Solomon Linda

Solomon Linda Solomon called Ntsele (* 1909 in South Africa, † October 8, 1962 in Soweto, South Africa) was a South African Zulu musician, singer and composer. He wrote the song Mbube written, the later the songs and Wimoweh The Lion Sleeps Tonight became a pop hit.

Linda has shaped Mbube 30 years later by Ladysmith Black Mambazo made ​​popular style isicathamiya (A cappella ).

Life

His enthusiasm for music discovered Linda, when he located at his school in Mzinga Valley, about 500 kilometers south-east of Johannesburg in the heart of the settlement area of the Zulu, the African-American gospel singer Orpheus McAdoo experienced during its tour of South Africa.

In the 1930s he moved to Johannesburg, where he founded with other Zulu group The Evening Birds, with whom he soon reached a certain notoriety. They were discovered by Griffiths Motsieloa, South Africa's first black music producer. This ensured that the Evening Birds could take several panels: the first in 1938, the second - with the song Mbube - a year later. The recordings took place in a recording studio, which the Italians Eric Gallo - had brought from England to South Africa - the founder of Gallo Records. At that time it was the only recording studio south of the Sahara. With Mbube Solomon Linda achieved a great success which made ​​him one of the most popular black musicians in South Africa for years. Since he had sold the rights to the song for a single payment to the Gallo Studios in the amount of ten South African shillings, but of the success of the songs he did not benefit.

Linda died in 1962 in the impoverished township of Soweto from kidney failure. His descendants could not even pay a grave stone for him. Solomon Linda is survived by his widow Regina, whom he had married in 1949, three daughters and ten grandchildren.

Linda hit Mbube

Linda became known mainly through the song composed by him Mbube ( German "Lion ", better known as " Wimoweh " and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" ) and therefore the resulting dispute over copyright and exploitation rights.

Linda wrote the song in 1939 for his performances in Johannesburg Bars. When the Evening Birds took up the song in 1939, fell through the first two attempts. It was not until the third attempt, and after Motsieloa had ever brought added a pianist, guitarist and banjo player, has become a member. The producer of the song Motsieloa was so impressed that he sent the recording to England and settled produce records. Soon, the song was already extremely popular, especially among the impoverished Zulu in the townships. 1948 had increased to 100,000 records of hits sold, and Solomon Linda was for South African conditions a superstar.

In Europe and the U.S., the song was known as the folk musician Pete Seeger grossed him with his band, The Weavers. Seeger had been made by his friend, the musicologist Alan Lomax, pay attention to the song, after Lomax had discovered a copy of the disk in a recording studio. Seeger did not understand the text as it was written in isiZulu, and therefore changed the refrain " uyembube " in " Wimoweh " from. The recording of the Weavers in 1952 made ​​it into the American Top 20, and a live recording from 1957 from Carnegie Hall, the song was one of the famous folk songs of the time. In 1959, a similarly successful cover version of the group The Kingston Trio.

For a recording of the pop group The Tokens of 1961, the American composer George David Weiss wrote the song order on its own English text. So the title The Lion Sleeps Tonight, under which the song was even better known was born. Numerous cover versions have ensured that Weiss ' adaptation is now one of the ten most successful songs of all time, the revenues are estimated at 20 million U.S. dollars. The song reached No. 1 on the 1961 inter alia Billboard charts. Overall, the song has since been copied in 1951 by over 150 artists, altered lyrically and used in at least 15 films. Among other things, sat Disney Mbube without permission of the heirs Lindas under the title The Lion Sleeps Tonight in the animated film The Lion King a.

An American tribunal awarded 1991 White the rights to The Lion Sleeps Tonight to. This had argued that he had created with the English text a completely new song and was thus the rightful author.

Appeared in 2000 in the influential music magazine Rolling Stone, an article by South African journalist Rian Malan about Linda, his song and its worldwide marketing. But the marketing of the song relating to the hit Disney film brought him, according to the company a profit of 15 million U.S. dollars. Also, the TV documentary The Lion's Trail of American Networks PBS made ​​a wider public awareness about this topic. Supports sued by the South African government and the record company Gallo Records Linda's heirs then Disney before a South African court on the payment of royalties for the unauthorized use of Linda's composition in the film based on it and the Musical The Lion King. In September 2004, the heirs of an indemnity of 10 million rand (about 1.25 million euros ) was awarded. The court threatened to Disney, to withdraw the South African rights to use its approximately 240 registered brands, the group that compensation should not be paid.

In February 2006, the heirs agreed with the publisher Abilene Music, who now acted as the owner of the rights to Mbube, a payment of royalties for the worldwide use of composition since 1987 (according to current at the time of transfer of rights contract in South Africa British copyright laws fell rights to the composition 25 years after the author's death, so in 1987, again returned to the heirs ). The money will go to a foundation.

Influence

Linda Solomon is considered the pioneer of South African a cappella vocal style isicathamiya, as it occurs also in Mbube and later became known by Ladysmith Black Mambazo and their employees to Paul Simon's world music album Graceland world. This music is also a dance style originated, the Cothoza bafana.

-Influenced by Solomon Linda artists also heard alongside Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Miriam Makeba. Mbube has in the eyes of some of the black South Africa a similar status as the unofficial anthem Waltzing Matilda for Australia.

In addition, the dispute over the rights to Mbube wrote world history justice and set standards for future cases.