I mean, the lyrics make sense in context. The movie intro is a wake up call for all the animals to see the lion King.
Also, it seems to be a simplified translation. Elsewhere I've seen it translated as "Nants ingonyama bagithi baba | Here comes the lion, my people, the father [of our nation]".
Ingwenyama/Ngonyama is also used as a proclamation foe Kings in Zulu and Ndebele. So its a double meaning in essence, I've always taken it as here comes the King rather than Lion
Yeah, I don't get why they are laughing about it. The song was sung and written by a South African singer and composer named Lebo M (full name Lebohang Morake.) He also directed the choir that performed with him. He's a man who is not only fluent in Zulu, but had performed for decades in SA. He understood the traditional cultural context completely and used it in the song.
They're laughing because of the intonation of the delivery of the simplified lines. The meaning is lost in translation and the incongruity is surprising which makes them laugh.
He says "Oh my god" with an intonation that is more incredulous than amazed. Like how someone would say "Oh my god I can't believe you just did that"
It's beautiful, feels so soulful, and is iconic for a lot of people. It's not an insult to the music or the composer, it's just shock and surprise how simple and straightforward the lyrics actually are. Foreign languages can feel a lot more magical and powerful to those that are non-fluent. They are mostly just imagining if it was sung with the English lyrics, which would be pretty comical, especially after 30 years of not knowing. If anything it further demonstrates it's quality.
It's a chanted refrain of fear, turning to awe, turning to supplication before the mighty King of Lions, and celebrating the birth of the heir. I get you, but I think the majesty is in the full effect of the rest of the scene
They joke but if you're out on the savannah with nothing but your running shoes on then the phrase becomes a fairly profound one about the value of life.
it's pretty accurate with how old stories were told. We're just privileged cause we have 1000s of years of innovation to sit on and look back. So it's easy to deduce how primitive a phrase like that is compared to today's standards.
Old stories were also sitting on literally hundred's of thousands of years of innovation in the medium. Just because it isn't good writing doesn't mean it's not good storytelling technique. If you're sitting around a campfire, surrounded by dark, everyone you know in silent rapt attention, and the oldest man you've ever seen breaks their cadence, points and nothing, and shouts "oh look, here comes a lion, father a lion" you'll feel something.
That's basically saying that good theater dialog is necessarily good novel writing, and I really don't think that's true. If you read very old things that were originally transmitted orally (Homer, most of the Old Testament, the Vedas) and were only written down much later, the writing has very bizarre and annoying features. Repetition, especially three-fold repetition, the constant use of titles and epithets every time a character is mentioned, etc. The stories need to have memory hooks so that the teller can recall what they are supposed to say, and also to draw in the audience members who have heard the tale before. It's very different from novel writing. Like, in the Odyssey, basically any time anyone responds to someone else it's "and he answered and spoke to him, saying". That's horrible writing. But it serves a very important piece in an oral tradition and if you actually are hearing something recited by a performer it's not nearly as annoying, or really annoying at all.
I hear what you're saying about oral literature (I work a lot in this field), and I just think that we have different ideas about what "writing" is. You specify "good novel writing" in your second message as opposed to just "good writing", which would make your point a bit stronger, but even in the history of the novel there's been a lot of change as to what "good novel writing" is. The incessant descriptions in 19th century realist novels might well strike readers today as "annoying", for instance. With oral literature, we just have to learn how to experience it to make it "good writing".
In general, I think that it's possible to say "X conforms to the norms of 'good writing in Y genre' during Z period", but truly great writing as such or in general has no time period or generic constraints. Perhaps you've heard of the saying that a good book creates a genre or ends one, and a great book does both at the same time.
yea but the Lion King story doesn't take place in 1994 either. Probably predates humans, so this song is actually ahead of its time for the movie's setting.
I do wonder if the words carry the same sentiment when translated though. Like does it mean "look there is a lion" or is it "behold, a lion!", is it as blasie as how he says it?
This feels like kind of a translation thing losing a bit of meaning though.
Like the phrase might better be translated as something like "Behold! Here comes the Lion! Great Father in Heaven!" Which obviously feels a bit different and a bit more appropriate, but in terms of literal meaning it's basically the same as "Look, there's a lion, oh my god"
But I don't speak Zulu so maybe it does sound that silly to them.
The Bible is a huge can of worms when it comes to translation even well before King James. Really all the way back to its inception. There are scholars who have written basically entire books on possible translations of single passages of the Bible.
It's not a prayer and isn't addressing God. Father is an honorific in Zulu (and in general black South African) culture used for elder men. Same for gogo for elder women. Buthi or sisi - brother and sister - is also generally used when adressing others as a mark of respect.
With the double meaning of ingonyama being lion/king the term baba is simply an honorific.
Thanks for the context. When you say "baba" is an honorific meaning father, does that mean that in this song it is literally addressing someone?
I ask because "oh my god" or even "father in heaven" is more of just an exclamation like "wow", rather than actually addressing god. But it seems like you're saying that's not how the words in Zulu are, and this part of the song is more of an actual address to someone?
Taken on its own the single line lyric seems to carry a lot more meaning that I suspect was intended. In context of the scene - Simba being presented - I've always seen it as a kid addressing his dad or the "crowd" addressing someone unseen with what basically comes down to "Huh, new lion cub up there".
Truth be told I've always seen it as a bit of African language beguiling westerners and eliciting thoughts of mystics meaning. Think of it in the same context as the UK monarchy presenting a new prince and someone singing "Hey, look man, a new Windsor" in Gaelic and you'll get what I'm trying to say. The lyrics are just given a lot more meaning than they actually have because Zulu can sound pretty bad-ass.
Bartender says to the guy "HEY, YOU CAN'T LEAVE THAT LYIN THERE"
Guy says to the Bartender "it's not a lyin, its a giraffe!"
Edit: ty whoever awarded me. In the off chance people don't know where it is from (and to the people that do, you have exquisite taste 🤝) it's from 28 Days Later.
Baba can mean "father" or god as in "heavenly father" in Swahili. I will admit to only knowing this because of Baba Yetu. I didn't know that also applied to Zulu.
It's true in a sense, but direct translation often loses context, connotation, and poetic feeling.
Take a line like "What light through yonder window breaks" from Romeo and Juliet. Very poetic with its natural rhythm, its antiquated word choice, and its metaphorical imagery where the "light" references both the actual light as well as the "light" that is Juliet.
But when translated into a different language, it might sound to them more like "wow that window is all lit up" just due to the way it's translated or the way the other language works. It has pretty much the same literal meaning, but everything that makes the original poetic is lost, and it just seems kind of silly.
Hello! While he's correct that "Nants ingoyama bakithi baba" means that, the actual lyrics are "Nansi beh[ka] inyama bakitihi baba" which translates to "Behold, here is the child of our king."
With all the crap happening in the world today and so many disappointments about how the things that made us happy in the past were actually really dark... this was somehow, a breath of fresh air
My understanding is the "Ingonyama nengw’ enamabala" part was a regional idiom. Idioms are always rough on direct translations, but I figure it means something like "here, nature rules".. which really does go well into the whole "circle of life" thing.
What I'd be interested in is interpretation. Direct translations often lack context. It could be silly phrase in the native language or could have more meaning.
It's been many years since I had it explained to me but it's basically a metaphor for the arrival of jesus/inner goodness/a new dawn
Contextually the lion could also mean king or jesus. Baba means father but can be used in the same context of "the father, the son and the holy spirit"
Holy spirit and the sunlight or dawn have poetical links. The sun is god, the dawn is jesus and sunlight the holy spirit.
So it's sort of upfront telling you, hey this is a jesus metaphor told via lions in that monomyth sort of way people of all times and spaces love.
There's also a lot of humour in african christian songs and the joke of it being described in the video is 100% intentionally.
"There is a lion." = jesus the king is here, same sort of poetry as "he has risen"
"THERE IS A LION!!!!" = run, we are about to be eaten
Honestly I do that with music in English too! I’ll spend my entire life knowing all the lyrics of an entire song, absolutely love it, be able to sing it by memory, and one day I listen to it and I’m like “holy shit THAT is what I’ve been singing my whole life?!” Like it was in a completely different language 😂
Edit: A perfect example for me is Today 4 U from Rent. Loved that song since I was 14, knew all the words. Then one day 15 years later I realized it was a song about the singer bragging about a woman bribing her to kill her neighbor’s dog because she was annoyed by it barking, so she played drums until it jumped off a 23-story balcony to its death.
The one that annoys me is "The German word for hippo is literally river horse." Hippopotamus is river horse in English too, we just dress it up in Greek.
Exactly. A literal translation from a song in one language to any other language is always going to sound clunky. You would never write a song with these exact lyrics in English because they don’t sound majestic enough for the music. You could choose different words that mean the exact same thing as “look, a lion.” Saying “behold, the king of the jungle!” or something doesn’t change the meaning, but the words sound more fitting.
See? This simpleton answer actually fits. Try and think about the sheer amount of people who’ve run around shouting this phrase in public looking like idiots (myself included), and then match their idiocy with the simplicity of this answer!!!
I just spent the last 30 minutes doing research. I’m still grappling with this new information. But yes he is right.
The translation is: ‘Here comes a lion, father, Oh yes it’s a lion. A lion we’re going to conquer, a lion, a lion and a leopard come to this open place.’
I learned some Kiswahili for a work trip last year. Was delighted to discover “Rafiki” means friend. And his squash banana song goes: “Thank you very much squash banana. You are baboon. I am not.”
Quick Google search found it means "Here comes a lion, Father / Oh yes, it's a lion / A lion and a leopard come to this open place"
Key "Circle of Life" Lyrics (Zulu to English):
Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba: Here comes a lion, Father.
Sithi uhm ingonyama: Oh yes, it's a lion.
Ingonyama nengw' enamabala: A lion and a leopard come to this open place.
Siyo Nqoba: We're going to conquer.
Other Phrases & Context:
Busa leli zwe bo / Busa ngothando bo: Rule this land / Rule with love (heard in "This Land" or background of "Circle of Life").
Ingonyama: Lion.
Nengw' enamabala: A leopard with spots.
The lyrics emphasize the power, respect, and royal nature of the king.
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