After long training and practice, Zinga becomes an international opera star and succeeds in all kind of concerts and dramas. This brings him wealth and fame that he has never dreamt of. Yet he feels alienated from his African past, always being sarcastic towards his slave-born identity as his being referred as the Negro King. One day after a great performance, Zinga is instructed to give a speech about what he feels about his success. Not good at public speaking, he sings an old song derived from his long lost childhood memory that he barely remembers and into which has to put some words. In the song, he himself is regarded as a ‘wanderer’ and ‘hears the cold felt by his people’. John has a feeling that by singing the song he may find out some information about his origins, which means much to him. The result does not fail him. The song is moving and invokes one of the audience's memories about the song. He comes to the dressing room at the back of the stage and talk to John about what he knows. John then finds out that his ancestor belongs to the island of Casanga, located on the west coast of Africa. The man from the audience, Pele, was the only white man to escape from the island since it was dominated by a brutal queen, and it is now ruled by a wicked witch doctor. And the song John sang was the secret song passed on by every king, regarded as the "Song of Freedom" of the Casanga people. Pele also tells Zinga the medallion hanging on his neck, which he got from his father and his father had from his great-grandfather, is the symbol of the kingship-----he, John Zinga, is the king of his people. Hearing that his people are still uncivilized on the island, Zinga's idea of going back to his homeland to help his people became even more fixed. At this time Donizetti happens to come in and tells John some good news - a new contract to work in the great New York City. Zinga refuses to go to New York to carry on his singing career, since he considers his people bigger than his success. Donizetti is mad about Zinga leaving his career, but cannot stop him from crossing the ocean to come to the little island in Africa.