![]() ![]() Of popular music, which limped pale-skinned and anaemic into the Its epic transcultural saga is also, in a way, the story It is the most famous melody ever to emergeįrom Africa, a tune that has penetrated so deep into the humanĬonsciousness over so many generations that one can truly say, here is It has logged nearly three centuries of continuous radio air Hollywood put it in Ace Ventura Petĭetective. New Zealand army band turned it into a march. and Glen Campbell, Brian EnoĪnd Chet Atkins, the Nylons and _ schlockmeister Bert Kaempfert. The theme song of a hugely popular British website. Wax, which was taken to England and turned into a record that became aĪnd landed in America, where it mutated into a truly immortal popĮpiphany that soared to the top of the charts here and then everywhere,Īgain and again, returning every decade or so under different names and ![]() Trembling stylus that cut tiny grooves into a spinning block of bees ![]() ![]() Haunting skein of fifteen notes that flowed down the wires and into a He just opened his mouth and out it came, a Was standing in front of a microphone in the only recording studio inīlack Africa when it happened. Place in the brain of a man named Solomon Linda. Once upon a time, a long time ago, a small miracle took After six decades, the truth is finally told. Music legends made millions off the work of a Zulu tribesman who died a it is one of the great musical mysteries of all time: How American This all relates to the SA music in crisis article by Angus KerrĪnd his contention that East Coast Radio and the other Top FortyĪmerican Formatted Radio Stations in Africa need to show a little more It'sĪbout time that we get to know a little of our own history & dig Many American & British composers haveĬlaimed the copyright to MBUBE over the past 50 odd hidden years. That's how the American's & Europeans would listen to it if they Song that could have been to SAfrica what 'Waltzing Matilda' is toĪustralia - Goodness forbid!! But you know what we mean. $10 Million dollars (US)!!! Some say $15 Million for a Part 1 of a 3 part series that follows the fate of a great song-writer who 'sold' his soul & song to Gallo Africaįor a few Guinness - when technically & morally he should haveĮarned approx. It's about SAfrican singer-songwriter Soloman Linda - The man who recorded & composed Mbube (aka - The Lion Sleeps Tonight / Whimaway / In the Jungle, etc.). So there is a tiny bit of interesting voice leading for the chords, but I wouldn't really call any of it strongly melodic.Internationally renowned SAfrican author Rian Malan has researched & written a remarkable expose for Rolling Stone magazine in the USA, on the murky side of music's international mainstream. In measure 3, the directions are reversed, and in the final measure, all the voices go down. In measure 2, the highest and lowest voices go up and the two inner voices go down. There is a contrast in the outer and inner voices. It really seems like the arranger wanted the effect of a chordal instrument like a guitar or piano. The middle voice sings the 5th of each chord, (except for the final chord, where I think it sings the 3rd because the top voice takes the 5th). The highest and lowest voices of the accompaniment just sing the root notes of the chord for each full measure. (Except for at the very end when it starts to do something different than the other voices.) Frankly, even the highest voice kind of abandons melody during that section. That makes it harmony, not countermelody. It also sings entirely in the same pattern with the highest voice. When it first comes in, it presents a series of stacked fifths, what guitar players would just call a power chord. I mean, it has notes that change each measure, sure, but its main function is rhythmic and harmonic. ![]()
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