If you missed a cappella group Ladysmith Black Mambazo on Paul Simon's Graceland album (remember "Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes"?), on Sesame Street, on the Michael Jackson "Moonwalker" video, on commercials for 7-Up and Life Savers and on the score of movies like Lion King and Coming To America, no matter.

You may know they've performed at Nobel Prize ceremonies, for The Pope, for Queen Elizabeth II, for the 1994 inauguration of South Africa's first black president Nelson Mandela - or even at Massey Hall three years ago and in 1999.

The 10-member group is led by Joseph Shabalala, who founded it in 1964 and now has four of his sons in the ensemble - Thamsanqa, Thulani, Siobongiseni and Jockey.

Their richly layered rolling harmonies and powerhouse energy are delightfully entertaining, an instantly recognizable style manifest on the latest of their many recordings, the 13-cut Wenyukela (Heads Up International).

It's the first release of new material since 1997's Heavenly, which had Dolly Parton, Phoebe Snow, Bonnie Raitt and Lou Rawls as guest artists.

South Africa's bestselling combo, they won a Grammy in 1987 for Shaka Zulu and are touring North America again to support the new album and to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the end of the notorious former government's policy of apartheid. They'll be at Massey Hall tonight at 8.

Mambazo, known for their lively dancing as well as gospelly vocals with bottom-of-the-well tones, sing in a style called mbube and incorporate lyrics in Zulu, Xhosa, English and French. The style is known more specifically as isicathamiya and was born in the country's mines, where men worked six days a week under poorly paid, gruelling conditions, living in barracks far from their rural homes.

The word is derived from the Zulu word catham (walk like a cat) and the migrant workers called themselves cothoza mfana (tiptoe guys) because of the soft-stepping dance steps they employed so as not to rouse barracks guards.

The choir took its name from its hometown. Black comes from the black oxen said to be the farm's strongest farm animal and Mambazo, the Zulu word for axe, is symbolic of cutting down the competition at hugely popular song contests.

The new 11-cut disc's title translates from Zulu as "raise your spirits higher" and harnesses the power of music to will people to pursue hope and unity in today's turbulent world.

Mambazo music always has a message and warnings - here the demons to be avoided are political strife, those who don't respect elders and divisive troublemakers.

There's praise for a wedding and their hometown and even a lecture about the need to wear seatbelts in cars. The singing is as smooth and lush as ever.

The music is obviously rooted in southern African tradition but it speaks to everyone whose ears and hearts are open, says Shabalala, who converted to Christianity in the early 1960s. He's still an active minister in a township outside the city of Durban, where he delivers sermons in Zulu.

"Without hearing the words, this music gets into the blood because it comes from the blood. It invokes enthusiasm and excitement, regardless of what you follow spiritually," he says.

Shabalala's spirituality was severely tested during the making of the record. Two years ago Nellie, his wife of 30 years, was murdered in a church parking lot by a masked gunman, but the killer remains at large. Despite his grief, his faith is unshaken.

"In my flesh I might be angry, I might cry. I might suspect somebody. But when I took my mind into the spirit, the spirit told me to be calm. Bad things happen and the only thing to do is raise your spirit higher."

(On the disc his teenage grandsons show their support on the closing hip-hop track "Tribute," urging their grandfather to be strong).Who: Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Where: Massey Hall,

Victoria and Shuter Sts.

When: Tonight @ 8

Tickets: $29.50 - $49.50

@ 416-872-4255