Microsoft has announced an exclusive partnership between its Zune music division and South Africa's Gallo Music Group to offer a collection of music from Gallo's catalogue.

Fifty albums spanning nearly eight decades of South African music will be available for 'à la carte' and Zune Pass subscription downloads on Zune Marketplace.

The catalogue represents the entire recorded history of South African music from the 1930s to today.

Gallo's recordings include well-known songs such as The Lion Sleeps Tonight, which was originally released in South Africa before becoming an international hit, to Grammy-winning artists such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo. 

"As a long time fan of world music and the Gallo label in particular, it is impossible to overstate what an exciting development this is for the world music community," said Jon Kertzer, senior music programmer at Microsoft, and host of a popular world music radio programme on KEXP-FM in Seattle.

"This is an amazing introduction to South African music, and we look forward to making more of the Gallo catalogue available in the future."