A Lion's Trail
South Africa
•
55m
Directed by François Verster • Documentary • 2002 • 54 minutes
It will take anyone in the world no more than a few bars to recognize this song: "The Lion Sleeps Tonight”, also sung as "Wimoweh”.
The melody has been covered at least two hundred times by artists as diverse as James Last, Henri Salvador, Brian Eno, Chet Atkins, REM and Salif Keita, and has generated many millions of dollars in revenues. Everyone in the world knows it - yet few are aware that it was actually written by Solomon Linda, a South African singer who barely saw a cent.
A tale of magic, greed and deceit...and of the power of music to transcend barriers.
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