00:00Yeah, I've retired from Nancy Ngonyama. As of last night, we're in a new mode, Mufasa, Gomso,
00:08but live in concert somewhere in Europe next year, LLM Live. We'll probably get two for the
00:14price of one. Not today. Many years ago, I knew and hoped one day I'll work with Lin Manel, so
00:21that was it. Then last, the idea that it's a prequel was more fascinating, and until I got
00:29inside the movie, it doesn't feel like I've been doing Lion King. It's a whole different story,
00:36and creatively allowing for new ideas and new inspiration. I loved writing the first
00:43opening, which is, I call it a blessing and a curse, which Lion King has been for me for many
00:49years a blessing and a curse, but this became a lot more that, because having to write and perform
00:56a new opening for Lion King after 30 years of Nancy Ngonyama on Broadway, on stages,
01:04it's quite a big challenge, and it's a bit scary. I'm born in Soweto, South Africa. I'm born in the
01:09darkest period. You know, when you're born into something, you don't know that there's something
01:15else. I didn't realize very distinctively until I left South Africa. I went to exile at age 16,
01:241979, so my career starts in South Africa. I'm a youth club kid. When you're born in South Africa,
01:33in Soweto, at that time you had a choice of being a gangster, a soccer player, or the nerd. Being
01:39born into extreme poverty, that was neither here nor there for me. I had music. I had the power of
01:47being able to visualize the chance of what the future looks like for me through the arts,
01:55so yes, it was difficult. It was extremely difficult. I didn't have a good sense of racism,
02:02quite frankly, because I was born into a very separated and divided environment. I didn't
02:07honestly know what racism is until I got to America, quite frankly. One had to take a risk,
02:13such as Disney, to invest in a property like The Lion King, the movie itself. It took an American
02:20genius mind to do that. Not that there's not been African stories that deserve investment,
02:26but the truth is, Disney Animation some, what, 30 years ago, took a huge investment and
02:33invested quality money on an African product, African content, and you can't take that away.
02:40I'm also conscious, much more than commercial viability and commercial success,
02:46is what impact is my doing a first concert in Africa going to do for the rest of the industry,
02:55but industry as in not only the creative aspect, because we have the talent,
03:00what kind of investment is going to take to deliver the type of quality product that I
03:07hope will inspire the next generation of concert promoters, concert producers,
03:12from the smallest to the biggest. So we are very quality conscious.
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