You may be thinking “weird…” or “WTF?” or, for those of you living in Spain, “Qué friqui!”. But you have surely heard this, which is a cover of a Zulu song: WATCH NOW. (Yeah… Either YouTube or WordPress was messing with me and wouldn’t allow me to embed the video so you’ll have to bear with me and watch in a new tab -just this one video).
So, now that you know that Zulu music is not so alien to you, it’s time for you to know that this was the song you might have always associated to a hippo and a dog:
But of course, the Tokens are far from Zulu and this was not their own song. I just chose it as smooth approach to Zulu music. Now, listen to the original song. It’s called Mbube, which means lion (indeed). Mbube is the term commonly used to refer to this Zulu musical style.
I find Mbube music really interesting and it’s origins even more so. When young Zulu men in South Africa emigrated to mines in order to work there, they would sing a cappella after their long working hours. The power of their voices drove them to call the musical style Mbube.
A cover closer to the original The Lion Sleeps Tonight or Mbube (in fact, it is also known as Wimoweh) is this one by Lady Smith Black Mambazo (the most popular Mbube group from South Africa). You might have heard Lady Smith Black Mambazo before if you’ve ever listened to Paul Simon’s album Graceland.
Lady Smith Black Mambazo perform Isicathamiya music (a softer kind of Mbube) and dance in a particularly striking (awesome) fashion. Miners used to dance like this to avoid making noise, so they were called the tip-toe guys. Watch it here (the song is Diamonds on the Soles of her shoes, from Paul Simon’s Graceland album live in Harare.)
But I’ll save Lady Smith Black Mambazo for later. Let’s move on to the next cover of Mbube; by the Mahotella Queens. I don’t like this one too much, but don’t underestimate the Mahotella Queens.
One of the most beautiful covers of the song is Lion Sleeps no More, by Amaryoni. Amaryoni are one of the most popular current Iscathamiya groups. Right now, this one is my favorite Wimoweh cover:
One last thing about The Lion Sleeps Tonight: apparently, it became popular outside South Africa thanks to the Folk band The Weavers.
That’s all for today. I still have a lot to say about South African music so… to be continued?
1 Comment
December 19, 2008 at 2:45 am
qué post más chulo *_*
gracias por culturizarme en música zulúúú
me encanta hablar de música! jaja ^^