A lion’s trail
The Lion Sleeps Tonight is one of the most recognizable pop songs in the world. But how many people realize that this American hit tune was actually written by Solomon Linda, a Zulu musician who never earned a cent in royalties and died in poverty? Directed by award-winning filmmaker Francois Verster, this film traces the music back to its original source, telling the story of who transformed the Zulu song Mbube into The Lion Sleeps Tonight .
History of the song
Solomon Linda first composed Mbube in the 1920s and recorded it at South Africas Gallo Records in 1939. Years later, folk singer Pete Seeger heard Lindas song on a recording and Anglicized Mbube into Wimoweh in a new rendition with The Weavers. In 1961, the New York-based pop band The Tokens worked with composer George Weiss to re-title and re-record the song as The Lion Sleeps Tonight, which soon became one of the most recorded pop songs in the world.
Copyright
Today, almost all international rights on the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight are held by Americans, principally by George Weiss. The musician Solomon Linda died a pauper in the early 1960s. Apartheid denied South African blacks copyrights for their own work. Today, his daughters remain poor in Soweto, South Africa, fighting Weiss and other copyright owners for their fathers fair share of the profits.
