Today is the third class of our current September four class set. The start time for our class will be 10:00am. We will begin class with a casual conversation. Our reading today is about My Youth. Please try to read as much as possible. Underline any words or sentences that are unfamiliar. Our listening is about Bohemian Rhapsody . Please listen and follow the transcript. We will complete our grammar sentences. I will introduce a new vocabulary exercise.
Click HERE for the reading
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The Ndlovu Youth Choir started in South Africa's impoverished Limpopo province and rose to fame on "America's Got Talent" in 2019. And now they're back, with a new take on an old classic, as Kate Bartlett reports from Johannesburg.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY")
NDLOVU YOUTH CHOIR: (Singing in Zulu).
KATE BARTLETT: The opening chords of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" - instantly recognizable, even in Zulu.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY")
NDLOVU YOUTH CHOIR: (Singing in Zulu).
BARTLETT: It's the first time Queen has ever authorized a recording of the song in translation, says Ndlovu Youth Choir's artistic director Ralf Schmitt, who got permission from Brian May and the band's other surviving members.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY")
NDLOVU YOUTH CHOIR: (Singing in Zulu).
RALF SCHMITT: We realized that we'd be the first translation that's been commercially released. So we're very, very honored to have got the permission, and we hope that we've done the piece justice.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY")
NDLOVU YOUTH CHOIR: (Singing in Zulu).
BARTLETT: This year is the 50th anniversary of the iconic song, and Schmitt thought it would be fitting to do a cover from Africa, where the band's frontman, Freddie Mercury, was born.
SCHMITT: The idea of doing an African version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" came about while we were working on the plains of the Serengeti in Tanzania. Of course, Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar.
BARTLETT: Mercury's family later moved to Britain, and he never returned to the African island of his birth.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY")
NDLOVU YOUTH CHOIR: (Singing) Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters.
SANDILE MAJOLA: We approached the translation with the utmost care, keeping it as true to the original as possible.
BARTLETT: Sandile Majola was one of the choir members who painstakingly translated the song into Zulu.
MAJOLA: Bringing this song to life in my own language gave it a whole new meaning for me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY")
NDLOVU YOUTH CHOIR: (Singing in Zulu).
BARTLETT: Queen was totally new to lead singer Lungelo Masango.
LUNGELO MASANGO: I have never heard of the song or the band.
BARTLETT: But there was a challenge.
MASANGO: Zulu words are very long, and having to try and make the song make sense using Zulu words is kind of difficult. You have to find the right words because the message still has to be the same.
BARTLETT: The translation process took years. Some of the more surreal lines of the song defied translation altogether and remain in English.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY")
NDLOVU YOUTH CHOIR: (Singing) Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening me. Galileo. Galileo. Galileo. Galileo. Galileo, Figaro. Magnifico.
BARTLETT: The cover is infused with various African musical genres, including township styles such as isicathamiya and the Congolese swing of kwassa kwassa. It expands the call-and-response passages of the original, which Schmitt notes is actually a device rooted in African music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY")
NDLOVU YOUTH CHOIR: (Singing) Let him go.
(Singing in Zulu).
(Singing) Will not let you go. Let him go.
(Singing in Zulu).
Will not let you go. Let him go. Will not let you go. Let him go. Will not let you go. Let me go.
BARTLETT: You can watch the new video on YouTube, which features the youth orchestra in sumptuous traditional dress.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY")
NDLOVU YOUTH CHOIR: (Singing) Nothing really matters, anyone can see.
(Singing in Zulu).
BARTLETT: For NPR News, I'm Kate Bartlett in Johannesburg.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY")
NDLOVU YOUTH CHOIR: (Singing) Nothing really matters to me.