mbube

Mbube is a term in Zulu meaning lion and is used to refer to a traditional South African form of male choral singing as well as to the best-known song titled Mbube. The mbube style is typically performed by large a cappella ensembles with a lead vocalist singing the melody over a strong, deep vocal foundation and a dense, multi-part background. It is associated with early 20th-century South African vocal groups and helped popularize large-scale choral singing within the country.

The most famous mbube composition is Mbube, written by Solomon Linda. Linda and his group, Solomon Linda and His Evening Birds, recorded the song in 1939 for Gallo/Gramophone, and it achieved widespread popularity in South Africa. The tune inspired numerous arrangements and influenced the development of related vocal styles, including the later isicathamiya tradition. In 1961, The Tokens adapted the melody into The Lion Sleeps Tonight, an international hit that brought global attention to the mbube lineage, though the arrangement differed from Linda’s original. The original work and its royalties became the subject of legal disputes over compensation for Linda’s heirs.

Today, mbube is discussed in music scholarship as both a specific South African choral sound and a broader category of large-voiced, bass-led male singing. Its legacy is seen in the global interest in African vocal harmony and in the ways early South African choral music influenced later popular and world music forms.