Redmond (WA) - Microsoft is expanding the world music collection for its Zune Marketplace. South Africa’s Gallo Music Group is selling fifty albums dating back as far as the 1930s of South African music for Microsoft’s Zune portable music players.

According to Microsoft, the Gallo catalog represents the "entire recorded history of South African music" of the past eight decades. Included in the expansion for the Zune Marketplace are mostly traditional songs, but also tracks from Grammy-winning artists such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo as well as internationally known titles such as "The lion sleeps tonight".

To promote the added music, Microsoft said it will highlight music artists from South Africa during May. The company promises to provide "insightful editorial content" to help tell the story of the music, most of which has never been released in the United States.