00:00A cult classic with an African twist, Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody translated and performed in
00:10Zulu by the Inlovo Youth Choir. It took us about a year and a half to get it right because we had
00:18to find the right words. Zulu or Venek words are very long so we had to find words, different words
00:25that would give the same meaning as the English words. The choir had already covered tunes by other
00:31famous artists like Lady Gaga but they say adapting Freddie Mercury's song was the most difficult.
00:37We had to be careful just to honour them. We wanted to give a beautiful tribute but without
00:42changing anything. However there were some changes in the clicks and whistles characteristic of the
00:49Zulu language. There are some sounds that I'm making, it's like, you see, and then it's like
00:56when the song plays there, it sounds so amazing. Although they cannot commercialise their version,
01:07the group was granted permission from Queen to cover the song. How it usually works is you should
01:11get permission before you do the translation, you send through a demo. What we did is we did
01:16the translation, we filmed the beautiful video and then we were like, oops, we better get permission
01:21for this. The choir will not receive any income from its Zulu cover but it has permission to
01:26perform it during concerts. The annual Fame Festival in Cape Town helps musicians navigate
01:32the business and legal complexities of their creative profession. Artists in general, they are not
01:39very good managers of their own products. Which is sad, because you have this natural talent
01:45or God-given talent, you need to know how to manage it.
01:51International consumption of Zulu songs has doubled in the last five years, but more than
01:5615 million euros worth of royalties remain unclaimed by artists unaware they are entitled to them
02:01in South Africa alone.
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