...in like a LION...so let's MARCH & Sing!

Thomas Tittmann
2 hours ago
2 min read

Source

Pata Pata...the LION sleeps tonight....

Miriam Makeba - Pata Pata (Live on The Ed Sullivan Show 1967) (03:31)

Out of Africa: The song's Johannesburg origins...

Solomon Linda & The Evening Birds – Mbube the original version, origin of The Lion Sleeps Tonight (02:43)

Miriam Makeba's Pata Pata song & dance...

"Pata Pata" is an Afro-pop dance song popularized internationally by South African singer Miriam Makeba. Its composition is credited to Makeba and Jerry Ragovoy. Her most popular recording of "Pata Pata" was recorded and released in the United States in 1967.^[1][2] The song is considered by many to be Makeba's signature hit and it has since been recorded by many artists.

Origins

The song's title "Pata Pata" means "touch touch" in the Xhosa language, in which the song was originally written and sung.^[2] "Pata Pata" was also the name of a style of dance that was popular in the shebeens of Johannesburg's Townships^[3] in the mid-1950s. The dancer crouched before his partner and patted her body to the rhythm of the music as he rose up and she spun around, making hip circles.^[4][5] In another version of the dance,

The male dancers stand in a row with their arms extended out to the front, palms to the floor, while the women pat each in turn in a manner resembling security search body-frisking, after which the men do the same to the women.^[6]

Source: Wikipedia (includes links)