The Lion Sleeps Tonight -- but how does Michael Eisner do it?
Ken Tough
In 1939, a South African man named Solomon Linda sang into a mic,
creating "Mbube" with his soaring falsetto ringing the melody
over the haunting zulu chant "uyiMbube" (he is a lion). In 1962,
he died with $25 to his name. His family live in poverty in a
shack in Soweto, the township outside Johannesburg.
Yesterday Disney won a ruling in court that Mr Linda had sold his
rights to the song, and anyway, his family were suing for restitution
from the wrong subsidiary of the multinational corporation. Mbube
is better known today in the variant "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", used
by Disney in The Lion King. The word also leant its name to a great
musical style, characterised by Ladysmith Black Mumbaza.
In its first year, The Lion King movie had generated $312,000,000 in
revenue, and is estimated to have returned over a billion dollars.
Over 20 million people have seen the Lion King musical generating
probably around $100,000,000 in gross profit for Disney. Solomon
Linda's family only ever received $15,000 in total for his song.
Disney contends Solomon sold his rights for $40, and is owed nothing.
Under applicable copyright law, rights reverted to his family after
25 years. Phil Collins and Elton John will have received dozens of
millions of dollars for their musical efforts in Disney's productions.
I suppose the "Circle of Life" is really more of a pyramid, and poor
Africans are at the bottom of the food chain.
One blurb reads, "The Lion King, following in the Disney tradition,
aspires to offer a positive lesson for children about behavior that
Disney values by associating itself with deeper myths. The first myth
that The Lion King alludes to is the biblical narrative of life in
Paradise before the fall into sin."
Sounds kindof appropriate.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3872677.stm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200407/s1151120.htm
http://users2.ev1.net/~smyth/linernotes/thesongs/Wimoweh.htm
--
Ken Tough
Pretoria, South Africa
Mr Orlando
wahts youwant to say is that if the lion king was not that suc6
the did not ask more
i know your in south africa but when you say it ok first
and then say i want more then that is your problem
the just want more money and i dont hope the get it
On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 13:20:44 +0200, Ken Tough <k...@objectech.co.uk>
wrote:
Ken Tough
>so
>wahts youwant to say is that if the lion king was not that suc6
>the did not ask more
>i know your in south africa but when you say it ok first
>and then say i want more then that is your problem
>
>the just want more money and i dont hope the get it
From what I can make out of your typing, you seem to think that
Disney has paid some money to the family for the song. In fact,
they have paid nothing, arguing that the author/family no longer
hold copyright on it. The law says it should have reverted to
the family in 1987, so they ought to receive something. And yes,
because Disney has been the major single benefactor of the music,
they are the focus of getting some sort of restitution. I'm glad
you can be so churlish about denying poverty-stricken people their
rights. The hypocrisy of creating morality tales about africa,
then turning your back on those who got you there, seems lost on you.
--
Ken Tough
South Africa