magazine; Rian Malan; May 25, 2000; In the Jungle

This article is about the magazine. ... Rian Malan is a South African author, journalist and songwriter of Afrikaner descent. ... May 25 is the 145th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (146th in leap years). ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• PBS: The Lion's Trail
• The World: Global Hit: Solomon Linda
• Time: It's a Lawsuit, a Mighty Lawsuit
• NPR: All Things Considered: Family of 'Lion Sleeps Tonight' Writer to Get Millions
• Telegraph: Penniless singer's family sue Disney for Lion King royalties
• Notable Names Database: Solomon Linda
• All Music: Solomon Linda
• Rian Malan's article from 2000
• February 2006 article at Southafrica.info
• SA Music article with Legal details of lawsuit & settlement Select King of the Jungle - The Solomon Linda/Mbube Story from the drop down menu

Media

• Sample of Mbube performed by Solomon Linda's Original Evening Birds (opens directly in Windows Media Player].
• Scanned image of Linda's original Gallotone recording [[2]].