![]() ![]() Some argue that Solomon Linda did not write the song but improvised a traditional Zulu song sung when a king has passed away. ![]() “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”, however, is still in copyright. In 2012, “ Mbube” fell into the public domain due to the copyright law of South Africa. So yeah again in the jungle, the unjust jungle, Linda’s estate still not benefiting from the digital remake of The Lion King. In February 2006, Linda’s descendants began receiving the compensation ( the settlement applied to royalties dating back to 1987) and the arrangement was to end in December 2017, just a year and a half before The Lion King remake was made, you could say at the time no one had any idea a remake would come along Ownership of “ Mbube,” “ Wimoweh” and “ The Lion Sleeps Tonight” was a tangled mess as Linda Solomon ( who had been illiterate) had initially signed over rights to Gallo, then his wife and daughters had twice done the same in the years following but eventually, a 1911 legal clause was used to revert copyright to Linda’s Estate after 25 years. In 2000, South African journalist Rian Malan wrote an exposé for Rolling Stones which exposed and shamed players in the music industry with the question what happened to about 15 Million in royalties and in 2002, director Francois Verster created an award-winning documentary tracing the long journey of “ Mbube” to “ The Lion Sleeps Tonight” titled A Lion’s Trail which further put a spotlight on the song and the lawsuit between Linda’s estate and Disney. He died in 1962 with not much in the bank even though locally in he was somewhat a legend. Somewhere in all that Solomon Linda was forgotten and never quite getting Royalties from the ensuing success of what was essentially his melody and concept. ![]()
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