Music and Storeis: The Lion King-The Circle of Life

 

 

Background

The Lion King came out on June 24, 1994 and it was the 32nd animated film that Walt Disney made. The Lion King was the highest grossing animated of all time until the release of Finding Nemo which is a Disney/Pixar movie. But The Lion King is the highest grossing traditionally-animated film of all time in North America. According to a GQ article the Lion King is based off an African story about "Sundiata (pronounced Soon-jah-ta) was an influential ruler and the founder of West Africa’s largest empire, the Mali Empire" and "he was the son of the real-life Mufasa – King Naré Maghann Konaté.". Sundiata was the Kings second son from a second wife and he was crippled and couldn't walk. One day Sundiata decised that he wanted to walk and didn't want to made fun of anymore and so he walked. This showed people he was their true king and everyone started to believe that but before the King could give Sundiata the throne the King died. Sundiata and his mother thought it might have been murdered and were sacred for their lives so they ran. After Sundiata left the kingdom was attacked and taken over by Sosso and the people started look for Sundiata. While away Sundiata started to build alliances with the King of Mema and other local rulers of Africa. Once the people found Sundiata and got him to come back he defeated the Sosso's and became the rightful King of Mali Empire. "They had started referring to him as the Lion King, because that’s who he really was. His name Sundiata was derived from the words 'Sogolon' (from his mother) and 'Jata', which means lion. So by adding Mansa to his title, he became their Lion King". 

 

 
The Circle of Life- The Lion King by Carmen Twillie & Lebo M. June 1994, USA

 

Role of the Song

The Circle of Life is the opening song for the movie The Lion King and it helps to set up the whole movie. The song starts out with the singer singing in Zulu and the meaning of those lyrics are important for the meaning of the movie. The first part of the lyrics in Zulu are "Nants ingonyama begithi/sithi uhm", which translates in to "A King is coming, father", the second part is "Siyo Nqoba (baba)", which translates in to "I will conquer, father (the king)", and last "Ingonyama ingwe' enamabala" which transltaes in to "lion, leopard, open space" (Dyce) Then the rest of the song go on to talk about the circle of life and how everyone has apart in it. That everyone plays a part and it is important no matter how small is it. Later in the movie Mufasa tells Simba about the circle of life and how important it is and how even them as lions play a part in it when the die and become the grass. 

 

 
The Circle of Life- The Lion King by Lindiwe Mkhize & Lebo M. July 2019, USA

 

Elements of Music

Lyrics: One of the most moving part of a song are the lyrics and that can be see with the opening number The Circle of Life in The Lion King. When the singer starts out singing in Zulu and then going in to English to talk about the circle of life and how it works helps to lay the background of the whole movie. Once you translate the Zulu lyrics to English so you can understand what is being said you can understand how it adds to whole feel of the song. 

Dynamics: The song start out loud and powerful while the Zulu lyrics are being sung but when the English lyrics start to be sang the sound start to change to a softer sound. 

 

Social Commentary

The one thing that seems to keep popping up is how the circle of life is all about keeping with the status quo at every turn and that everyone has a place and shouldn't try to leave from it. That without everyone doing their part and staying in their place that everything can fall apart. That not everyone is equal and inequality is normal and shouldn't be looked upon as a bad thing. Another part is that it talks about how large and how much there is to see in the world that we can't possible see it all. That there is to much going on and to much to do that there is no way it can all happen and be done.

I personally love The Lion King and the song The Circle of Life no matter if there are hidden messages in the movie or the song. Whenever the song The Circle of Life comes on I can't help to start to sing along and sing loud to the opening number no matter what. It just isn't the same if I'm not doing it will all my volume and might to get the first note and line of lyrics out. But I can see how some people might not the song is the best and has hidden meanings in it but I just like to see it has a wonderful kids movie and enjoy it.     

 


Sources:

Dyce, Andrew. “What The Lion King's Opening Lyrics REALLY Mean.” ScreenRant, 23 Nov. 2018, screenrant.com/lion-king-opening-song-words-meaning/2/. 

https://screenrant.com/lion-king-opening-song-words-meaning/

Gq, et al. “The Real Story of The Lion King: The African Legend That Inspired Disney's Cult Classic.” GQ India, GQ India, 19 July 2019, www.gqindia.com/entertainment/content/real-story-of-the-lion-king-movie-based-on-the-true-story-of-sundiata-keita-the-african-legend-that-inspired-disney-lion-king.

https://www.gqindia.com/entertainment/content/real-story-of-the-lion-king-movie-based-on-the-true-story-of-sundiata-keita-the-african-legend-that-inspired-disney-lion-king

“The Circle of Life.” The Prolongation of Work, 14 Oct. 2016, sites.williams.edu/engl-117-fall16/uncategorized/the-circle-of-life/. 

https://sites.williams.edu/engl-117-fall16/uncategorized/the-circle-of-life/

“The Lion King.” The Lion King Wiki, lionking.fandom.com/wiki/The_Lion_King. 

https://lionking.fandom.com/wiki/The_Lion_King




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