'A labour of love': How Ndlovu Youth Choir made history with the first translated version of 'Bohemian Rhapsody'

CapeTalk’s Sara-Jayne Makwala King chats to Ralf Schmitt, artistic director of the Ndlovu Youth Choir.

South Africa's beloved Ndlovu Youth Choir made international news, again, this week, with the release of an isiZulu version of Bohemian Rhapsody - the first-ever translation of the iconic Queen song.

Their treatment of the Queen classic is, as we've come to expect of the Choir, absolutely beautiful, goosebump stuff.

Artistic director Ralf Schmitt has said that taking one of the most complex songs ever written and infusing it with the diverse musical genres of Africa has been the most challenging project he's ever undertaken - and the most rewarding.

He tells Sara-Jayne how they pulled off obtaining the rights to fulfill their vision.

'It wasn't terribly easy, I can tell you that', he acknowledges.

Schmitt describes the project as a labour of love, which the Choir went about presenting for approval 'the wrong way around'.

He explains that the usual process is to go through the publisher of a song, sending them a basic demo of your version.

In the case of Bohemian Rhapsody however, they took a risk, putting huge effort into recording their final rendition and creating what is a visually stunning video.
 

"Fortunately, it worked out!  We had to go through Sony Music in London and when we were preparing our case we discovered there was no precedent - we were quite stunned to realise this was going to be history as the FIRST commercially released version of this great song."

Ralf Schmitt, Artistic Director - Ndlovu Youth Choir

"Sony took it to the (surviving) band members and the Mercury Phoenix Foundation, and they loved it."

Ralf Schmitt, Artistic Director - Ndlovu Youth Choir

"We are extremely honoured to be the first commercially released version of the greatest song of all time with the blessing of the songwriters."

Ralf Schmitt, Artistic Director - Ndlovu Youth Choir

In a series of social media posts, Schmitt gives all the details of how the project took shape.

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the full conversation