logo
episode-header-image
Dec 2024
21m 53s

How did ‘The Lion King’ musician ascend ...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

In today’s episode, our presenter Alan Kasujja meets South African musician and writer Lebohang Morakeat.

Popularly known as Lebo M, he co-wrote and sang the music for the Disney movie The Lion King back in 1994. 30 years later he is doing the same for the prequel Mufasa: The Lion King, he was in London to attend the film’s premiere. He talks to Alan about how he went from the slums of Soweto to the red carpets of the world. “I’m born into the most racially divided society in the world, South Africa. I’m born into apartheid. That means, I don’t know what it is like to be in a ‘multiracial environment’ until I get to America”, he tells our presenter.

Up next
Aug 22
Focus on Africa: Exploring Africa-Japan trade ties
Japan has pledged to work more closely with African countries at global summit on economic development. How can Africa benefit from stronger ties with Japan?The former prime minister of Chad is facing a 20-year prison term after being convicted of hate speech, xenophobia and havi ... Show More
32m 3s
Aug 20
Focus on Africa: Increased concerns over missing Ethiopia journalists
Two prominent journalists in Ethiopia, Abdulsemed Mohammed and Yonas Amare, have been missing for more than a week after being abducted by what reports say, were men wearing masks and military uniforms. There has been no news about their whereabouts but their disappearances have ... Show More
27m 44s
Aug 15
Focus on Africa: Nigeria negotiates $346m arms deal with US
The US government has approved a $346m arms deal with Nigeria which would include munitions, precision bombs and precision rockets. What is behind the change in a decade-long US policy about selling certain kinds of weapons to Nigeria?The mining of gold has been a key driver of S ... Show More
33m 14s
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2025
Mufasa: The Lion King with Barry Jenkins and Ben Affleck (Ep. 525)
Director Barry Jenkins discusses his new film, Mufasa: The Lion King, with fellow Director Ben Affleck in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses employing the VFX team from the Avatar films to create the world, working with both the Actors and ... Show More
34m 42s
Dec 2024
Mufasa: The Lion King
Bongani Bingwa spoke with comedian and actor Kagiso Lediga about what it was like to be a part of ‘Mufasa: The Lion King,’ a prequel to the 2019 movie that starred Donald Glover as King Simba, with newcomers Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Tiffany Boone, Mads Mikkelsen, Thandi ... Show More
8m 36s
Sep 2024
Lucian Msamati
Lucian Msamati has played leading roles on our most famous stages: Salieri in Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus at the National Theatre, Iago in Othello at the Royal Shakespeare Company and Estragon opposite Ben Whishaw in Waiting for Godot at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London. He star ... Show More
46m 31s
Feb 2025
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela came to be considered one of the great global figures of his age, but for decades he was a prisoner in his own country. Branded a terrorist by South Africa’s white authorities, as well as many foreign governments, he survived years in the wilderness, only to return ... Show More
1 h
Sep 2021
Alan Silvestri - Back to the Future The Musical
In this interview my buddy Daz from Back to the Future The Musical Fans Facebook page and I interview movie music legend Alan Silvestri. Alan is currently working on the stage musical version of everyones favourite time travel movie. In this chat he tells us about the process of ... Show More
52m 33s
Jun 2023
Michael R Jackson on his hit musical, Ray BLK on Champion, the Natural History Museum
Playwright and composer Michael R Jackson talks about his musical A Strange Loop, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The musical is based on his own experiences and follows a black man working as an usher at the musical The Lion King, who is himself writing a musical about a ... Show More
42m 18s
Mar 2022
Travelling lions, sinking islands and the last video store
These are some of our favourite stories from the Guardian Australia Reads audio library. A lion gets inside a London black cab, a son contemplates the future of his father’s ashes on a sinking island and Melbourne’s last video store resolutely stays open 
29m 41s
Mar 2025
Remembering The South African Playwright Who Defied Apartheid
Athol Fugard's plays, like Blood Knot and Master Harold and the Boys, were about the emotional and psychological consequences of Apartheid. He also formed an integrated theater company in the 1960s, in defiance of South African norms. The playwright, who died Saturday, spoke with ... Show More
45m 35s
Jun 2021
Royal House of Mandela Stands with Palestine with Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela
This week, Lara and Michael sit down with Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela, Amir of the Royal House of Mandela, tribal chief of the Mvezo Traditional Council, member of Parliament (MP) in the South Africa National Assembly since 2009, grandson of the anti-apartheid revolutionary and for ... Show More
1h 31m
May 2024
Zeinab Badawi: Setting the record straight on African history
Zeinab Badawi is an award-winning broadcaster, journalist and the President of SOAS University of London. Born in Sudan, she has worked in the British media for several decades. She has recently published her first book which promises to reshape our understanding of Africa. Zeina ... Show More
55m 43s