Tuning Them Overseas
Financial Mail
September 29, 2006
By Larry Claasen
The composers of the 1980s anti-apartheid hit "Weeping" will be smiling all the way to the bank. International recording star Josh Groban is to release his own version of the song, in collaboration with local artists Vusi Mahlasela and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
"Weeping", written by the group Bright Blue - Tom Fox, Dan Heymann and brothers Ian and Peter Cohen - famously managed to get some airplay on the SABC despite containing undertones of the then banned "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika". Mahlasela gains more from performing with a high-profile artist like Groban than the "session" fees, says Lance McCormack, GM domestic music for Sony BMG. Bright Blue, however, gets cash benefits from the Groban association. How much remains a mystery.
Groban's new album, Awake, is set for release soon and sales are expected to reach 4m-6m. However the deal pans out, the artists are certain to get a lot more than Solomon Linda, who wrote "Mbube", on which the "The lion sleeps tonight" is based. Linda died a pauper in 1962, even though the song was recorded by more than 150 artists.
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