The Lion Sleeps Tonight

"The Lion Sleeps Tonight", also known as "Wimoweh", "Wimba Way" or "Awimbawe", is a song written and recorded originally by Solomon Linda with the Evening Birds for the South African Gallo Record Company in 1939, under the title "Mbube". Composed in Zulu, it was adapted and covered internationally by many 1950s pop and folk revival artists, including the Weavers, Jimmy Dorsey, Yma Sumac, Miriam Makeba and the Kingston Trio. In 1961, it became a number one hit in the United States as adapted in English with the best-known version by the doo-wop group the Tokens. It went on to earn at least US$15 million in royalties from cover versions and film licensing.

History

"Mbube" (Zulu: lion) was written in the 1920s, by Solomon Linda, a South African singer of Zulu origin, who later worked for the Gallo Record Company in Johannesburg as a cleaner and record packer. He spent his weekends performing with the Evening Birds, a musical ensemble, and it was at Gallo Records, under the direction of black producer Griffiths Motsieloa, that Linda and his fellow musicians recorded several songs including "Mbube," which incorporated a call-response pattern common among many Sub-Saharan African ethnic groups, including the Zulu.

Kinder Happy Hippo

Kinder Happy Hippo is a cookie/candy made by the Italian chocolate and confectionery company Ferrero SpA.

Taste

The candy itself consists of a wafer biscuit, shaped like a hippopotamus. Inside are two flavors of icings. In the original, one is milk flavoured and the other is hazelnut flavoured. In the cocoa flavour, the hazelnut has been replaced by chocolate paste. The bottom of the wafer is dipped in a frosting/meringue mixture and is crumbly.

Happy Hippo were made famous by a popular commercial where a hippo sang The Lion Sleeps Tonight while a dog tried to distract him/catch his attention by dancing to the music in increasingly funny and bizarre ways.

The original light blue and still used Happy Hippo characters were created by the French designer André Roche for Ferrero chocolates in 1987 and became famous worldwide mostly through their repeated appearances in the "Kinder Surprise" chocolate egg, one of them 2002 in an authorized parody (named "Hipperium") of the George Lucas' "Star Wars"-trilogy, 2009 in a Europewide campaign presenting a casting contest under the name "Happy Hippo Talent Show".