Raise your Spirit Higher – Wenyukela is the latest recoding in the acclaimed Heads Up Africa series, celebrating cross-cultural exchange between leading musicians in Africa and their American counterparts.

            Throughout history, hardship and adversity have been a driving force behind the creative process. Individual’s stricken by tragedy tap into internal strengths and become better and stronger human beings in the process. Nations and cultures that struggle under oppression ultimately rise up and reinvent their destinies.

            Joseph Shabalala and his compatriots in the South African vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo know the truths all too well. Against the daunting backdrop of political upheaval, social unrest and personal tragedy, the 10-member group has spent the past three decades fusing the disparate, but spiritually resonant traditions of Zulu music and Christian gospel. Along the way, they have learned to harness the healing and unifying power of music as a means to transcend the dark places and raise the spirits higher.

            Heads up International announces the release of Raise Your Spirits Higher – Wenyukela (HUCD 3083), the new album from Ladysmith Black Mambazo, on Jan. 27, 2004. In English, the word Wenyukela means, “raise your spirit higher,” but the language of Shabalala stirring and richly layered vocal compositions is universal. Raise Your Spirits Higher – Wenyukela is Black Mambazo’s message of hope and unity to a troubled world.

            The 13 tracks of Raise Your Spirits Higher – Wenyukela reiterates the message that has transcended Black Mambazo’s music since the groups earliest days.

            Survivors of the apartheid movement that divided South Africa for generations, the group widens their scope on this record and addresses many of the same kinds of struggles and cultural clashes that persist around the world.

            The group is as strong as they’ve ever been  - full of optimism for the future of their country and for the world, regardless of recent world events, says on of their managers.

            “South Africa has been through horrible times, they’ve been through clashes – people disagreeing, people fighting, people killing each other – and Black Mambazo has seen this country come together and work as one people. This is the philosophy that they bring out in the singing and in their performance”

And while the music is clearly rooted in the African musical traditions, “The message speaks to all people whose ears and hearts are open,” says Shabalala, a native of South Africa’s Zulu people, who converted to Christianity around the time of his musical awakenings in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s.           

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

About Ladysmith Black Mambazo

            Assembled in the early 1950’s in South Africa by Joseph Shabalala – then a young farm boy turned factory worker the group took the name; Ladysmith Black Mambazo – Ladysmith being the name of Shabalala’s rural hometown: Black being a reference to oxen, the strongest of all farm animals; and Mambazo being Zulu for the word axe, a symbol of the groups ability to chop down and singing rival who might challenge them. Their own collective voices were so tight and their harmonies so polished yet they were eventually banned from competitions, although they were welcome to participate strictly as entertainers.

            Shabalala says his conversion to Christianity in the 60’s helped define the group’s musical identity. The path that the axe was chopping suddenly had a direction “To bring this gospel of loving one another all over the world” he says. However he is quick to point out that the message is not specific to any one religious orientation.

            A radio broadcast in1970 opened the door to their first record contact, the beginning of an ambitious discography that currently includes more then 40 recordings. The group borrows heavily from a traditional music called Isicathamiya (Is-cot-aMe-Ya), which developed in the mines of South African where black workers would entertain themselves after a six-day week by singing songs into the wee hours Sunday morning. When the miners returned to their homelands, this musical tradition returned with them.

In the mid 1980’s Pail Simon visited South Africa and incorporated Ladysmith’s rich tenor/alto/bass harmonies in the his Graceland album a landmark 1986 recording that is considered seminal in introducing world music to the mainstream audiences, A year later, Simon produced Ladysmith’s first Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album.

            Since then, the groups has scored six more Grammy nominations most recently their 1999 album, Live from Royal Albert Hall.

            Ladysmith has also recoded with numerous artists around the world including, Stevie Wonder, Dolly Parton, The Wynans, Julia Fordham, George Clinton, The Corrs and Ben Harper. Their film work includes a featured appearance in Michael Jackson’s “Moonwalker” video and Spike Lee’s “Do it A Cappella.” The group also provided soundtrack material Sean Connery’s summer movie, “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” Disney’s “The Lion King Part II,” as well as Eddie Murphy’s “Coming to America” Marlon Brando’s “A Dry White Season,” and James Earl Jones’ “Cry The Beloved Country.”

            A recent documentary entitled “On Tip Toe: Gentle Steps to Freedom” the story of Ladysmith Black Mambazo was nominated for an Academy Award. The group is well known for its Lifesaver candy commercials. Their performance with Paul Simon on “Sesame Street” is legendary, and one of the top three-requested “Sesame Street” segments in history.

            The accomplished group has been invited to perform at many special occasions most notably by special invitation from then South African president, Nelson Mandela Peace Prize Ceremony, a concert for the Pope in Rome, South African presidential inaugurations, the 1996 summer Olympics a Muhammad Ali television special, music award shows from around the world, and many other special events.

            Amid extensive worldwide touring, the ambitious recording schedule and the numerous accomplishments and accolades tragedy has struck the group in 2002 when Nellie Shabalala, Josephs wife for 30 years, was murdered by a masked gunman outside their church in South Africa. To date no conviction has been made.

            “At the time this happened, I tried to tale my mind deep into the spirit, because I know the truth is out there,” Shabalala recalls. “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 not to worry. Bad things happen, and the only think to do is raise your spirit higher.”

            Out of this dark chapter comes Raise Your Spirits Higher – Wenyukela. The album is Shabalala’s message of hope and unity to a troubled world.