Daddy Lumba’s ‘Mpempem Do Me’ Makes King Charles III Personal Playlist
- The monarch celebrates music from across the Commonwealth in a new broadcast with Apple Music.
His Majesty King Charles III and Apple Music have collaborated to launch The King’s Music Room, his playlist drawing inspiration from the Commonwealth. The project was initiated when the monarch invited Apple to Buckingham Palace to discuss his personal selection of music to mark this year’s Commonwealth Day.
The playlist features a range of songs from artists such as Bob Marley, Kylie Minogue, Anoushka Shankar, Raye, Siti Nurhaliza, Diana Ross and Ghanaian music legend Daddy Lumba, all introduced with anecdotes about his own experiences with the talent over the decades.
The inclusion of Mpempem Do Me by Daddy Lumba comes as no surprise, as he requested and danced to the song a couple of years ago during a dinner ceremony held for him during a visit to the Commonwealth country.
Watch the then Prince Charles and then Duchess of Cornwall dance to their favourite Daddy Lumba song.
In his introduction, he says, “Music… can lift our spirits to such a degree, and all the most so when it brings us together in celebration. In other words, it brings us joy.” He pays tribute to the Windrush Generation “whose gifts have so greatly enriched our country,” and the “wonderfully diverse tapestry that makes up the modern Commonwealth, with its rich pattern of cultures that it continues to share with peoples across the entire world.”
The playlist is an apt forum for expressing the breadth of music from the Commonwealth, as artists with heritage from countries such as Ghana, Malaysia and Jamaica take precedence. “The Commonwealth has produced more than its fair share of wonderful songs, singers and musicians,” said Errollyn Wallen, the Master of the King’s Music Room. “And this fun and eclectic collection is a great reminder of this treasure trove of creativity.
Check His Majesty King Charles III’s Playlist below.
The special playlist is to mark Commonwealth Day 2025.
