Well done! Now put the two rhythms together with your harmonica group and show your friends, family and grown ups what you can do. You can click your fingers to the beat at this point. Keep the rhythm going through the song, except when the main melody is played. 1 single in 1961 to its featured role in the hugely popular. From Pete Seeger ’s version in 1952 (titled Wimoweh) to the Tokens’ No. For the last 50 years, that happy little word has been a universally recognized shorthand for the song known as The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Try softening (Wim)- Banana by pushing and pulling the rhythm from your tummy instead of speaking it through the harmonica. Solomon Linda, far left, and the Evening Birds. The stamp art features a color-tinted black-and-white photograph taken in the early 1960s by Dan Seeger, the performer’s son.
Generations of fans regard him not just as a folk singer but also as a folk hero. Now try playing this through your 10 hole harmonica using groups of three notes: Pete Seeger (19192014) appears on this new stamp in the Music Icons series. (Wim)- Banana, (Wim) – Banana, (Wim) – Banana Think Wim in your head, but only say Banana. Now keep this going but make the first part of Banana stronger and more important. Youll be able to mark your mistakes quite. Record yourself saying wimoweh in full sentences, then watch yourself and listen. Now say it a bit faster, this time leaving out the Wim. Here are 4 tips that should help you perfect your pronunciation of wimoweh: Break wimoweh down into sounds : WIM + UH + WAY - say it out loud and exaggerate the sounds until you can consistently produce them. To learn the rhythm, start by saying Wim– Ba n ana. On a 4 hole harmonica just blow two holes each time, but use the same rhythm pattern: Now try playing this through your 10 hole harmonica in C major using groups of notes: Repeat the phrase a few times and you should feel a rhythm taking shape. Now say it a bit faster, making the first part stronger and more important. This is the rhythm which supports the whole song. Start by saying Wim- o-weh. This is what we want to reproduce with the harmonica. Note how relaxed it is and how it it makes you want to sway. B is blow (breath out). We’re using harmonicas in the key of C majorįirst, take a listen to the song on line with a grown up and get a feel of the rhythm. Orange music is for ten hole harmonicas. A number tells you which hole to play. Purple music is for four hole harmonicas. Some parts sound slightly better on a 10 hole harmonica, others work fine on a 4 hole. In this part, we’ll work on the rhythms. In part 2 we’ll look at the melodies, then in part 3 we’ll work out some extra fun parts to finish the job.
Let’s look at how a group of harmonica players can perform the song. Most of us know it from Walt Disney’s film The Lion King. 1.Welcome to our African extravaganza! Wimoweh comes from the Zuluword Mbube, meaning Lion. The song was composed and first recorded by Solomon Linda in South Africa in 1939. He has inspired several generations both politically and musically with songs. His work focused on themes of American socialism and anti-fascism. Here are seven songs he taught the whole country to sing. Woodrow Wilson Guthrie ( / ri / J October 3, 1967) was an American singer-songwriter, one of the most significant figures in American folk music. Pete Seeger's celebrity is not great, but his influence in American folk music is overwhelming. At his 90th birthday concert, he told 15,000 people, "There's no such thing as a wrong note as long as you're singing it." From the man who could sing songs like " No Irish Need Apply" without sounding anachronistic, it rang true. Seeger spent his life working to bring American people back to their music, and to realize the dreams within their songs. It's a fitting age and place for America's greatest folk legend to pass for most of the tumultuous 20th century, he was the rare light of American hope, one of the few with an (often problematic) insistence on preserving our national dream. Seeger, who died earlier today at age 94 in Beacon, New York, was always dreaming big. Crewed by musicians, the Clearwater was a 106-foot dream campaigning for a cleaner Hudson River. In 1969, Pete Seeger sent his ship off on its first voyage.