Grab your tissues, friends. The Ndlovu Youth Choir has done it again.
South Africa (29 August 2025) – This time, the Ndlovu Youth Choir have taken one of the biggest songs in rock history, Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, and reimagined it entirely in isiZulu.
It’s pure magic. The kind that makes you cry happy, proud, goosebump tears.
It’s the first ever officially licensed version of the song, approved by Queen’s Brian May, Roger Taylor and the Mercury Phoenix Trust. And it took almost two years to pull off.
Every lyric, from ‘Mama, just killed a man’ to ‘Galileo, Figaro’, had to be translated and reworked in a way that kept the rhythm, emotion, and drama.
Their spin on the original brings together traditional isicathamiya harmonies and kwassa-kwassa rhythms, and all of that iconic drama we know from the hit song.
It not only does justice to Queen’s genius, but also roots the song in Africa, the continent where Freddie Mercury was born and raised. (He grew up in Zanzibar before his family moved to England at 17.)
The whole production bursts with African pride, and the choir did an absolutely impeccable job at pulling off their biggest project yet. Every little detail, down to the outfit designed by local brand Zeitgeist, is stunning.
“This heartfelt homage of Bohemian Rhapsody imagines what the song might have sounded like if Freddie Mercury’s musical journey had never left Africa, the continent of his birth,” the choir shared.
The Ndlovu Youth Choir have been giving us goosebumps for years now. From their unforgettable version of Nessun Dorma, or Tina Turner’s Simply the Best, and standing tall on the Carnegie Hall stage.
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But this one blows us all out of the water.
It’s a love letter to Africa, a nod to Queen, and another reminder that South African talent doesn’t just keep up with the world’s best, it is the world’s best.
Get ready to cry good tears:
PS: Next time someone calls for Bohemian Rhapsody in a pub after midnight, we’re going full isiZulu.
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WOW!!!!! We are still The World, Together.