Earliest Wimoweh Mbube Lion Sleeps Tonight ? '51

This snippet was taken from the 1951 release of "Cry The Beloved Country", produced by Zoltan Korda and has to be the earliest "mass released" version of the song. Can anyone come up with an earlier version from outside of South Africa? The Weavers (with Pete Seeger) recorded it in 1951, the same year as this movie was released, so we have to assume this was actually recorded earlier. The Token's version of the 60's isn't even in the running.

Is this Solomon Linda singing here? Is this an unrecognized "lost" recording?

Interestingly, right after the young man asks Stephen Khumalo "Where do you want to go?" and before he answers "To Sophiatown" you can clearly hear what sounds like someone whistling the first three notes of the melody of the song- An inside joke perhaps? Someone setting the key for the acapella singers?



Not that many people read these notes, but I'd like to add that this particular movie (the first from the important book of the same name) is outstanding with fine performances from both Cananda Lee in his last movie before his early death and Sidney Poitier in only his second leading role. Worth watching if you can find it.

My thanks to Florencom for the posting of Linda's original 1938 recording. I didn't ask his permission to link this, but I don't think he/she would mind.

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Education

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[bendaglish]

You know - I was about to reply saying "I'm sure this *is* the original 1939 recording" ... but indeed - it's very subtly different. I thought it was just the fact that it's a semitone higher and slightly faster - presumably just the playback speed of whatever they were using , but in the middle of the non-falsetto bit, there's indeed a slight warble upwards that isn't in the original, I'm sure. How interesting...maybe another take (there were a few in the original session, apparently)?

[ngiyaxolisa]

@bendaglish Thanks for the affirmation. Does it sound to you like the same singer(s) as the Gallo release of '39? It certainly sounds like Linda to me. I'm really surprised that this little bit of "incidental music" this hasn't received more recognition. Like I'm the first person to have watched this admittedly obscure movie and exclaimed "OMG, that's Mbube being sung in the background of this 1951 movie"? I have seen it's release date listed as "1952" as well.

[bendaglish]

@ngiyaxolisa Impossible to tell due to quality whether it really is Linda or not, but I would have sworn it was the original recording were it not for the mordents in the 2nd/4th phrases (which I've triple-checked against the original - they're definitely not there). Also, (though possibly due to the quality) I can't hear the piano/banjo chords in the background, which again leads me to suspect that it could be one of the earlier acappella takes, before they grabbed the instrumentalists.

[ngiyaxolisa]

@ngiyaxolisa Check Wiki. Aside from the original Linda/Evening Bird recording of 1939, the Weavers 1952 (sic) version is the earliest listing. This soundtrack is from 1951 (presumably filmed in 1950). Wiki has overlooked this recording entirely and so it seems has everyone else. Can you tell me of another recording post dating Linda's in 1939 and predating this from 1951?

[ngiyaxolisa]

@welcome2myhell To my knowledge, this song was a hit in and around Joberg in the 40's, but the first time it was recorded and released on record internationally was in November 1951 (by The Weavers). Since this movie was filmed before that, this soundtrack appears to be the first international exposure of mBube/Wemoweh/Lion-sleeps-toni­ght ever. If anyone can find a version released outside of Southern Africa before 1950, then I'm wrong. Anyone?

[welcome2myhell]

@ngiyaxolisa why is '51 in your title then? That's all I'm claiming?

[ngiyaxolisa]

@welcome2myhell Sorry, I don't understand quite what you're getting at here. Of course it's the same song (I am a musician after all). It's a different recording of the song than 1939 pressing is all I'm claiming.  Am I the only one who can hear it? Seeger personally sent money to Linda (bless his heart for that), but I know more about the culture of the amaZulu than he ever imagined. Check out some of my other videos

[welcome2myhell]

@ngiyaxolisa I see you know of the 1939 recording. So...because it's a different tempo and pitch it's not the same song? LOL.

[ngiyaxolisa]

@welcome2myhell Perhaps you could enlighten us with more details as to what precisely you mean by "not even close"?

[ngiyaxolisa]

@don1carter Don, I didn't mean to suggest that the movie was from 1939, but rather the tune was recorded in 1939 by Solomon Linda and the Evening Birds. I apologize for the misunderstanding.