Song of the Day 9/3: Ndlovu Youth Choir, “Bohemian Rhapsody”

Most people who’ve heard of the Ndlovu Youth Choir encountered them back in 2019, when they reached the final round of “America’s Got Talent,” despite hailing from Limpopo, South Africa. I found out about them yesterday when I saw a story about their latest release, the EP “From Limpopo to the World,” featuring Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” – translated into Zulu. This is the first time the band has authorized a translation of the song.

Though it’s now considered a classic, Freddie Mercury’s “mock opera” wasn’t especially celebrated when it was released 50 years ago next month. One music scholar noted, “it does follow a certain operatic logic: Choruses of multi-tracked voices alternate with aria-like solos, the emotions are excessive, the plot confusing.” That’s partly because Mercury assembled it from three separate tunes he was working on, and partly because he was disguising personal demons. His surviving bandmates still won’t reveal what the song is really about.

As it happens, translating the lyrics proved particularly daunting for the Ndlovu Youth Choir’s version. Zulu words tend to be longer than their English equivalents, so fitting them into the song without changing its meaning wasn’t easy. The group has covered other pop hits on its earlier albums, but lead singer Lungelo Masango told NPR, “I had never heard of the song or the band.”

In much the way the original strings together ballad, operetta and rock, musical director Ralf Schmitt’s arrangement melds several African musical styles into an operatic whole, and the effect is heightened by this dramatic video. Schmitt suggested (jokingly, I think) that had its composer not left Africa as a child – he was born in Zanzabar – this might be how Farrokh Bulsara would have written it.

I found it differs from the original in just one significant way. Listen all the way through to hear what it is.