The original recording of The Lion Sleeps Tonight, composed 62 years ago by a South African who died in poverty without royalties, is to be released again to benefit his family.
Versions of the song by Solomon Linda will be recorded by top South African groups Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the Elite Swingsters and released as a compact disc on August 6.
Royalties will go to Linda’s three daughters and their families in Soweto, near Johannesburg.
The value of all the songwriter's royalties and associated revenues generated by the song is estimated at about 15 million dollars.
But Linda died penniless at the age of 53, more than 20 years after he and his band, the Original Evening Birds, recorded the song Mbube for the first time.
Shortly after the first recording by Linda and his band, Mbube was obtained by folk singer Pete Seeger in the United States. His version of the song, called Wimoweh, soon went on to chart success in 1951.
(Seeger misheard the main refrain in the song -- it was actually Uyimbube -- "you’re the lion".)
A second version of the song, dubbed The Lion Sleeps Tonight by the Tokens in 1961, is estimated to have generated millions of dollars and also became world famous.
Over the past 60 years around 160 recordings have been made of different versions of The Lion Sleeps Tonight.
It has been used in 13 movies, half-a-dozen television commercials and a hit play, The Lion King -- (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
