MUSIC: Twitter, Magpies and a song about a Lion

The Lion (Ingonyama)

(Click on the words above to go straight to the Free Download page of The Lion. The download page will open in a new tab so you can carry on reading!)

Hola Durbanites! 

I am busy writing an article about our move Down Under - taking the Durban vibe 12,000km from home. But in the meantime, here is a song that I wrote, with Durban and it's legends firmly in my thoughts, shaping the music and feel of this piece. 

Now, for some bloody reason the magpies in our area love it when I start to make any music... they arrive and sit on the windowsill making the biggest noise... The headline in yesterdays newspaper was KILLER MAGPIE 

This is the ACTUAL Killer Magpie that was later, uh, killed. Look at it's eye. Just look at it. *evil*

Remember those metal school swings in the park? Remember that squeal of metal on metal? That's what a Magpie sounds like. It is a 007 type mission whenever I want to record. I have to look out for a) Hail storms that come outta nowhere. 2) Cicadas 3) Magpies (see above) 4) Rogue Cockatoos (the Pirates of the trees) 5) Let's not mention the Kookaburras.

I have NO IDEA why they keep coming around...

This song came out on Thursday, it pushed me up over 50 places Globally in the Reverbnation song charts across all genres, and it pushed me to #1 on the Central Coast NSW (near Sydney) NSW is the size of South Africa. I am now sitting at #11 in AUSTRALIA - because of this song. 

It's always encouraging to wake up to an email like the image above. Interestingly, I realised that I was getting very few visits from my Facebook links in the newsfeed: Facebook seems to limit the reach of Reverbnation posts... also, the listens that you get on Facebook via the player, don't get added to your Reverbnation song listen counter. So it doesn't boost your rank or assist you in anyway! Twitter brings me my greatest listens - just note this my fellow muso's! 

See that dark blue at the bottom of the chart? That's Facebook.
See the bright blue at the highest point? Yup. Twitter. 

The upward swing in listenership has shown me that it is better to focus on Twitter posting than posting to Facebook - also something to note quite seriously, Facebook does not redirect traffic to Reverbnation, they have a "player" that allows the songs to play on your Facebook page, unfortunately the player reduces the audio quality of your songs so much that it can be detrimental to your career! It is better to set up a blog for this purpose, and post the link to your blog to Facebook, with your song link in the blog post. 

Now, about the song...

This is the release of my new single called "The Lion" (Ingonyama) and it is about the feelings, love, heartbreak, happiness, insecurity and holding-onto-home that happens when you leave the place of your birth, it can be the leaving of an area, a town, a city or a country. It speaks of desire for better things, about being honest with oneself, about the effect on relationships when your entire world changes.

When you first pack up your entire life and move across the world, there is a cracking of the foundations that you've built your entire life upon, the layers of your beliefs, ideals, culture and the issues and problems with your culture show themselves... You leave the beaten track and follow pathways and roads you have never travelled before, it feels as though you are in freefall as you fly through the night hurtling towards your destiny. When you lift off - there is the absence of effort. You have done all you can do and now life has to just 'happen' until you can step up again. 

You spend time walking, learning new areas, talking deeply with your loved ones, grief and loss of family and friends causes you to expose your heart... You look with hope towards the 'sunshine days' that you hope are ahead of you. You dust yourself off and walk into what lies ahead. 

The Chorus speaks of every persons desire to have what they 'deserve' - to have what they need to get by and make the most of their time here on earth. As a person who has had much taken from me, I speak of 'spreading it around' like a leprechaun hiding his gold... trying to protect what is mine, and what will be mine... I speak of grabbing a hold of destiny. Realising how fragile it is... and not letting it crack. 

Follow this link: THE LION to hear this song and to download it for free to any device. 

(To unlock your download, sign up for free to my mailing list and be the first to hear and receive my released singles in the future. NO SPAM)

Lyrics
Foundations crack. 
Layers showing now. 
Nowhere to hide yourself. 
Off the beaten track, 
Into the abyss. 
The abysmal slack.

Walking water ways, 
Feelings showing now. 
Nowhere to hide your heart. 
To the sunshine days, 
Into the full light. 
To the truthful ways...

I want my share of the lion's prize, 
spread it around let no one take it back. 
See the truth within these lies. 
Grab a hold, 
Don't let it go. 
Don't let it crack. 

*Gospel choir: 
Yiba ingonyama (Be a Lion (King of the people/zulus)
Yiba indwala (Be like a rock / strong)
Unkulukulu lapha (God is here / is great)
Written by Sandy Bigara - Gosford, NSW, Australia 

*The ingonyama refers to a lion and to God, and urges us to "be a Lion, be a Rock and that God is great'

We moved down under in May. The song speaks of my sadness leaving my country, of the pressures on relationships, and ultimately rising up to hold onto God and be brave, like him, like a Lion.

Have a great week everyone xx 

Sandy Bigara 

#Diva xx

This post was originally posted to DURBAN JOURNO