This song, “Mbube,” was not adapted from the popular “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” This is the original song, written by South African Zulu musician Solomon Linda and recorded with his group, The Evening Birds. Mbube is a Zulu word meaning lion. The iconic melody was not a part of the original song. It is reported that Solomon improvised this melody during the recording session. This piece is the intellectual and creative property of Solomon and his bandmates. 

So, why is it that we associate this melody with pop music and a movie about lions?

Solomon Linda was a musician and composer. He was born in Msinga, in the coastal province of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa in 1909. Linda blended African American sounds into the song he wrote. At 21 he moved to Johannesburg and eventually formed a band called Solomon Linda and the Evening Birds. The band was wildly popular and ended up recording a number of songs with Eric Gallo. The song Mbube made Solomon Linda a star in South Africa selling over 100,000 copies by 1949. Mbube was so popular that it was the name given to a genre of music. Joseph Shabalala of Lady Blacksmith Mambazo calls Solomon Linda a hero.

Unfortunately, Solomon Linda and his band were not given any rights to their music. He had unknowingly turned over the rights to his music when the band signed with the Gallo Record company in South Africa. The Folk Revival movement in North America gave musicians the license to share music without proper context or quite possibly the information to give its creators credit. Mbube spread as a South African song and was later known as “Wimoweh.” Eventually, “Wimoweh” caught the ear of George Davis Weiss, an American arranger, and songwriter. Weiss added new lyrics playing off of the original meaning of Mbube, a song of one’s prowess. “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” gained even more popularity and was recorded by many different artists. Growing up I heard this song on the radio almost daily. We sang it on the playground and in my choir. Now a mainstay of American culture, this version of the song was so popular that is was chosen to be a part of the movie The Lion King when Disney released it in 1994. 

It is likely that we would have only known “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” as a song made popular during the folk revival in the United States had it not been for Rian Malan. Rian is a journalist and relative of D. F. Malan, former prime minister of South Africa responsible for guiding the creation of the country’s apartheid policies.  He was first introduced to Mbube by Johnny Klegg, a South African recording artist. To escape his family legacy in South Africa Malan moved to the US, where he became familiar with the Americanized “Wimoweh”.  Milan, feeling shame for his family’s part in oppressive policies, felt even more shame for not knowing more about the music of his own “country.” Malan was asked to pitch a few article ideas for Rolling Stone Magazine. He knew this song, as it was “the most famous melody ever to emerge from Africa and also probably the most lucrative.” (Malan, The Lion’s Share) Malan chose to write about the “transcultura saga” of the piece from its origins to its place in Disney’s The Lion King movie and stage musical. During research for a Rolling Stone article he was writing, it struck Malan that the royalties for this song, now a Disney hit earning the company over 15 million dollars, were likely not being paid to surviving members of the Linda family. 

Because Solomon Linda died in 1962, Rian sought out Linda’s four daughters in Zola, a section of Soweto township in South Africa. They had heard their father’s record as children and were proud of his accomplishments. They knew that something had been done with Mbube outside of the country because a lawyer would come periodically to give them money. Linda’s daughters were hurt to learn that their father’s music profited people in America while the family struggled back home. It took the family eighteen years just to save enough money to erect a gravestone for their father’s grave. When Rian saw how little the family was being offered in royalties he was determined to help legally funnel the money back to Linda's rightful heirs. Rian admitted that he followed this path as a means of atonement. He said, “There was a simple wrong that I had some chance of correcting. These people have not been correctly treated. It is not fair, ok. I have been in Africa genetically for 380 years. Above all I want absolution for the sins of my forefathers and I want to be loved again. So, in this case I did something that I hoped would make people love me. Black people love me. Is that the truth of me? It’s kind of the truth.”

After numerous meetings with various contacts, it was determined that the best course of action was to sue Disney. Hope was that there would be a greater chance of recompense in going directly to the source that now controlled the rights to the song. After some time, Disney settled with the family - now only three daughters, as one died during this process. The settlement terms must be kept confidential, but we do know Solomon’s family has not seen enough money to make an impact on their wellbeing. In 2012 Mbube entered the public domain in South Africa. Further hope for monetary reparations for the Linda family appears to be gone. 

While Rian Malan likey he believed he was helping the Linda family, his intentions were selfish. He wanted to Linda’s daughters to receive fair monetary compensation as an inheritance so that the world could see him as a sort of savior. Malan, in all of his attempts to help the Linda family, failed to recognize the privilege he had been afforded all his life. His inability to be self-reflective as a way to relate to or empathize with the Linda family misguided his focus. Because of this reconciliation for the Linda family could not be met. The focus must be on the victim for insightful recompense to occur.

Linda’s family was hoping for reconciliation. Through their words, we learned that the Linda family has been harmed, financially and spiritually, by being left out of this story. For true reconciliation to occur, the party at fault for the damage must offer an enlightened apology to the victims. The perpetrators must understand why they are apologizing. Once sincere forgiveness is given by the victims insightful recompense can truly be given. In this case, there was no relationship formed between Disney and the Linda family. Money was given to end the case, not to heal or to offer true reparations. 

So, what can we do? Let us honor the contributions Solomon Linda has made to our lives. Let us tell his story. Let us make sure that his legacy lives beside and grows larger than that of the reimagined “Lion Sleeps Tonight.” Sing the truth of “Mbube.”

Thank you to Dena Ross Jennings and Greg C. Adams for bringing this story to my attention through their “Traditions and Transformation” conflict resolution workshops for musicians, dancers, and artists of American roots genres.

You can find more information on their work at:

http://www.imaniworks.org/conflict-transformation-and-effective-advocacy.html