ReMastered: The Lion’s Share

One of the more successful late-night documentary selections I’ve made (and managed to stay awake through this one!) – South African journalist Rian Malan tracks down the daughters of Solomon Linda to see if they’re aware that their father’s song (Mbube – an obvious and documented progenitor of The Lion Sleeps Tonight) is being used by Disney, and to find out if there’s any royalties due that could help lift them out of poverty.  Cue the obvious tale of exploitation after exploitation, landmark legal battles, denials, secrecy and settlement, and wondering why in the hell you bother sometimes. I very much enjoyed their engagement of local lawyer Hanro Friedrich – the only lawyer that Malan knew – who basically owns up straight away to being totally out of his depth. Sort of like the Dennis DeNuto of the arrangement. 👍