
The song reached the ears of Pete Seeger through folklorist Alan Lomax. Copies were shipped to England as 10" 78 rpm discs and became a word-of-mouth hit, selling more than 100,000 copies by 1948. During their second session, "Mbube" was recorded in four takes. With Linda's soprano lead vocals setting the pace, the group became one of the pioneers of isicathamiya, an energetic style of vocalizing characterized by doubled bass voices and exciting choreography.ĭiscovered by a talent scout in 1938, the Evening Birds and producer Griffith Motsieloa recorded several songs in Eric Gallo's recording studio.
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Within two years, the singers had evolved into the more professional group, Solomon Linda And The Evening Birds. Shortly after moving to Johannesburg, in the mid-'30s, Linda began singing during weekends with an acapella group. Linda's earliest musical inspiration came when he heard popular Black American vocalist Orpheus McAdoo performing with his group, The Virginia Jubilee Singers, at Gordon Memorial School in the South African village of Msinga. It wasn't until recently that Linda's estate received substantial royalties from the song. According to a major article published in the issue of Rolling Stone, Linda's widow was left so poor that she was unable to purchase a headstone for his grave. Linda - who was recorded one pound cash for the song - never benefited from the song's success. Among the many films that have featured the song are Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Disney's The Lion King. Whether named "Mbube," "Wimoweh," or "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," the song has been recorded by more than 150 artists including Jimmy Dorsey, The Kingston Trio, The Spinners, The Tremeloes, Glen Campbell, Brian Eno, They Might Be Giants, Miriam Makeba, R.E.M., Chet Atkins, The Nylons, and Manu Dibango. Subsequent hit versions were recorded by Robert John in 1972 and Tight Fit in 1982. With lyrics by George David Weiss, the song became a chart-topping pop hit as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" for The Tokens in 1961. Although Linda recorded the first version with his group, The Evening Birds, in 1939, the song became an internationally-recognized classic when it was renamed "Wimoweh" and recorded by Pete Seeger and The Weavers in 1948. UK / 2-LP vinyl set - £6.80, USD 8.30, € 7.Solomon Linda is best remembered as the writer of "Mbube" (translated as "The Lion"), one of the most successful songs to come out of South Africa. Our buying office where we pick the best stock for selling. See the padlock symbol shown by most browsers when you checkout. It is 100% safe and secure to order from us as we have been independently verified by THAWTE and your data is transmitted using 128 bit encryption with 'Extended Validation SSL' achieving the highest level of consumer trust through using the strictest authentication standard.We reply to emails in minutes and hours, not days.We're always on the phone to answer questions and help with any orders, Monday through Saturday.Check out thousands of independent 5 star reviews about us.
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