{"id":692,"date":"2026-02-06T19:48:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T00:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/?p=692"},"modified":"2026-02-06T20:39:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T01:39:55","slug":"about-the-lion-sleeps-tonight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/thoughts\/about-the-lion-sleeps-tonight\/","title":{"rendered":"About \u201cThe Lion Sleeps Tonight\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

Miriam Makeba did not make this song famous internationally. The Tokens<\/a> did, in 1961. Its origins<\/a> lie with South African Zulu musician Solomon Linda and The Evening Birds’ \u201cMbube,\u201d in 1939. Moreover, the song\u2019s history is actually a case study in cultural appropriation and exploitation, which later became a political issue in its own right. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\n
\"Miriam<\/a>
1969\/03\/07 Rob Mieremet \/ Anefo Nationaal Archief
Public Domain Dedication (CC0)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

But if The Lion Sleeps Tonight is the Miriam Makeba you know best, it\u2019s understandable. And yet\u2014it\u2019s diametrically opposed to her importance, as an artist and as a South African.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A witness in exile<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Miriam Makeba\u2019s singing often functions like testimony rather than persuasion. She was apartheid\u2019s witness in exile, attesting to its horrors, her words and music censored at home\u2014her songs functioning as deposition rather than slogan. Once you see that, she\u2019s impossible to misfile as merely \u201cworld music\u201d \u2014 or 60’s nostalgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life-risking testimony \u2014 not mere metaphor<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"Jacob
Jacob Ori + unknown
welcome Miriam to Israel (1963) Public Domain Dedication (CC0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, and others understood singing as life-risking testimony, not metaphor. To get to know the true Miriam, a rewarding next step is to listen to \u201cSoweto Blues<\/a>\u201d and \u201cNdodemnyama<\/a>\u201d back-to-back, paying attention not just to lyrics but to delivery\u2014how restraint itself becomes political. That\u2019s where her power lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hamba kahle, Miriam. Lala ngamandla, Miriam!<\/em><\/strong> Go well!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pumzika kwa heshima \u2014 na nguvu, Miriam! <\/strong><\/em>Rest with dignity \u2014 and with power!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a7<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Miriam Makeba did not make this song famous internationally. The Tokens did, in 1961. Its origins lie with South African Zulu musician Solomon Linda and The Evening Birds’ \u201cMbube,\u201d in 1939. Moreover, the song\u2019s history is actually a case study in cultural appropriation and exploitation, which later became a political issue in its own right. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,1],"tags":[12,18,16],"class_list":["post-692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration","category-thoughts","tag-acknowledgements","tag-music-history","tag-musicianship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":709,"href":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692\/revisions\/709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}