This is the original, written by South African Zulu Solomon Linda, who was working at the time as a packer at a Johannesburg record company but performing in his off time. Recorded in in 1939 in Zulu with his singing group the Evening Birds. Solomon is on the far right. The Americanized version, first performed by the Weavers, of which Pete Seeger was a member, has been covered many times (I have 17 versions) most successfully in 1961 by the Tokens (accompanied by Armenian-American opera singer Anita Darian who did the uncredited soprano counter melody.) From Wikipedia: South African journalist Rian Malan: Mbube wasnt the most remarkable tune, but there was something terribly compelling about the underlying chant, a dense meshing of low male voices above which Solomon yodelled and howled for two exhilarating minutes, occasionally making it up as he went along. The third take was the great one, but it achieved immortality only in its dying seconds, when Solly [Solomon Linda] took a deep breath, opened his mouth and improvised the melody that the world now associates with these words: In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight.[1] https://youtube/watch?v=mrrQT4WkbNE
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 15:11:10 +0000
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