Zulu Rendition of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' Makes History

Fifty years after the single was released, a new version is wowing fans, this time in the Zulu language and performed by South Africa’s acclaimed Ndlovu Youth Choir.

Credit: EMI

The sprawling, six-minute rock opera - released in 1975 - was written by frontman Freddie Mercury, and Bohemian Rhapsody was painstakingly pieced together in six studios, pushing 1970s recording technology to its limits.

As we all know it became a huge and enduring success - achieving over 17 million in global sales, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time, including a Diamond certification in the U.S. for 10 million sales and more than 2.6 million in UK sales. It even went on to become the most-streamed song from the 20th century and the most-streamed classic rock song of all time, with billions of streams globally on services like Spotify and YouTube.

It has also been covered numerous times. It's one of rock’s most enduring anthems. But Queen has never authorized a translation of the song - until now. Though the words sung by the Ndlovu Youth Choir may not be familiar to most fans, the melody remains unmistakable. The choir worked for years to preserve the original song’s meaning while adapting the words to fit the Zulu language, although some lyrics intentionally remain unchanged (like “Galileo, Galileo!”).

“We realized that we’d be the first translation that’s been commercially released,” the choir’s artistic director, Ralf Schmitt, told NPR, noting front man Freddie Mercury was born in Zanzibar. “So, we’re very honored to have got the permission, and we hope that we’ve done the piece justice.”

Like to hear it? Here's the video...